Yahir Montes is a New York City based musician known for his work as a guitarist, composer and arranger. Originally from Guadalajara, Mexico, Yahir has created music with artists working across a variety of media, including collaborations on theatre, dance and film. In 2022, he released his debut EP, Vivencias, which he has performed live in various venues throughout Mexico and the United States. He is currently producing the debut album for Two in Love––an album of duets with his wife Dilia––as well as her album De donde vengo, featuring new arrangements of classic American songs in a mariachi style. 

Yahir has been actively studying and teaching music since the age of 14, when he entered Colima’s Instituto Universitario de Bellas Artes. After receiving a Bachelors in Music (with an honorable mention) he studied at the Universidad Tito Puente in Puebla, where he was awarded a Masters degree in Composition and Arrangement. Yahir has trained with a variety of internationally renowned musicians, including Alfonso Aguirre, Marco de Santi, Alberto Vingiano, Carlos Larrauri, Dúo Kupinski, and Giuliano Bellotti. Particularly influential was his time under the tutelage of Italian guitarist and composer Simone Iannarelli. As part of the the Universidad de Guanajuato’s Laboratorio Sonoro (2019), he worked with renowned composers such as Víctor Ibarra, Ricardo Zohn, David Hernández and Jorge Torres.
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Since moving to the United States, he has worked on various projects, including Venezuelan artist Miguel Anggelo’s LatinXOXO, Jaime Lozano’s Frida, The Musical and Broadway in Spanglish, and with Calpulli, a dance company who brings Mexican folk dance to audiences in New York City. This has allowed him to perform at classic venues such as Lincoln Center, in Times Square as part of Times Square Live, at the Public Theatre’s Joe’s Pub, and MASS MoCA, among others. Internationally, he has performed original compositions throughout Costa Rica and Guatemala as part of the project Nostalgias Dúo, with pianist Tomás Olivares Rojo, as well as playing his own original work in venues throughout Mexico. He worked closely with Linda Briceño, the first woman to ever win the Latin Grammy Award for Producer of the Year.

As as an arranger, Yahir has worked on projects including the Netflix film New York Christmas Wedding (2020), for which he arranged and produced two songs; new works for tenor Felipe Castellanos Mendoza including (Boleros, Una Noche Para Recordar [2016]; Los Tres Tenores Colimenses [2018]); and the premier of an hour of unpublished original classical music for different ensembles and instrumental configurations, as part of the inaugural Jornada de la Musica, which he organized at the Pinacoteca Universitaria del Estado de Colima.
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He has received various accolade for his work, including the José Rolón award from the Instituto Universitario de Bellas Artes, which recognized him as the best student of his generation and the award for "Mejor Interprete Local" (2014) at Colima’s international Guitarromanía festival. In 2021, Yahir was awarded a PECDA Grant to produce original classical compositions inspired by the history and culture of Colima, Mexico.