Benjamin Verdery, guitar

benjamin verdery guitar

faculty artist series Music by Bach, Ingram Marshall, Hannah Lash, Benjamin Verdery, and more • With Rie Schmidt, flute January 25, 2014 • Morse Recital Hall

Robert Blocker, Dean

Faculty Artist Series

benjamin verdery · guitar Saturday, January 25, 2014 • 8:00 pm • Morse Recital Hall

Benjamin Verdery b. 1955

Now and Ever

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750

Cello Suite in E-flat major, No. 4, BWV 1010 arr. Benjamin Verdery I. Prelude II. Allemande III. Courante IV. Sarabande V. Bourée I VI. Bourée II VII. Gigue Performed on a aritone classical guitar built by Otto Vowinkel

intermission

Ingram Marshall b. 1945

The Mentioning of Love written for the Schmidt–Verdery Duo Rie Schmidt, alto flute

Hannah Lash b. 1980

Play These Notes for electric guitar World Premiere Written for Benjamin Verdery

As a courtesy to the performers and audience, please silence all electronic devices.

Please do not leave the hall during selections. Photography or recording of any kind is prohibited.

Benjamin Verdery, guitar

Robert Schumann 1810–1856

Mai Lieber Mai from Album für die Jugend, Op. 68, No. 13* arr. Andres Segovia

Felix Mendelssohn 1809–1847

Songs without words (Lieder ohne Worte), Op. 19, No. 4* arr. Andres Segovia *Manuscripts from the Irving S. Gilmore Library at Yale University

Manuel De Falla 1876–1946

Prince b. 1958 Randy Newman b. 1943 Otis Blackwell 1932–2002

Homenaje (Le Tombeau par Claude Debussy)

Three American Songs: arr. Benjamin Verdery Kiss In Germany Before the War Don’t Be Cruel

Artist Profiles

Benjamin Verdery · guitar Artistic director of 92 nd Street Y’s Art of the Guitar series since 2006, Benjamin Verdery is hailed for his innovative and eclectic musical career. Since 1980 he has performed worldwide in theaters and at festivals, including Theatre Carré in Amsterdan, the International Guitar Festival at Havana, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Metropolitan Opera in New York.

His tours regularly take him throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia. He has recorded and performed with such diverse artists as Andy Summers, Frederic Hand, William Coulter, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey and John Williams.

Ben Verdery has released more than fifteen albums, the most recent being Happy Here, with William Coulter; and Branches, featuring works of Bach, Strauss, Jimi Hendrix, and Mozart along with the traditional “Amazing Grace,” both for Mushkatweek. His CD Start Now, also for Mushkatweek, won the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Award. Other recordings of note include Some Towns & Cities and his collaborations with John Williams (John Williams Plays Vivaldi) and Andy Summers (First you Build A Cloud).

Many of the leading composers of our time have created music for Ben, including Ezra Laderman, Martin Bresnick, John Anthony Lennon, Anthony Newman, Roberto Sierra, Van Stiefel and Jack Vees. Of particular note was the commission by the Yale University Music Library of a work by Ingram Marshall for classical and electric guitars. Ben Verdery and Andy Summers premiered the work, Dark Florescence, at Carnegie Hall with the American

Composers Orchestra. Last December, the two guitarists appeared at the annual Amsterdam Electric Guitar Heaven.

Benjamin Verdery is also a prolific published composer in his own right, with many of his compositions having been performed, recorded, and published over the years. In 2012, he was commissioned to compose two works: Penzacola Belongs To All, commissioned by the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra in celebration of their 30 th Anniversary (premiered in Pensacola October 2012) and Stand in Your Own Light for guitar and koto, commissioned by the Kyo-Shin-An Arts with funding from the New York State Council for the Arts (premiered in New York City November 2012).

In 2010, the Assad Duo premiered Ben’s work What He Said. Commissioned by the 92 nd St Y, the work is dedicated to the late luthier Thomas Humphrey. Other recent works have included Now and Ever (for David Russell, Telarc), Peace, Love and Guitars (for John Williams and John Etheridge, SONY Classical), Capitola (John Williams, SONY Classical) and Give (for eight guitars). This last was composed specifically for Thomas Offermann and the guitar ensemble of the Hochschule for Music and Theatre (Rostock, Germany) and dedicated to the memory of U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy.

Ben’s Scenes from Ellis Island, for guitar orchestra, has been extensively broadcast and performed at festivals and universities in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Europe, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet included it on their CD Air and Ground (Sony Classical).

Doberman-Yppan (Canada) is currently publishing Verdery’s solo and duo works for guitar, and Workshop Arts (distributed by Alfred Music)

Artist Profiles

has published the solo pieces from Some Towns & Cities as well as instructional books and video.

Many other compositions are available through his website.

In addition to his performances, tours and recording, since 1985, Benjamin Verdery has been chair of the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music and artistic director of the biannual Yale Guitar Extravaganza. He was appointed an honorary board member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas in 2007.

Each summer Ben holds his Annual International Master Class on the Island of Maui (Hawaii).

» benjaminverdery.com

Rie Schmidt · flute Rie Schmidt is a graduate of SUNY Purchase.

In 1983, she made her Carnegie Hall debut as a winner of the Artists International Competition.

Ms. Schmidt is a member of the Westchester Philharmonic and the American Symphony and has performed with the New York City Ballet Orchestra, the American Composers Orchestra, and many Broadway shows. She was featured flutist and dancer in Leonard Bernstein’s Mass that was performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Schmidt and her husband, guitarist Benjamin Verdery, concertize as a duo throughout the U.S. and Europe, and have recorded two CDs of music for flute and guitar: Reverie (Sony) and Enchanted Dawn (CRI). She is a founding member of Flute Force, a flute quartet, which has four CDs: Flute Force (CRI), Pastorale (VAI), Eyewitness (innova), and Silver Halo. She teaches at the Suzuki Music School in Westport, CT, the Bloomingdale School of Music, the AllenStevenson School, and the 92 nd Street Y in New York City.

Her publications include Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé (McGinnis and Marx) arranged for flute quintet, and Barber’s Adagio arranged for flute quartet (Schirmer Music). Ms. Schmidt was the president of the New York Flute Club from 1995 to 1998.

Mihae Lee, Artistic Director

Guitarist

Jason Vieaux “Among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” — Gramophone “Jason Vieaux is a classical guitarist … actually, that doesn’t sound right. Let’s say that Jason Vieaux is a guitarist whose instrument happens to be a classical guitar.”

— John Schaefer, WNYC

Sunday, February 9 at 3:00 pm

Student tickets only $12

P.O. Box 383 Essex, CT 06426 (860) 272-4572 essexwinterseries.com

Valley Regional High School, 256 Kelsey Hill Road, Deep River Tickets: $30, $12 Students Music by Mauro Giuliani – J.S. Bach – Isaac Albéniz – Paulo Bellinati Francisco Tárrega– Pat Metheny – Antônio Carlos Jobim José Luis Merlín www.jasonvieaux.com

Upcoming concerts — All Sundays at 3 pm March 2 “Celebrating Fats Waller” with Jeff Barnhart and

his Hot Rhythm

March 30 New Haven Symphony Orchestra with emerging artist Leelanee Sterrett, horn

April 13 Palm Sunday All-Bach Concert

T H E E I G H T H YA L E

GUITARa z n a g a v a r t Ex T R A D I T I O N + I N N O VAT I O N

February 22, 2014 A full day of concerts, master classes, talks, and more Tickets and passes let you select how much to attend, whether a single event, a series of concerts, or the all-day experience

Concerts by David Tanenbaum • René Izquierdo and Elina Chekan Van Stiefel and Sergio Sorrentino • and others

Classes, workshops, and talks with Benjamin Verdery • Aaron Jay Kernis • Jack Vees René Izquierdo • Van Stiefel • and more

203 432-4158 · music.yale.edu/guitar-extravaganza

Upcoming Events

Wendy Sharp and Friends january 26 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Sunday | 4 pm Leó Weiner: String Trio in G minor, Op. 6; Bartók: Sonata No. 2 in C major; Brahms: Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 25.

Free Admission

Pascal Rogé, piano january 29 Horowitz Piano Series Morse Recital Hall | Wednesday | 8 pm The acclaimed French pianist plays Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque and Preludes, Book 1, as well as Poulenc’s Les Soirées de Nazelles.

Tickets start at $20 · Students $10

Arthur Haas, harpsichord february 1 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Saturday | 5 pm Music by Jean-Philippe Rameau.

Free Admission

Sarita Kwok, violin Wei-Yi Yang, piano february 3 Faculty Artist Series Morse Recital Hall | Monday | 8 pm Janácek: Sonata for violin and piano; Stravinsky: Duo Concertante; Prokofiev: Five Melodies for violin and piano, Op. 35b; Ravel: Sonata for violin and piano.

Free Admission

New Music New Haven february 6 New Music New Haven Morse Recital Hall | Thursday | 8 pm Martin Bresnick and David Lang, featured faculty composers. With new music by graduate composers and members of the Yale Baroque Ensemble performing.

Free Admission

Lunchtime Chamber Music february 12 Center for British Art | Wednesday | 12:30 pm Music for a colorful variety of ensembles.

Free Admission

Concert Programs & Box Office: Krista Johnson, Carol Jackson Communications: Dana Astmann, Monica Ong Reed, Austin Kase Operations: Tara Deming, Chris Melillo Piano Curators: Brian Daley, William Harold Recording Studio: Eugene Kimball P.O. Box 208246, New Haven, CT · 203 432-4158

music.yale.edu

Robert Blocker, Dean