Benjamin Verdery, guitar, March 31, 2018

Robert Blocker, Dean

faculty artist series

Benjamin Verdery guitar

Saturday, March 31, 2018 • 7:30 pm Morse Recital Hall

Faculty Artist Series

Benjamin Verdery March 31, 2018 • Morse Recital Hall

J.S. Bach and Music Inspired by J.S. Bach Heitor Villa-Lobos 1887–1959 Seymour Bernstein b. 1927

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685–1750

“Ária” from Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, W389 arranged by Roland Dyens Searching for a Chorale (2016) composed for Benjamin Verdery A Bach Cycle “Prélude” from Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 arranged by Benjamin Verdery Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, BWV 106 arranged by Benjamin Verdery “Allegro” from Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998

Ingram Marshall b. 1945

Soepa (1999) for electric classical guitar, digital delay, and loops composed for Benjamin Verdery I. II. III. intermission

yale school of music

Benjamin Verdery b. 1955

Now and Ever (2008) for David and Marie Russell I. II.

Bryce Dessner ’98ba ’99MM b. 1976

Portbou (2016) composed for Benjamin Verdery

Luigi Boccherini 1743–1805

Guitar Quintet in D major, G. 448 I. Pastorale II. Allegro maestoso III. Grave assai IV. Fandango Emily Switzer ’19MM, violin Gregory Lewis ’19MM, violin Hayaka Komatsu ’19MM, viola Bo Bae Lee ’19MM, cello

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

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

Artist Profile

Benjamin Verdery, guitar Described by The New York Times as “an iconoclastic player,” Benjamin Verdery has been hailed for his innovative and eclectic musical career. In a recent interview, Ben brought us up to date: “I had a fabulously exciting musical year in 2016, including several releases: The Ben Verdery Guitar Project: On Vineyard Sound, new guitar music from my extraordinary colleagues at Yale, released by Elm City Records, which I co-founded with my former student and dear friend Solomon Silber; a documentary shot in Korea for the ArTravel series on Arirang TV; and three videos including two protest videos: Chant for Peace and J.S. Bach’s Chaconne, subtitled An Interpretation Celebrating the Earth, Sky, and Sea. In addition, I was honored to perform an evening of my compositions including a new duo, From Aristotle, with beatbox champion Mark Martin for the Guitar Foundation of America. I also presented concerts and master classes in Holland, Germany, and England, and hosted my seventeenth annual Maui Guitar Class.

“I began 2017 with a premiere of Searching for a Chorale by one of my dearest mentors, Seymour Bernstein, and collaborations with the MICHIYAYA Dance company; curating and performing at the 92Y’s Guitar Marathon; and embarking on a new solo work for the Changsha International Guitar competition in China.

I’m in my thirty-second year as the guitar professor at the Yale School of Music and my tenth year as Artistic Director of 92Y’s Art of the Guitar series!”

Benjamin Verdery’s tours regularly take him throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia, performing at venues and festivals including Theatre Carré (Amsterdam), Maverick Concerts (New York), the International Guitar Festival in Havana, Wigmore Hall (London), Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Taxco (Mexico), and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has recorded and/or performed with such diverse artists as Andy Summers, Frederic Hand, William Coulter, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey, John Williams, hip-hop artist Billy Dean Thomas, beatbox/vocal percussionist Mark Martin, and Nano Stern.

Ben’s discography includes more than fifteen recordings. In addition to recent releases, recordings include Happy Here with William Coulter; Branches, featuring works of Bach, Strauss, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, and the traditional Amazing Grace; Start Now (2005 Classical Recording Foundation Award); Some Towns & Cities (winner of Guitar Player Magazine’s Best Classical Guitar Recording 1991), and collaborations with John Williams (John Williams Plays Vivaldi) and Andy Summers (First You Build a Cloud). Future recordings include Searching for a Chorale, music by and inspired by J.S. Bach, and a recording featuring his classical guitar arrangements of Randy Newman, Neil Young, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Eddie Vedder, The National, Cream, and Elvis Presley.

Many of the leading composers of our time have created music for Ben, including Ezra Laderman, Daniel Asia, Martin

Artist Profile

Bresnick, Aaron Kernis, John Anthony Lennon, David Leisner, Hannah Lash, 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 this work, Dark Florescence, at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra. Bryce Dessner (guitarist with The National) has been commissioned to compose a work for guitar and string quartet that will premiere in 2018 with the St. Lawrence String Quartet.

A prolific published composer in his own right, many of Ben’s compositions have been performed, recorded, and published over the years. He has been commissioned to compose works for The Assad Duo, guitarists David Russell, John Williams, and John Etheridge, the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra (Florida), Kyo-Shin-An Arts (New York), Wake Forest University, Thomas Offermann and the guitar ensemble of the Hochschule for Music and Theatre (Rostock, Germany), and the score for the documentary film Corida Goyesque.

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 his solo and duo works for guitar, and Alfred Music distributes the solo pieces from Some Towns & Cities, as well as instructional books and videos. Other compositions are available at Ben’s website.

Benjamin Verdery uses D’Addario strings, and guitars by Garrett Lee and Otto Vowinkel. » benjaminverdery.com

Robert Blocker, Dean

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Robert Blocker, Dean