 | Benjamin Verdery |
The School of Music will mark guitarist and composer Benjamin Verdery's 25 years of teaching at Yale with a day-long celebration on Saturday, March 25, in his honor.
The event will feature a concert and a panel discussion and will draw many of Verdery's former students, some of who are now acclaimed performers themselves.
"A Tribute to Benjamin Verdery" will begin with a panel discussion 2:30-5 p.m. in Sudler Hall of William L. Harkness Hall, 100 Wall St. The discussion is titled "Life After Yale: Guitar Alumni Discuss Their Multi-Faceted Careers in Performance, Education, Composition, Presenting and Music Publishing." The featured panelists will be Peter Argondizza, Tim Clippert, Bryce Dessner, Dominic Frasca, Lars Frandsen, Rene Izquierdo, Andrew Leonard, David Nadal, Mesut Ozgen, Marc Teicholz and Kevin Vigil.
At 8 p.m. that evening, over a dozen alumni of the School of Music's guitar program will return to campus to perform music composed by Verdery. Featured works include guitar solos, duos and trios, as well as a composition for over 30 guitarists called "Ellis Island," which will be performed by both alumni and current students. The concert will take place in Sprague Memorial Hall, College and Wall streets.
Admission to the concert and panel discussion is free.
Hailed by Guitar Review Magazine as an "American original, an American master," Verdery has performed in major venues all over the world since his New York debut in 1980 with his wife, flutist Rie Schmidt. He has recorded and performed with such diverse artists as Frederic Hand, William Coulter, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey and John Williams. The guitarist has also had several composers write music for him, including Daniel Asia, John Anthony Lennon, Ingram Marshall, Anthony Newman, Roberto Sierra, Van Stiefel and Jack Vees.
Verdery has released numerous recordings, including albums that feature him playing with his wife, as well as with Williams, Coulter, and his ensemble, Ben Verdery Ufonia. His recording of 15 original compositions, titled "Some Towns and Cities," won the 1992 Best Classical Guitar Recording in Guitar Player Magazine. In 2005, Verdery released an album of his compositions titled "Start Now," featuring the audience favorite "Be Kind All The Time" for digital delay. Soon-to-be released is an album of arrangements on works by Mozart, Prince, Strauss, Gershwin and Bach.
Verdery has a musical relationship with electric guitarist Andy Summers, formerly of The Police. Earlier this year, the two performed the world premiere of Ingram Marshall's "Dark Florescence" at Carnegie Hall in New York with the American Composers Orchestra and Steven Sloane. The European premiere took place in November 2005 with the Ulster Orchestra at the Belfast Festival in Ireland. It will be recorded by the BBC for broadcast. Verdery and Summers will also tour as a duo and will release an album together titled "Brotherhood of the Grape" during the 2005-2006 season.
Verdery has in recent years turned his attention to creating unique extended works for large guitar ensembles. His "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.
Verdery published a book, "Easy Classical Guitar Recital," and created an instructional video called "The Essentials of Classical Guitar," which was nominated for Best Instructional Video by Music and Sound Retailer in 2000.
Since last year, Verdery has been artistic director of "The Guitar" at the 92nd St. Y in New York City. Since 1985, he has been chair of Yale's guitar department, and he is artistic director of Guitar Extravaganza, a one-day guitar conference featuring guitarists and artists in concert and lectures.
Verdery teaches classes at the Iserlohn Festival, the Classical Guitar Festival of Great Britain, the National Guitar Summer Workshop and his annual summer master class on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
For more information on the tribute to Verdery, call (203) 432-4158.
T H I S
Events to mark guitarist's
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