Ben Verdery

Ben Verdery
December 8 & 9, 2016

Fort Worth: Thu Dec 8, 2016 7:30pm
Kimbell Art Museum –
Renzo Piano Pavillion Auditorium

3333 Camp Bowie Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76107   
click for tickets
Dallas: Fri Dec 9, 2016 7:30pm
Montgomery Arts Theater
Booker T. Washington High School
2501 Flora St, Dallas, TX 75201
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Professor of Guitar at the Yale University School of Music and Artistic Director of the bi‐annual Yale Guitar Extravaganza since 1985, and Artistic Director of 92Y’s Art of the Guitar series (NYC) 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 (Amsterdam), Maverick Concerts (NY), the International Guitar Festival in Havana, Wigmore Hall (London), Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Taxco (Mexico), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Metropolitan Opera in New York. His tours regularly take him throughout the US, 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 15 albums, his most recent being Happy Here with William Coulter; and Branches, featuring works of Bach, Strauss, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart and the traditional Amazing Grace. His CD, Start Now, won the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Award, while 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). Future

recordings include one featuring Yale composers and one featuring his classical guitar arrangements: Randy Newman, Neil Young, Prince, Hendrix, John Lennon, Eddy Vedder, The National, Cream, Elvis and others yet to be arranged.

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. In 2012, 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 30th 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 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 his solo and duo works for guitar, and Alfred Music distributes the solo pieces from Some Towns & Cities as well as instructional books and video. Other compositions are available at Ben’s web site. Most recently, Wake Forest University asked Ben to compose a new solo guitar work based on a poem by Pablo Neruda for its homage to Pablo Neruda in September, 2014 and later in 2014 Ben finished scoring the documentary film Corida Goyesque, an art film about, among other things, the role of the bull in art.

In 2007 Ben was appointed an honorary board member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas, and the summer of 2015 marked the 16th anniversary of his annual Maui Master Class on the island of Maui, Hawaii.

 

PROGRAM

Dec 8 & 9, 2016 – Fort Worth – Dallas

Prelude & Wedding Dance (2004)                                                               Benjamin Verdery (b.1955)
For Rie

Satyagraha (2001)                                                                                               Benjamin Verdery (b.1955)
For Guri

Joaquin is Dreaming (Joaquin Soñando) (2008)                                  Martin Bresnick (b. 1946)
Joaquin Imagines a Part of His History                                                                  (written for Benjamin Verdery)
(Joaquin Imaginarse una Parte de su Historia)
ii. Joaquin Foresees a Future (Joaquin Preve un Futuro)
iii. Joaquin is Sleeping, Joaquin is Dreaming (Joaquin Durmiente, Joaquin Soñando)

Soepa (1999)                                                                                                                  Ingram Marshall (b. 1945)
For digital delay and loops                                                                                   (written for Benjamin Verdery)

 

Intermission

 

Now and Ever (2007-8)                                                                           Benjamin Verdery (b.1955)
For David and Marie
(In 2 movements)

From Eleven Etudes:                                                                                 Benjamin Verdery (b. 1955)
Worry Knot
Let Go
Now You See It, Now You Don’t, Now You Do
Start Now

Adagio. K 540                                                                                                    WA Mozart (1756-1791)
arranged by Benjamin Verdery

Three North American Songs                                                                 arranged by Benjamin Verdery
1- Kiss                                                                                                                      Prince (1958-2016)
2- In Germany Before the War                                                                           Randy Newman (b. 1943)
3- Purple Haze                                                                                                       Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970)

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Allegro Guitar Society is the DBA name for Fort Worth Classic Guitar Society, a Part 501(c)(3) non profit organization

P.O. Box 82954, Fort Worth, Texas 76182-1954   info@GuitarSociety.org

Dallas Area Open Play
4pm - 6pm, 2nd Sunday
of each month

DUNN BROTHERS
COFFEE SHOP

3725 Belt Line Rd
Addison TX 75001

www.addison.dunnbros.com

Come play or just listen.
All levels welcome.

Brookhaven/Allegro
Community Guitar Orchestra

The next session of the guitar orchestra meets 2-4pm every Sunday in room D-208 at Brookhaven.

For more info students can call 972-860-4600

See program

Brookhaven College and the Allegro Guitar Society invite nylon string/classical guitarists and steel-string acoustic guitarists with at least one year of playing experience to participate in this community guitar orchestra. Classical, finger-style and plectrum guitarists are ALL welcome!
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Allegro Café Concerts
at The Kimbell

Please come and enjoy a a glass of wine, coffee, tea and Beautiful Classical Guitar Music at the Renzo Piano Pavilion most 1st, 3rd, and 5th Fridays from 5PM to 7PM. 

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Please check back for additional venues