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Hailed for his innovative and eclectic musical career, guitarist and composer Benjamin Verdery performs at Cornish in conjunction with the 2015 Northwest Guitar Festival - northwestguitarfestival.org
Artistic director of 92nd Street Y's Art of the Guitar series since 2006, and chair of the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music and artistic director of the bi-annual Yale Guitar Extravaganza since 1985, 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. 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).
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 w
as commissioned to compose two works: "Penzacola Belongs To All", commissioned by the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra in celebration of their 30th Anniversary 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. 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. Most recently, Wake Forest University has asked Verdery to compose a new solo guitar work based on a poem by Pablo Neruda for its homage to Pablo Neruda in September, 2014.
Benjamin Verdery uses D'Addario strings and guitars by Garrett Lee and Otto Vowinkel.
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LocationPONCHO Concert Hall (Kerry Hall, Cornish College of the Arts) (View)
710 E. Roy Street
Seattle, WA 98102
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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