Benjamin Verdery, guitar

Benjamin Verdery guitar Owith

Rie Schmidt flute january 25, 2010 Faculty Artist Series

music of AlbĂŠniz Bach Blackwell Bresnick Hendrix Laderman Marshall Prince Verdery

Robert Blocker, Dean

january 25, 2010 · 8 pm Morse Recital Hall in Sprague Memorial Hall

Benjamin Verdery guitar Owith Rie Schmidt flute Benjamin Verdery b. 1955

Prelude and Wedding Dance (for Rie)

Martin Bresnick b. 1946

Joaquin is Dreaming Joaquin Imagines a Part of History Joaquin Foresees a Future Joaquin is Sleeping, Joaquin is Dreaming written for Benjamin Verdery

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750

Cello Suite No. 6 in D major, BWV 1012 arr. Verdery Prelude Allemande Courante Sarabande Gavottes I & II Gigue intermission

Mr. Verdery uses D’Addario Strings and guitars by Christopher Carrington and Greg Smallman. Mr. Verdery is represented by GAMI/Simonds, Inc. Tel: 860-567-2500 Email: gamisim@att.net | Websites: www.benjaminverdery.com | www.gamisim.com

As a courtesy to the performers and audience members, turn off cell phones and pagers. Please do not leave the theater during selections. Flash photography or recording of any kind is not permitted.

Ingram Marshall b. 1945

The Mentioning of Love for alto flute and guitar written for Benjamin Verdery and Rie Schmidt

Ezra Laderman b. 1924

On Vineyard Sound world premiere, written for Benjamin Verdery

Benjamin Verdery

Philippe’s Center for electric classical guitar, spider capo, and digital delay

Isaac Albéniz 1860-1909

Córdoba arr. John Williams

Otis Blackwell 1932-2002

Don’t Be Cruel based on the 1956 recording of Elvis Presley; arr. Verdery

Prince b. 1958

Kiss arr. Verdery

Jimi Hendrix 1942-1970

Purple Haze arr. Verdery

benjamin verdery guitar

Benjamin Verdery has been described by Guitar Review magazine as “an American original; an American master.” Since his 1980 New York debut with his wife, flutist Rie Schmidt, he has led an exciting and varied musical life.

He has performed worldwide, including the International Guitar Festival (Havana, Cuba); Festival International de Agosto (Caracas, Venezuela); Theatre Carré (Amsterdam); Chichester Cathedral (England); Bad Urach Schubert Festival (Germany); the 92nd Street Y, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Metropolitan Opera (New York City), the Ambassador Theater in Los Angeles, and concerts in Japan, Korea and Singapore. He has recorded and performed with such diverse artists as Frederic Hand, William Coulter, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey, Andy Summers, and John Williams. Several composers have composed music for him, including Daniel Asia, John Anthony Lennon, Ingram Marshall, Anthony Newman, Roberto Sierra, Van Stiefel, and Jack Vees.

Benjamin has released over fifteen albums. One of his most recent, Start Now (Mushkatweek) won the 2005 Classical Recording Foundation Award. Other recordings of note include his Some Towns and Cities which won the 1992

Guitar Player Magazine Best Classical Guitar Recording and his collaboration with John Williams on John Williams Plays Vivaldi (Sony Classical). His recording of arrangements of works by Mozart, Hendrix, Strauss and Bach entitled Branches was released last year.

Since 1985, Benjamin has been chair of the guitar department at the Yale University School of Music. In 2004, the Yale University Music Library commissioned Ingram Marshall to compose a work for classical and electric guitars.

Dark Florescence was premiered at Carnegie Hall with the American Composers Orchestra in February 2005 and had its European premiere at the Belfast Festival (Ireland) with the Ulster Orchestra in November 2005. The electric guitarist for these occasions was Andy Summers of the Police. Having met at the 2002 New York Guitar Festival, Benjamin and Andy have released a CD entitled First You Build a Cloud (Real Artists).

A prolific composer, Benjamin Verdery has had many compositions have been performed and published over the years. David Russell will premiere a new solo guitar work entitled Now and Ever. Benjamin completed a work for John Williams and John Etheridge, entitled Peace, Love and Guitars which was recorded and performed in 2006. Williams also recorded

and performed his work Capitola in 1996.

Benjamin’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). Benjamin’s Etudes for guitar orchestra was commissioned by the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society and premiered at the 2004 Virginia International Festival. DobermanYppan (Canada) has published his Etudes as well as and his Mozart and Strauss arrangements. Workshop Arts (distributed by Alfred Music) has published the solo pieces from Some Towns and Cities as well as instructional books and video.

In addition to his solo tours, recording, and teaching, Benjamin performs with guitarist Bill Coulter (Bill and Ben), his ensemble Ufonia, and with his wife, flutist Rie Schmidt (Schmidt/ Verdery Duo). Benjamin Verdery is curator of “The Guitar” at the 92nd St Y in New York City and is the artistic director of the Yale Guitar Extravaganza, a biannual one-day guitar conference featuring guitarists and artists in concert and lectures.

rie schmidt flute

Rie Schmidt is a graduate of SUNY Purchase College Conservatory. She teaches flute at the the 92nd Street Y, the Bloomingdale School of Music, the Allen-Stevenson School in New York City, and the Suzuki Music School in Westport, Conn. She has received Suzuki flute certification from the East Tennessee Suzuki Flute Institute International, the Great Lakes Suzuki Flute Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, and Suzuki in the Berkshires in Williamstown, NY. In 1983, she gave 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 and her husband, guitarist Benjamin Verdery, concertize as a duo throughout the US and Europe, and have recorded two CDs of music for flute and guitar. She is a founding member of Flute Force, a flute quartet, which has three CDs: Flute Force (CRI), Pastorale (VAI) and Eyewitness (innova). Her publications include Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé (McGinnis and Marx) arranged for flute quintet, and Barber’s Adagio (Schirmer Music).

Ms. Schmidt was the president of the New York Flute Club from 1995 to 1998.

upcoming faculty artist recitals

February 1 elizabeth parisot & ole akahoshi 8 pm, Sprague Hall, Free The Faculty Artist Series presents pianist Elizabeth Parisot and cellist Ole Akahoshi in music of Bach, Brahms, Barber, and Schnittke.

February 2 yale brass trio 8 pm, Sprague Hall, Free Allan Dean, trumpet; William Purvis, horn; and Scott Hartman, trombone, with Mike Roylance, tuba, and Mihae Lee, piano. Music

by Machaut, Bach, Schumann, Arnold, Piazzola, Nagel, and Wilder.

February 6 tribute to george enescu 8 pm, Sprague Hall, Free A rediscovered work for solo violin, plus music for voice, piano, and chamber ensembles. Faculty artists Ilya Poletaev, piano, and James Taylor, tenor, with Jennifer Curtis, violin, and Mihai Marica, cello.

March 2 ettore causa, viola 8 pm, Sprague Hall, Free Program to be announced.

upcoming events

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music.yale.edu/media

January 26 tokyo string quartet 8 pm, Tue, Sprague Hall Quartets by Haydn, Beethoven, and Barber.

Presented by the Chamber Music Society at Yale.

Tickets $27-$34 / Students $14

box office 203 432-4158 concerts & media Vincent Oneppo Dana Astmann Monica Ong Reed Danielle Heller Elizabeth Martignetti operations Tara Deming Christopher Melillo piano curators Brian Daley William Harold recording studio Eugene Kimball Jason Robins

February 4 new music new haven 8 pm, Thu, Sprague Hall, Free Featuring Martin Bresnick’s Piano Trio, as well as music by Reena Esmail, Omar Surillo, Richard Harrold, and Jordan Kuspa.

February 8 prokofiev rediscovered 8 pm, Mon, Sprague Hall, Free Premieres and rarities. Fragment from the opera Distant Seas (world premiere); Music for Athletic Exercises, choreographed by Adam Hendrickson; music for the ballet Trapeze; and Schubert waltzes arranged for two pianos by Prokofiev.

February 12-14 the marriage of figaro 8 pm, Fri & Sat | 2 pm, Sunday | Shubert Theater Yale Opera presents Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro), directed by Vera Lúcia Calábria. Christoph Campestrini conducts the Yale Philharmonia.

Tickets $19-$41 / Students $13, at 203 562-5666 or www.shubert.com.

Robert Blocker, Dean