Since 2008 Benjamin Verdery has talked guitar with some of the instrument’s finest players, as part of 92Y’s celebrated Art of the Guitar concert series, which he directs.
Now some of the best interviews, including Christopher Parkening, Pepe Romero, Eliot Fisk, Paco Pena and David Russell, are available as a new OnDemand video series–Guitar Talks with Benjamin Verdery–presented by 92Y and D’Addario.
“When 92Y asked me to be Artistic Director of their Art of the Guitar series, I suggested asking each artist if they would agree to a live pre-concert interview. To my delight, many agreed and now a few years later we have a series of interviews we can share with you,” comments Verdery. “My initial impetus was selfish–I wanted to know things about these great artists that I hadn’t heard them talking about, and I liked the idea of a colleague-to-colleague conversation. And not surprisingly, they’re wonderful storytellers. I was captivated hearing Sergio Assad talking about his young upstart brother Odair, Pepe Romero’s relationship to the legendary composer Rodrigo, David Russell’s advice on learning new music and the group panels on Julian Bream, Leo Brouwer and composing for the guitar.”
The new season of Art of the Guitar, described by The New Yorker as the city’s most “consistently satisfying series,” begins on December 12 with Pepe Romero.
GUITAR TALKS WITH BENJAMIN VERDERY
92Y.org/GuitarTalks<http://www.92y.org/GuitarTalks>
March 1, 2008 – Tribute to Julian Bream
Interviewed: Scott Tennant, David Leisner, David Tanenbaum, William Kanengiser and Frederic Hand.
April 23, 2011 – Tribute to Leo Brouwer
Interviewed: Interviewed: Rene Izquierdo, Mark Eden (Eden-Stell Guitar Duo), Raphaela Smits, Philip Candelaria (Canadian Guitar Quartet), Christopher Stell (Eden-Stell), Louis Trepanier (CGQ) and Ricardo Cobo.
November 3, 2011 – Paul O’Dette
February 9, 2013 – Los Angeles Guitar Quartet
March 23, 2013 – Raphaella Smits
October 26, 2013 – An American Tribute to Andrés Segovia with Christopher Parkening
Interviewed: Christopher Parkening.
Related on 92YOnDemand: Prior to the concert, Benjamin Verdery was invited to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to view the two Segovia guitars in its collection and talk with the curators.
March 22, 2014 – David Russell
April 24, 2014 – Eliot Fisk & Paco Pena
November 22, 2014 – Pepe Romero
March 28, 2015 – American Guitarist-Composers
Interviewed: Andrew York, Gyan Riley, Frederic Hand and David Leisner.
May 9, 2015 – Assad Brothers 50th Anniversary
Interviewed: Sergio Assad
