Guitarist Jason Vieaux returns for Sterne residency

Jason Vieaux

Classical guitarist Jason Vieaux will perform music spanning nearly 300 years in a recital to be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, in Filene Recital Hall on the Skidmore campus.

General admission for the event is $5, or $2 for students and seniors.

Vieaux will visit Skidmore Tuesday through Thursday, Oct. 27-29, as a Sterne Virtuoso Artist, playing music by Bach, Barrios, Brouwer, Albéniz, and Pat Metheny.

It is the popular artist's third performance at Skidmore over the past 10 years. He was last here in 2006. Touring and playing more than 50 recitals and concerts with symphony orchestras per year both in the U.S. and abroad, Vieaux also directs the guitar department at the Cleveland Institute of Music, his alma mater.

At Skidmore, he will coach the college's guitar ensemble at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, in Filene Hall. He will also lead a master class for guitarists from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 28, in the Somers Room at Tang Museum. Both events are free and open to the public.

Originally from Buffalo, Vieaux began studying guitar at age eight, becoming the youngest winner in the history of the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Competition. He was a Naumburg International Guitar Competition prizewinner, and in 1995 was honored as an Artistic Ambassador of the United States to Southeast Asia.

Vieaux has 10 recordings to his credit and many more to come under his multi-record deal with Azica Records. Bach: Works for Lute, Vol.1, was released earlier this year and debuted at number 13 on the Billboard Classical Album Chart. His previous CD, Images of Metheny, features music by renowned American Jazz guitarist/ composer Pat Metheny. Both The Philadelphia Inquirer and Cleveland's Plain Dealer rated Sevilla: The Music of Isaac Albéniz, one of the "Top 10 Classical CDs" of the year.

Vieaux recorded his first CD when he was just 19, and two years later released Laureate Series Guitar Recital on the Naxos label, which has sold more than 50,000 copies around the world. His recordings and live performances are on the radio and Internet; he is often heard on such top-rated programs as NPR's "All Things Considered," "Morning Edition", and American Public Media's "Performance Today."

Acoustic Guitar magazine named Vieaux in its January 2008 cover article The New Virtuosos as "one of three young musicians pushing the instrument beyond the traditional."

Before his last visit to Skidmore, Vieaux explained his interest and development in writing his own transcriptions for guitar. The challenge of writing a transcription, according to Vieaux, is retaining the essence of the music.

"On one extreme you can cram too many voices in and wind up having something sound like a heroic technical accomplishment; while on the other hand you can simplify too much, and strip out the texture and all the details.

"The guitarist's ability to 'sing' is an overlooked aspect of the instrument, and it can make for a polyphonic experience," he observed.

Tags: jason vieaux, sterne virtuoso artist