{"id":10354,"date":"2018-07-03T15:17:26","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T22:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=10354"},"modified":"2018-07-05T10:00:53","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T17:00:53","slug":"celebrating-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-92nd-street-ys-concert-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/celebrating-the-20th-anniversary-of-the-92nd-street-ys-concert-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the 92nd Street Y\u2019s Concert Series"},"content":{"rendered":"
\bBY JULIA CROWE | FROM THE SUMMER 2018 ISSUE OF CLASSICAL GUITAR<\/em><\/a><\/h6>\n

The Art of the Guitar series at Manhattan\u2019s 92nd Street Y is celebrating\u00a0its 20th year as a showcase for classical guitar artistry that goes beyond concerts to include the premieres of commissioned new works and even onstage interviews with guitarists. Yale guitar professor Benjamin Verdery has served as Artistic Director of Art of the Guitar since 2007, after its initial launch in 1998 by Juilliard Guitar Department chairperson Sharon Isbin.<\/p>\n

Under Verdery\u2019s tenure there have been 16 premieres of new works for the guitar by composers such as Egberto Gismonti, Roberto Sierra, Carlos Rafael Rivera, Tan Dun, S\u00e9rgio Assad, Stephen Goss, Frederic Hand, Chen Yi, Johannes M\u00f6ller, Gyan Riley, and Verdery himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year\u2019s season included the New York premiere of a new untitled work for guitar and string quartet by rock band The National\u2019s Bryce Dessner, co-commissioned by the 92nd Street Y and performed by Verdery and the St. Lawrence String Quartet. And solo guitarist Jorge Caballero performed the world premiere of a piece called Midsummer Love<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOver 20 years, Art of the Guitar has delighted\u00a0the community of concert-goers and expanded the scope of the instrument for future generations of classical guitarists,\u201d says Hanna Arie-Gaifman, Director of the 92nd Street Y Tisch Center for the Arts.\u00a0\u201cAudiences are consistently thrilled and inspired by the breadth of talent that the extraordinary musicians bring to our stages, not only as performers but as purveyors of virtuosic repertoire from every major style of music. In the spirit of curiosity and personal enrichment which 92Y embodies, our audiences also enjoy a closer connection to the music with free pre-concert talks before every guitar concert, given by Benjamin Verdery.\u201d\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Verdery, who is entering his tenth year of curating the series next season, says, \u201cIt has been an honor for me to work at one of New York City\u2019s greatest cultural centers, and I have really loved all the wonderful people I have been fortunate to work with. Hanna [Arie-Gaifman], of course, has been a total joy to work with and has taught me much.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His enjoyable pre-concert lectures can be found on YouTube as \u201cGuitar Talks with Benjamin Verdery.<\/strong><\/a>\u201d Past artists include Eliot Fisk and Paco Pe\u00f1a<\/a><\/strong>, David Russell<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0Christopher Parkening<\/strong><\/a>, Raphaella Smits (below), and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n