Jason Vieaux

Artist Webpage
Facebook
Twitter

NPR describes Grammy-winning guitarist Jason Vieaux as "perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation," and Gramophone magazine puts him "among the elite of today's classical guitarists." His most recent solo album, Play, won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. In June 2014, NPR named "Zapateado" from the album as one of its "50 Favorite Songs of 2014 (So Far)."

Vieaux has earned a reputation for putting his expressiveness and virtuosity at the service of a remarkably wide range of music, and his schedule of performing, teaching, and recording commitments is distinguished throughout the US and abroad. His solo recitals have been a feature at every major guitar series in North America and at many of the important international festivals. Recent and future highlights include performances at the Caramoor Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, New York's 92Y, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Bard Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Strings Music Festival, Grand Teton, and many others.

A first-rate chamber musician and programmer, he frequently collaborates with artists such as the Escher Quartet, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, and accordion/bandoneón virtuoso Julien Labro. Vieaux's passion for new music has fostered premieres of works by Dan Visconti, Vivian Fung, Keith Fitch, Kinan Abou-Afach, David Ludwig, Jerod Tate, Eric Sessler, José Luis Merlin and Gary Schocker. He has performed as concerto soloist with nearly 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Houston, Toronto, San Diego, Fort Worth, and Buffalo.

Vieaux continues to bring important repertoire alive in the recording studio as well. His latest album Together, with harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, was released in January 2015. His previous eleven albums include a recording of Astor Piazzolla's music with Julien Labro and A Far Cry Chamber Orchestra, Bach: Works for Lute, Vol. 1, Images of Metheny, and Sevilla: The Music of Isaac Albeniz. Vieaux was the first classical musician to be featured on NPR's popular "Tiny Desk" series, on which he made a rare repeat performance in 2015 with Kondonassis.

In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an unprecedented technological interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world. In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at The Curtis Institute of Music, and in 2015 was invited to inaugurate the guitar program at the Eastern Music Festival. Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. Vieaux is a member of the Advisory Board of the Guitar Foundation of America. In 1992 he was awarded the prestigious GFA International Guitar Competition First Prize, the event's youngest winner ever. He is also honored with a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Alumni Achievement Award, and a Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant. In 1995, Vieaux was an Artistic Ambassador of the U.S. to Southeast Asia. For more information, visit www.jasonvieaux.com.

"Perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation." – NPR

"Among the elite of today's classical guitarists." – Gramophone

"Vieaux showed why he is among the most talented guitarists of his generation, a player whose effortless technique and fluidity gave the concerto a singing voice." – Tampa Tribune

 

---

Othello in the Seraglio: The Tragedy of Sümbül the Black Eunuch

Friday, October 14 at 8:00 p.m.
Bowker Auditorium

Othello in the Seraglio, a uniquely powerful "coffeehouse opera," tells an age-old story of passionate love and murderous jealousy, of a black eunuch at the 17th century Ottoman Court. The stunning score, by Boston composer and Grammy nominee Mehmet Ali Sanlıkol, weaves together Italian Baroque and Turkish sources with his own newly-composed music into a tapestry of uncanny beauty. Othello in the Seraglio is performed on European period and traditional Turkish instruments by an ensemble of 12 instrumentalists, singers and a dramatic storyteller.

---

 

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

Sunday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m.
Fine Arts Center Concert Hall

For over a century, the Warsaw Philharmonic has been one of Poland's most distinguished musical institutions. They will be joined by the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition Winner, Seong-Jin Cho. Bachtrack hailed "Cho has an enviable ability to make every note sound distinct and clear, shaping and balancing each phrase perfectly. After only about a minute of his performance I stopped analyzing, closed my eyes and lost myself completely in the sheer musicality of the moment." Program TBA but you can bet Chopin will be included.

 

---