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The Newman-Oltman Guitar Duo, Lafayette’s Pesky Artists-in-Residence for 2002-2003, will use live musical examples and slides to present “Guitar in the Americas: 500 Years of Music from the New World” noon tomorrow in Pardee Hall room 401.
The event is free and open to the campus community. Lunch may be brought or purchased for $3.
Guitarists Laura Oltman and Michael Newman will illustrate the history of the guitar, especially in the new world, speaking about the instrument, its composers, and its music, and performing music from Spain and South and Latin American.
The two are acclaimed as innovators in the chamber music field. However, Larry Stockton, professor and head of music and coordinator of East Asian studies, notes that they move beyond the boundaries of classical guitar, making them a perfect choice for the artists-in-residence position.
As part of their residency, Newman and Oltman periodically give class presentations on aspects of guitar music. They have already completed a session with the Music in Western Civilization class taught by William Melin, professor of music. They will continue their interaction with students in the Music Theory I class taught by Skip Wilkins, assistant professor of music, and Stockton’s Introduction to World Music Traditions. By the end of the year, the duo will have given presentations in every music course. The artists also have had some interaction with a Spanish course.
The duo performed in a recital given by Stockton in September at the Williams Center for the Arts. The repertoire of the concert consisted of three Brazilian pieces for percussion and guitar. The Pesky Artists-in-Residence also played the Star Spangled Banner at a Lafayette home football game.
Hailed by The New York Times as “fresh, hot and headed for fame,” the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo continues to fulfill that promise with over 20 years of international touring, ten critically-acclaimed recordings, and development of a new repertory for the ensemble. The duo’s concert tours have taken them to 49 states and to Asia, Europe, South America, Africa, Canada, and the Caribbean, featuring performances at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Ambassador Auditorium, Caramoor Festival, and Princeton and Yale Universities, and at the world’s cultural capitals, including Rome, Seoul, Oslo, Lima, and Cape Town.
The duo has been featured in the national media, including People Magazine, National Public Radio, The Larry King Show, and The New York Times. Newman & Oltman’s CDs for MusicMasters, Musical Heritage, and Sheffield Lab Audiophile have garnered such praise as “a revelation to hear,” The Washington Post; “Critics Choice,” Billboard; “doubtless the greatest guitar record yet made,” New York Daily News.
As founders and music directors of New Jersey’s Raritan River Concerts, the duo established the Raritan River Music Festival, New Music Commissioning Program, and Artists-in-the-Community Residency Program, receiving the National 1999 SCAP/Chamber Music America Award for Adventurous Programming.
For more information, visit www.guitarduo.com.