Adrian Verdejo (Vancouver)

Adrian Verdejo

Adrian Verdejo (Vancouver) – 20-28 Feb 2021

February 20–28, 2021

Premieres February 20 at 2PM PST; available through February 28.
Artist Chat Tuesday, February 23 at 5PM PST.

 

Join Vancouver-based guitarist Adrian Verdejo for a special, online full-length concert of works for solo guitar. The concert includes world premieres of Chains (2020) by Wolf Edwards (Victoria) and Punkt not punked (2020) by Peter Hannan (Vancouver). Also on the program are recent works by Diego Lozano Verduzco (Mexico), Julia Mermelstein (Toronto), and Rodney Sharman (Vancouver) as interspersed with electroacoustic intermezzi by Adrian Verdejo.

Originally scheduled to take place this past May, we’re thrilled to be able to finally be able to present this fantastic program by one of Canada’s finest guitarists.

“Verdejo is a musician’s musician not just for his virtuosity, but for his uncompromising commitment to following the muse wherever it may go.” – Jason Hall, The Vancouver Observer

adrianverdejo.com

Join Giorgio Magnanensi, Adrian Verdejo, Wolf Edwards, Peter Hannan, Diego Lozano Verduzco and Rodney Sharman for Poetics of Engagement: Survival – Adaptation – Transformation, a free, online artist chat on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 5PM (PST). Register at Eventbrite.

Programme

 

Rodney Sharman, ``for Guitar`` (2016) 9m

for Guitar (2016) is based on a short melodic figure appearing in some of my other pieces (The Ecstasy of Saint Teresa, Incantation, Dry Leaves), here rewritten for solo guitar. Boundaries blur and disappear between timbre, harmony, and melody. Boundaries blur between repetition, variation, and contrast, as the figure seems to repeat, but is always varied. The natural resonance of the instrument is central to creating and sustaining the atmosphere of the piece. for Guitar is dedicated to Adrian Verdejo, who commissioned the work through the Canada Council for the Arts.

 

for Guitar was commissioned by Adrian Verdejo in 2016, with assistance from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Diego Lozano Verduzco, ``Cáscara`` (2015) 11m

For guitar and tape.

  1. Cáscara: a word in Spanish which means “shell” or “skin.”
  2. Cascar (from the etymology of cáscara) means “to hit”, “thump” or “break.”
  3. Cáscara or cascarita: in Mexican slang means a “pick up game.”

The main idea of the piece is to explore similarities between architecture and music, that which I am most interested in has to do with the subjective, abstract and mental “space” produced by the listening experience. Inner spatiality created by sounds, how sounds transform and how we transform with them during the perceptive process. The piece is about how we move within the structural mental space induced by music, similar to being in a house or in a building.

 

The piece is a sonic analogy of my own home which is represented by the 2 parts (tape and guitar). The tape part represents a house or a fixed, permanent structure. The guitar part represents the resident of the house or an individual. The tape part was composed with sounds I recorded from my own home, such as kitchen utensils, household appliances, bathroom & office accessories, doors, running water, etc. The guitar material consists mainly of specific physical actions written in a rather nontraditional notation which adding an intuitive nature to the piece, and providing an important improvisational quality.

 

– Diego Lozano  

diegolozano.mx

Peter Hannan, ``Punkt not punked`` (2020)* 15m

For electric guitar and electronics

 

Punkt not punked is a work for electric guitar and live electronic tracks that I wrote in the last year , and is now having its virtual premiere.

 

Electric guitar is an instrument I like very much— one of the best musical inventions of the 20th century. A very expressive and deep instrument.

 

When Adrian asked me to write a piece for him, I offered him a couple of choices of approach. The one he opted for involves both guitar and tracks being in an alternate tuning- in this case a just intonation based on “E”.

 

The material in the piece alternates between the guitar as the soloist and the tracks  functioning as a kind of electronic orchestra. In this performance, both roles are taken on by the soloist.

 

The movement titles are a bit of cross language word play, and maybe throw a little shade on the incomprehensible titles often found in traditional classical music.

 

At one point in my life my German had reached a level of almost adequate.

 

One day in the shower as I was thinking of a title for this piece I thought— the second movement is like mist. Then I thought – funny that in German mist means junk. So I started thinking of German words that sound or look similar to English but have a very different meaning. 

 

– Peter Hannan

peter-hannan.com

Wolf Man Edwards, ``Chains`` (2020)* 12m

For solo guitar and electronics.

This new work, written for guitarist Adrian Verdejo, explores the idea of memory and the obsessive nature of repetitive thought. Memories, like neuro-loops, tend to recur whether we want them or not. The archeology of our minds. The persistent building of trauma-layers that occur in many guises; sometimes clear, sometimes obscured, or warped, and often twisted with time. Like great chains we drag behind us, memory can be at times uplifting and inspiring or other times unveil the terrifying vistas of a bleak sub conscious horror.

 

– Wolf Man Edwards 

wolfedwards.com

Julia Mermelstein, ``Falling (into the unknown)`` (2015) 10m

For electric guitar

 

When I was composing Falling (into the unknown), I was thinking a lot about thought processes of how our minds take-in and develop responses to experiences or emotions we may struggle with. The unknown always brings us into a particular mental place that can be filled with unwanted stillness or accelerations of feelings we don’t know how to process yet. There’s a kind of subtlety to how we might connect with these thought processes, how they intertwine, return, and unravel. I wanted to explore these thought processes and underlying emotions in how sounds emerge and dissolve, leading to the settling of tension to reveal a sense of clarity even if it’s just for a moment.

 

– Julia Mermelstein 

juliamermelstein.com

Notes from Adrian Verdejo

Originally planned for May 2020, this concert was postponed due to the pandemic and has been reimagined for the digital realm. In the time since, I have been exploring ways of remaining creative and sharing music with audiences remotely. My focus has pivoted from strictly performing works by composers on guitar, to include new methods of sound design in recordings of both Classical, and electronic music. The composers featured on this concert have inspired me to explore new paths on my instrument, and to evolve to another mode of creating music with less emphasis on the guitar. Interwoven through the program are short electro acoustic compositions of mine created during the lockdown using various instruments, electronics, and processed sounds.

 

Thank you to Giorgio Magnanensi, Vancouver New Music for their continued support and effort in realizing this concert during a very difficult time.

 

– Adrian Verdejo

 

*World premiere commissioned by Adrian Verdejo with funding from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Important Ticket Information

After purchasing your ticket through thepointofsale.com, a streaming link will be sent to you by email in advance of the concert date. This link will be valid until 28 February, 2021, 23:45 (PST) for you to stream the performance video on one device at a time of your choosing. Tickets will be available for purchase until 28 February 2021, 10:00 (PST)

Enjoy this short feature In a Room – featuring Rodney Sharman (composer) & Adrian Verdejo (guitar) – video bu Mark Mushet/Vancouver Review Media (and visit the Cutting Room Floor if you’d like to dig even deeper).

Meditations 1 – Adrian Verdejo/Michael Trew

In advance of the concert, get into a guitar mood with this playlist featuring Verdejo, JIJI, Gordon Grdina, Xuefei Yang, Janet Feder, Julia Reidy, Alessandra Novaga, Aram Bajakian and Sundar Subramanian.

Photo: Adrian Verdejo.