The acclaimed Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo will perform at the 21st annual New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes’s Americas Society program on July 7th at 7:00 pm in a concert celebrating the heritage of Hispanic and Latin American tango traditions from Argentina and Uruguay. The duo will present works honoring guitar greats Astor Piazzolla and Daniel Binelli including Piazzolla’s Tango Suite, and Binelli’s Paris Desde Aqui and Metropólis with the Binelli Ferman Duo. The program will also feature guitarist Adam Tully. This free concert will be live-streamed at https://www.as-coa.org/events/new-york-guitar-seminar-piazzolla-100-binelli-75
On July 20 at 4:00pm the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo will perform the world premiere of a new Leo Brouwer work, composed this month for Newman & Oltman, Through the Looking Glass for Two Guitars (after Louis Carroll), commissioned by Jeffrey Nissim and the New York Guitar Festival, paying tribute to the iconic classical guitarist Julian Bream (1933-2020) and the legacy of his celebrated duo with John Williams. The free performance will be live-streamed via the NYGF YouTube channel www.youtube.com/guitarfestival. Visit http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/ for more information.
Says Laura Oltman and Michael Newman about Bream, “Julian Bream brought artistry to a new level in the world of the guitar. He reached out to major composers, performed complex and intellectually stimulating works, led a renaissance of music from the Renaissance, and captured the hearts of generations of young performers intent on following in his deeply musical footsteps.” The NYGF and performing artists are asking viewers to make donations to MusiCares to help the music community affected by the Coronavirus pandemic at www.grammy.com/musicares/get-help/musicares-coronavirus-relief-fund.
Hailed as a “revelation to hear” by The Washington Post, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo is recognized for their matchless technique, ensemble precision, and innovative programming, combined with their commitment to expanding the repertoire for guitar duo. Widely recognized as an influential ensemble both in the US and abroad, they perform a broad range of repertoire that spans baroque and classical works to Spanish and Latin American rhythms that showcases their diversity.
Their concert tours have taken them to world cultural capitals and premiere venues across five continents, the Caribbean, and South Pacific. The Duo has demonstrated extraordinary stylistic breadth in their collaborations with such diverse artists as composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony, mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, fiddler Eileen Ivers, pianist Clarice Assad, violinist Tim Fain, and the ETHEL, Daedalus, Calder, and Turtle Island string quartets.
Highlights of recent and upcoming performances include the world premiere of Concierto Buenos Aires composed for the Duo by Nuevo Tango Master Daniel Binelli with l’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Reims in France. Following on the success of the concerto’s French debut, the Duo “charmed the Ferguson audience with phenomenal musicianship” (Gazette Journal) when they performed it with the Virginia Symphony. Michael and Laura also teach and perform each summer at the Lanciano International Guitar Seminar in Abruzzo, Italy where they are co-artistic directors.
The Duo’s discography of over 10 titles, including their most recent, The Book of Imaginary Beings (Music Masters Classics 1001) includes the world premiere recording of The Book of Imaginary Beings commissioned by Raritan River Music, dedicated to Newman & Oltman and composed in celebration of the 80th anniversary year of Brouwer. The duo’s recording of this magical work was recognized by BBC Magazine as “a quartet of mythical beasts depicted by Brouwer with wit and imagination and played here with aplomb.” Acoustic Guitar Magazine praised the Duo saying, “Newman & Oltman haven’t lost a beat after four decades together, this vinyl audiophile LP, CD and download recording is yet another high-water mark for the outstanding New York–based duo.”
In addition to their phenomenal musicianship, they are dedicated to inspiring the next generation of guitar players through their many educational endeavors and are Directors of the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes. They are founders and Artistic Directors of Raritan River Music, which has commissioned works for them from Lowell Liebermann, Pulitzer prize winner Paul Moravec and Augusta Read Thomas among others.
