the Artist

Benjamin Verdery, guitarist & composer

Hailed for his innovative and eclectic musical career, Benjamin Verdery tours regularly throughout the US, Canada, Europe and Asia, performing at venues and festivals including Ottawa ChamberFest, 92Y Kaufmann Auditorium, Verona Guitar Festival, Guitar Festival of Belgrade, International Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Taxco (Mexico), Theatre Carré (Amsterdam), the International Guitar Festival in Havana, Wigmore Hall (London), and Metropolitan Opera in New York.

As a recording artist, Ben has released more than 17 albums and has recorded and/or performed with such diverse artists as Andy Summers, Frederic Hand, William Coulter, Leo Kottke, Anthony Newman, Jessye Norman, Paco Peña, Hermann Prey, John Williams, hip‐hop artist Billy Dean Thomas, beat box/vocal percussionist Marc Martin and Nano Stern.

A prolific, published composer in his own right, many of Ben’s compositions have been performed, recorded and published (Doberman‐Yppan, Alfred Music) over the years. He has composed works for The Assad Duo, guitarists David Russell, Scott Tennant, David Tanenbaum, John Williams and John Etheridge, The Changsha International Guitar Festival, the Chilean Guitar Ensemble, the Pensacola Guitar Orchestra (FL), Kyo‐Shin‐An Arts (NY), Wake Forest University, Thomas Offermann and the guitar ensemble of the Hochschule for Music and Theatre (Rostock, Germany) and the score for the documentary film Corida Goyesque. Ben’s Scenes from Ellis Island, for guitar orchestra, has been extensively broadcast and performed at festivals and universities in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Europe, and the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet included it on their CD, Air and Ground (Sony Classical).

By turn, many of the leading composers of our time have created music for Ben, including Ezra Laderman, Daniel Asia, Martin Bresnick, Bryce Dessner, Javier Farias, Aaron Kernis, John Anthony Lennon, David Leisner, Hannah Lash, Ingram Marshall, Anthony Newman, Roberto Sierra, Van Stiefel, Christopher Theofanidis, and Jack Vees.

Ben has created and released several exquisitely filmed videos, most recently his collection Peace, Love & Guitars, a series of 16 videos presented in February and April 2021 through the New York City Classical Guitar Society. The videos feature solo works as well as collaborations with long time colleagues. Other videos include: From Aristotle with Mark Martin and Michiyaya Dance, Bryce Dessner’s Portbou, Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze, Seymour Bernstien’s Searching for a Chorale, his Shangri La Series, filmed at Doris Duke's Shangri La Center for Islamic Arts & Cultures Honolulu, HI and four videos with hip‐hop artist Billy Dean Thomas including the ground breaking Black Bach.

Ben owes much to his guitar teachers Philip De Fremery and Frederic Hand, both of whom he studied with at SUNY Purchase. The Master Classes he took in Arles, France with Leo Brouwer were seminal for Ben as well. He continued his studies with his mentor Anthony Newman and still receives coaching from his other mentor, Seymour Bernstein. He will always feel greatly indebted to what these and many others have given him over the many years.

Since 1985 Ben has been guitar professor at the Yale School of Music, Artistic Director of 92Y’s Art of the Guitar series 2007-2020 and Producer of his Maui Summer Master Class 1999-2023.  Ben is also an Honorary Board Member of the Suzuki Association of the Americas.

Benjamin Verdery uses D'Addario strings and guitars by Garrett Lee and Otto Vowinkel.

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Press

Scenes from Ellis Island

The music of guitarist and composer Ben Verdery ducks playfully back and forth between serious contemporary strains and pop-tinged vigor, welcoming everything in with the graciousness of a kindhearted host. 
San Francisco Chronicle (scroll down page)

Verdery's virtuosity helps distinguish the five performances, which makes for a consistently engrossing recording, regardless of whether he appears alone or with guests….As much of a show-stopper as Scenes from Ellis Island certifiably is, it's hardly the only high point on the release and neither is it the only piece that recommends it.
Textura.org

It is work that evokes both musical and extra-musical associations and does so with a sense of eclectic encompass.
Gapplegate Classical-Modern Review

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Verdery plays with the kind of infectious, childlike joy that lights up the whole stage…
Artsfile, Ottawa, Canada

Benjamin Verdery enchants the audience between Bach and Mozart
L’Arena, Verona, Italy

Playing and Composing Outside The Box
Classical Guitar Magazine (2016)

an iconoclastic player….
NY Times

an American original, an American master
Sound Board Magazine