ArtsFarmington!
Seth Josel
The Arts Institute of Western Maine is excited to present a concert by Seth Josel, contemporary guitarist, at the Emery Community Arts Center on Wednesday, October 15, 2014, at 7 P.M. Originally from New York, now residing in Berlin, Germany, Josel has become one of the leading instrumental pioneers of his generation. His performance will be informative, and a rare opportunity for lovers of classical and contemporary guitar. Josel will also be a guest artist at two of Dr. Steven Pane’s classes at UMF.
Dr. Steven Pane, Assoc. Professor of Music at UMF, and Seth Josel both grew up in Long Island, New York. Pane says, “ We’re the same age, so we entered Manhattan School of Music in the same class. We actually shared a recital at the Kalarson Gallery (long gone now) in NYC. I met up with him again in Berlin during the UMF trip to Italy.” That reconnection has led to Josel’s upcoming visit to Farmington.
As a soloist, Josel has concertized throughout Europe, Japan, Israel, the US and Canada. He has been a guest performer with leading orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra (London), and ensembles and major music festivals throughout Europe. From 1991 till 2000 he was a permanent member of the musikFabrik, a State-subsidized ensemble devoted to the performance of contemporary music. In recent seasons he has been guesting regularly with KNM Berlin, Ensemble SurPlus of Freiburg as well as with the Basel Sinfonietta. He is a founding member of the Amsterdam-based CATCH electric guitar quartet.
He is the co-founder of www.sheerpluck.de, a website database dedicated to the contemporary guitar literature, and he is the co-author with Ming Tsao of “The Techniques of Guitar Playing,” published by Bärenreiter Press in August 2014.
He has recorded extensively for new World Records, Mode Records, Touch, Edition Wandelweiser, and Wergo. He has recorded Berio’s “Sequenza XI” for the complete “Sequenza” released on Mode Records in 2006, as well as Peter Ablinger’s “33-127.” He presents lectures and seminars at universities in the U.S. and Europe.
After acquiring his Bachelor of Music degree at the Manhattan School of Music ,Seth Josel enrolled at Yale University and earned the Master of Music degree; he then went on to become the first guitarist at Yale to earn the MMA and the Doctor of Musical Arts degrees. His teachers included Manuel Barrueco, Eliot Fisk, and harpsichordist Richard Rephann; he has participated in the master classes of Oscar Ghiglia and Andres Segovia. He is recipient of numerous awards and prizes including a Fulbright-Hays grant from the United States government. As an ensemble player and soloist he has been involved in the premiere performances of more than one hundred works.