A year after we finished the recording and at the same we started the sessions for the new material, Purple Ego (Centaur) came out, what a fueling surprise! Check it out in Spotify, Amazon and others. All new music with outstanding playing by Mark Boling, Keith Brown, Jon Hamar and Jorge Variego / Un año después de haber terminado de grabarlo y al mismo tiempo que arrancamos con las sesiones para el material nuevo, salió Purple Ego (Centaur). Toda música original, con un excelente laburo de Mark Boling, Keith R Brown, Jon Hamar y Jorge Variego. A por más!
Cover design: Emory Hensley Art

The Cumberland Orchestra of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival under the direction of Gene Moon will premiere my new work “Ritual Andino” for youth orchestra tomorrow Sunday June 23th at 2:30PM in the Guerry Auditorium.
About the conductor

Dr. Gene H. Moon joined the faculty of Stephen F. Austin State University in 2006, as director of orchestras and music director of opera. Previous posts include music director and conductor of the Oklahoma Youth Symphonies; piano faculty and opera conductor at the University of Central Oklahoma; and assistant orchestra director for the Mid-Del Public Schools in Midwest City, OK.
He has led orchestras and performed as soloist and chamber musician with the 2016 Arkansas All- State Orchestra, the 2008 TPSMEA (Texas Private Schools) All-State Orchestra, Lawton Philharmonic (OK), Enid Symphony (OK) and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra (LA) and internationally with the Gang Nam Symphony Orchestra in Seoul, South Korea and the University of Macau Orchestra.
Dr. Moon is highly sought after as guest clinician with recent engagements including regional orchestras in Texas; the 2012 North Central Honor Orchestra (OK), and the 2011 and 2014 Louisiana All-State Orchestras. He will serve as guest conductor of the Longview Symphony Orchestra (TX) in 2016.
Dr. Moon earned his bachelor in music education and music performance from the University of Central Oklahoma, a master of music education from New York University and doctorate of musical arts in orchestral conducting from the University of Oklahoma.
Born of Korean heritage, Dr. Moon began his piano studies at age six and string studies at age nine. His teachers and mentors include pianists Ms. Jan Pokorny Steele, Dr. Dai Wook Lee, Dr. Deirdre O’Donohue and Dr. Edward Gates, violists Dr. Ralph Morris and Dr. Matthew Dane, and maestros Dr. Roger Strong, Mr. John Jeter and Dr. Jonathan Shames.

About the piece

The piece brings back two expressions of folk music of the Andes: the “carnavalito” and the “baguala”. The “carnavalito” is a dance rhythmically vivid and picaresque, which gives drive and direction to the overall structure of the work. The “baguala” is a melancholic chant with a simple melody built on three notes, opening an endless space for development and experimentation.

The Ensemble was invited to perform at the International Society of Improvised Music in Augsburg in Minneapolis. The even took place during May 16-18 and we had a blast! The group was conformed by Jorge Variego (electronics – also the Founder Director of the group), Dakota Johnson (cello) and Cullen Burke (synthesizer).

Composer, performer, and multimedia artist Jordan Munson comes to Knoxville May 10, 2019 to delight listeners with his signature expansive blending of chamber-esque references with numerous experimental elements. Seth Colter Walls of The New York Times writes “[Munson’s] pieces merge acoustic melody and electronic rhythm with thrilling purpose.” Knoxville Concert Series: Heartless Fools will take place on May 10th in the University of Tennessee School of Music recital hall. The free concert begins at 7pm. Munson will present a series of works from his recent collection Heartless Fools. Referencing new classical, jazz, and industrial electronic musical styles, the concert will highlight the multiplicity of Munson’s influences. The evening will feature members of the new music collective Nief-Norf in performance alongside the composer. Knoxville Concert Series: Heartless Fools celebrates what Nief-Norf loves best: brand new, avant-leaning, contemporary chamber music.

My piece for big band Is it 6:30 yet? was selected for performance at the 2019 SCI National Conference hosted by the University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque. Awesome job by Glenn Kustur and all the performers, here a snippet of it.

On Tuesday 3-26 8PM the UT trumpet studio under the direction of Prof. Cathy Leach premiered Polychromatic resonances for trumpet octet.

Here a blurb of the piece. Polychromatic resonances explores the idea of “composed” reverberations, where simple triadic sonorities intertwine to form complex harmonies alla Bob Brookmeyer.

Super happy to have been part of this year’s Big Ears Festival in the Triptych production at the Tennessee Theater. Music by Bryce Dessner featuring Roomful of Teeth. What a wonderful experience!

Super excited for our performance this upcoming Thursday 7:30 PM at the Organ Hall UNC Greensboro. Among our concert repertoire, we will premiere two works written for us by UNCG composers. “Blanking” by Indira Everett and “Sublimation” by Isaac Ward. On Friday morning we will lead a workshop on original works by Julian Ward, Treya Nash and Yunfei Li. Can’t wait!

Concert program:

Recontextualizations (J. Variego)
Purple ego (J. Variego)
Sublimation (* premiere by Isaac Ward)
Blanking (* premiere by Indira Everett)
Lydia (G. Faure, arr. J Variego)
Lo mismo que no es igual (J. Variego)
Memorias del pago (J. Variego)
Glove assault (J. Variego)
Finale (A. Tansman, arr. J. Variego)

Mark Boling (guitar), Keith Brown (drums), Scott Swanberg (double bass), Jorge Variego (clarinets and compositions)

Domino Ensemble

Classical guitar music is always special. A classical guitar ensemble with 12 musicians playing guitars that range from high soprano to low contra-bass guitars, ukuleles and mandolins is very special indeed.

That’s what the Indiana Guitar Ensemble brought to the University of Tennessee School of Music Saturday afternoon.

Composed of both undergraduate and graduate students at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, the ensemble played a program of all 20th-century works, with several of the pieces written for them.

As in much new music, the performance techniques went beyond the traditional fingers strumming or plucking strings to using the guitar body as a drum, making eerie sounds by sliding the fingers up the strings on the fret board, and stomping feet.

The ensemble’s director and founder, Daniel Duarte, arranged several of the pieces, including his charming arrangement of three movements from Heitor Villa-Lobos’ 1951 “Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra.” Eleven of the guitarists played 11 different orchestra parts, with the solo guitar part moving around the ensemble.

Played relatively softly in the orchestral parts, the first two movements created an effect akin to standing in the middle of a flower bed while musical bees hummed tunes as they buzzed around one’s head moving from flower to flower, especially in the “Andantino” second movement. The third movement was bold and assertive.

UT faculty composer and clarinetist Jorge Variego joined the ensemble for a performance of Duarte’s arrangement for clarinet and guitar ensemble of the “Aria” from Villa-Lobos “Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, written over a span of seven years, 1938-1945.

Originally written for soprano and cellos, Variego’s clarinet had mellow vocal qualities that were smooth and lyrical.

One of the most interesting pieces on the program was Craig M. Davis’ “Floating Cities,” commissioned by IU Guitar Ensemble. Duarte encouraged the audience to move around the auditorium during the piece to get different listening perspectives on the music.

The players on one side of the group initiated a phrase, followed by the players opposite them playing a kind of echo, producing the effect of a dynamic sense of depth.

The sound flowed in wave patterns with the sound level rising and lowering while at the same time the voices moved from one side to the other. It was a magical experience of pulsing, ebbing and flowing.

In three movements from Alberto Ginastera’s 1941 “Danzas” from his ballet “Estancia,” again arranged by Duarte, the first movement featured aggressive staccato chords, knocking on the instrument bodies, snapping and slapping the guitar strings and foot stomps.

In sharp contrast, the second movement was a slow dance with lush, flowing phrases, trills on the mandolin and atmospheric harmonics played up on the necks of the guitars, which produced a transparent sound cloud.

The closing work, “Shumba,” was written last year by Variego for the ensemble. It featured two electric guitars. Basically a tango, the piece boasted the electric instruments producing mysterious wah-wahs and slurs set against violent, choppy notes on the acoustic guitars.

At moments the wobbles on the electric guitars faded into tango rhythms that emerged from sounds that were somewhere between wind blowing and a hinge slowly creaking.

https://www.knoxtntoday.com/guitar-ensemble-plays-fascinating-concert/?fbclid=IwAR228Qo2qa6LI5eUR9I6KoAfOqa-mWR1tKVN3xv_RmWN60OCwQeQEkwVbsc

On December 1st 4PM the Indiana University Guitar Ensemble will present a show at the Powell Recital Hall at the University of Tennessee. Under the direction of Mtro. Daniel Duarte, the Jacobs Guitar Ensemble performs fundamental repertoire related to the Classical Guitar tradition and various other styles while featuring original works for Guitar Ensemble and arrangements that aim to expose students to practical elements of music performance that often appear in the Guitar repertoire. The Jacobs Guitar Ensemble also provides an opportunity for its members to explore new instruments of the Guitar Family such as seven string guitars, requinto, cuatro, cavaquinho and other non-traditional instruments that are part of Guitar’s Historic development and fundamental for elements of ensemble and chamber music practice.

Indiana Guitar Ensemble

presented by

Knoxville Guitar Society & University of Tennessee School of Music

Fantasia brasileira* (2017) ……………………………………………………………….. Marcos Vieira Lucas (born 1964)

Concerto for Guitar and Small Orchestra (1951) …………………………………… Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

(arr. Daniel Duarte)

Allegro preciso

Andantino

Andante Allegro non troppo

From Bachianas No. 5 (1938-45) ……………………………………………………. Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

Ária (cantilena)

(arr. Daniel Duarte) Soloist Jorge Variego, Clarinet

Ginastera’s Dream* (2016) ……………………………………………………………………. Chrystian Dozza (born 1983)

(ed. Daniel Duarte)

Floating Cities * (2017)………………………………………………………Craig M. Davis (born 1990)

From Danzas del ballet “Estancia,” Op. 8a (1941) ………………………………….. Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

(arr. Daniel Duarte)

Los trabajadores agrícolas

Danza del trigo

Malambo

Shumba* (2017) ……………………………………………………………………………………….. Jorge Variego (born 1975)

* Dedicated to the IU Guitar Ensemble

Daniel Duarte, Director, Indiana Guitar Ensemble

Members of the Guitar Ensemble: Grace Elmer, Matt Wherley, Joshua Hurt, Thomas Jackson, YunZhe Lin, Josephine Macdougall, Peter Pendowski, Mike Reardon, Caleb Samland, Eli Hudson, Brendan Sullivan, and Anton Von Sehrwald