David Tanenbaum is one of the most sought after
and highly esteemed guitarists of his generation. He has performed
throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, the former Soviet
Union and Asia, and in 1988 he became the first American guitarist
to be invited to perform in China by the Chinese government.
He has been guest soloist with, among others, the London Sinfonietta,
the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, the Oakland Symphony and Vienna's ORF orchestra.
David Tanenbaum has been a featured soloist at many international
festivals, including those of Bath, Luzern, Frankfurt, Barcelona
and Vienna as well as numerous guitar festivals in four continents.
In 1989, as President of the Second American Classical Guitar
Congress, he commissioned five new works, including Rosewood
by Henry Brant for 100 guitars. He subsequently conducted Rosewood
in performances that included guitarists of all ages on Finnish
television, and in San Francisco, Darwin, Australia, as well
as Frankfurt and Iserlohn, Germany.
While his repertoire
encompasses diverse styles, David Tanenbaum is recognized as
one of today's most eloquent proponents of new guitar repertoire.
Among the dozens of works written for him is Hans Werner Henze's
guitar concerto An Eine Äolsharfe, which he premiered throughout
Europe and recorded with the composer conducting, Terry Riley's
first guitar piece, Ascención, three works by Aaron Jay
Kernis, two works by Roberto Sierra, a suite by John Anthony
Lennon and a series of pieces by his father, Elias Tanenbaum.
He has toured extensively with Steve Reich and Musicians, was
invited to Japan in 1991 by Toru Takemitsu, and has had a long
association with the Ensemble Modern of Germany. As a chamber
musician he has collaborated with, among others, the Kronos,
Shanghai, Alexander and Chester String Quartets, Ida and Ani
Kavafian,dancer Tandy Beal and guitarist Manuel Barrueco. He
recently appeared on a John Williams and Friends concert of the
complete guitar music of Peter Sculthorpe in Australia.
David Tanenbaum's
recordings, which reflect his broad repertoire interests, can
be found on New Albion, EMI, Ars Musici, Rhino, GSP, Audiofon,
Green Linnett and Innova Digital Archive. His Estudios recording
is the best seller on the GSP label, and his El Porteño
CD of the music of Astor Piazzolla is one of the best sellers
on the New Albion label. His CD Acoustic Counterpoint was picked
by the San Francisco Examiner as one of the 25 most important
CD's of the music of the last 25 years. In October, 1999 he recorded
the guitar solo in John Adam's Naive and Sentimental Music with
the Los Angeles Philharmonic for Nonesuch.
David Tanenbaum is
currently Chairman of the Guitar Department at the San Francisco
Conservatory of Music, where he received the 1995 Outstanding
Professor Award, and he has been on the faculty of Mills College
as well as Artist-In-Residence at the Manhattan School of Music.
His students have won major guitar competitions, such as GFA
and Portland, and numerous former students hold university positions
internationally. He has produced many editions of guitar music,
including the David Tanenbaum Concert Series for Guitar Solo
Publications. He has also written a series of three books, The
Essential Studies, which analyze the etudes of Sor, Carcassi
and Brouwer and compliment his recordings of those works on GSP.
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