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AMERICAN CLASSICAL GUITARIST PETER FLETCHER TO APPEAR IN RECITAL AT WEILL RECITAL HALL AT CARNEGIE HALL MARCH 27, 2010 Program Includes Eric Satie’ s Rarely Performed “Sports et Divertissements”

The American guitarist Peter Fletcher, noted for expanding the repertoire of his instrument, will present a varied program of works ranging from Bach to Satie, in both original and transcription versions on Saturday evening, March 27th, 8:30 p.m., at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, 154 West 57th Street. The complete program follows:

Tickets are $20 and $30 may be obtained at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, from CarnegieCharge at 212-247-7362, or online at www.carnegiehall.org.

French composer Erik Satie collaborated with illustrator Charles Martin to create “Sports et Divertissements,” a series of miniatures, each of which was composed to accompany a sketch depicting various sports and pastimes. Written in 1914 but not performed until the early 1920s, “Sports et Divertissements” was originally scored for piano. In this version for guitar, Mr. Fletcher will be accompanied by a narration of Satie’s French texts by Daniel Brondel, Associate Director of Music at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. Born and raised in France, Mr. Brondel is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music. The program will include a selection of Mr. Martin’s brilliant illustrations along with English translations of Mr. Satie’s accompanying narrative texts. Mr. Fletcher will also perform Prelude and Ritual from Four Pieces by New York-based guitarist and composer David Leisner. Mr. Leisner has created a set of highly idiomatic guitar compositions whose tactile and open-string effects evoke the work of the great Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos.

A versatile and in-demand artist, Peter Fletcher performs over 100 concerts every year. In addition to playing standard works for classical guitar, Mr. Fletcher believes in expanding the rather limited guitar repertoire by transcribing music from other instruments, and programming new works. The American Record Guide wrote about Peter Fletcher: “He has a strong technique, a consistent tone, and a bold interpretive imagination.” And the New York City Classical Guitar Society’s Nylon Review said simply: “Mr. Fletcher is one of the finest and most accomplished guitarists now appearing before the public.”

In September 2005 Centaur Records released Peter Fletcher plays Erik Satie, an all-Satie project featuring Fletcher's guitar transcriptions. Reviewing the recording for The American Record Guide, Steven Rings wrote, “the works all sit very nicely on the guitar, and Fletcher's performances are taut and incisive, counteracting the common tendency to play Satie's music like sleepy New Age."

Mr. Fletcher’s many radio and television appearances have included Storyline on the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), Fox- Affiliate WAGA-TV’s “Good Day Atlanta,” NBC Lima News WLIO in Ohio, KCSC in Oklahoma City, and Long Island’s Public Radio WLIU.

Mr. Fletcher’s latest release, Peter Fletcher plays Baroque Music for Guitar (2008) on the Towerhill Recordings label, also received high praise. His 2002 Centaur Records release, Federico Mompou: Guitar Works, was reviewed by Peter Burwasser in the July/August 2003 issue of Fanfare Magazine: "Guitarist Peter Fletcher keeps it blissfully simple...The balance of this program consists of piano music transcribed by Fletcher, but the music flows effortlessly from one instrument to another. Fletcher plays it all with a gracious virtuosity that makes for a very pleasing hour plus of unaffected musical poetry." Mompou’s widow, Carmen Bravo, whom Mr. Fletcher visited at the time he was transcribing and recording the great Catalan composer’s works, said of him, “I heard him play the music of Federico Mompou and was able to observe in him a refined sensibility, much affinity for this music, plus a high technical level that justifies his excellent artistic trajectory."

Mr. Fletcher’s next recording project with Centaur, scheduled to be released this year, will be an all-Grieg album, for which he himself is writing the guitar transcriptions.
Having begun guitar study at the age of seven under classical guitar instructor John Sutherland, Mr. Fletcher made his debut at the age of 15 under the auspices of The Brasstown Concert Association in North Carolina. An early review revealed what great promise the young artist showed: “He has technical facility but what one remembers about his playing is the nuances, the poetical phrasing, dynamic and tonal changes, his harmonics, his cadences.” (The Cherokee Scout, December 1983.) In 1990, the Music Teacher's National Association (MTNA) awarded Fletcher a prize at its National Level Competition. In 1995, he received the Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music under Nicholas Goluses, and was twice the recipient of an Eastman Graduate Award.

For further information please contact Hemsing Associates at 212-772-1132 or visit www.hemsingpr.com

To order tickets online, click here.

For booking inquiries, contact Phillip Truckenbrod of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists at 860-560-7800 or visit them on the web at www.concertartists.com

Carnegie Hall Press Release (.pdf)