Notes on The Arts

Classical guitarist Benjamin Verdery is the featured soloist with the Simon Sinfonientta, under the direction of Stephen Simon, this Saturday, February 18. The concert starts at 7:30 PM at Falmouth Academy. He is perform two beautiful guitar concerti: Vivaldi’sGuitar Concerto in D Major (originally written for lute) and Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez.

Also on the program is Mozart’s rarely performed Symphony No. 38 in D Major, “The Prague,” Carl Maria von Weber’s  Symphony No. 2.

For tickets,  call 508-457-9696 or visit www.simonsinfonietta.org.

I interviewed Ben last month at his office at Yale University. He talked the two concerti he will be playing, his Cape Cod connections, and about why he took up the guitar,. He is a wonderfully entertaining person, and his love of music, all kinds of music, shines through:

And, one of my favorite “deleted scenes” where Ben talks about one of his very special guitars, one painted by cellist  and painter Aldo Pariso, also a professor at Yale:

For more information on Benjamin Verdery, visit benjaminverdery.com