Newman & Oltman to Perform at New York Guitar Seminar, 6/26

The celebrated Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo will appear at the Mannes Concert Hall on Thursday, June 26 at 7:30pm. Michael Newman and Laura Oltman will perform the music of JS Bach, Canova da Milano, Liebermann, Moravec, Karmon and Albeniz. The Mannes Concert Hall is located at 150 West 85th Street. Tickets are $25.00; $15.00 for students and seniors.

The 14th New York Guitar Series at Mannes, Masters from the Academy, takes place from June 24-26, The seminar also offers an array of activities and programmed events that include faculty concerts, master classes, lectures and workshops. For more information about the seminar, please visit: www.mannesguitar.com

Newman & Oltman's concert tours have taken them to world cultural capitals and premiere venues across five continents. The Duo has demonstrated extraordinary stylistic breadth in their collaborations with such diverse artists as violinist Tim Fain, pianist Clarice Assad, composer/conductor Marvin Hamlisch and the Pittsburgh Symphony Pops; fiddler Eileen Ivers and numerous string quartets including ETHEL, Calder, and Turtle Island.

Highlights of recent and upcoming performances include the world premiere of "Concierto Buenos Aires" composed for the Duo by Nuevo Tango Master Daniel Binelli with l'Orchestre de l'Opéra de Reims in France. Following on the success of the Concierto's French debut the Duo "charmed the Ferguson audience with phenomenal musicianship" (Gazette Journal) when they performed it with the Virginia Symphony. Newman & Oltman's European engagements include the Lanciano Ensemble Workshop of the Frentana Summer Festival and the Volterra Guitar Project both in Italy, and the Iserlohn International Festival in Germany. Last fall took them to Brazil where they performed and lectured at the VI Academic Guitar Symposium. Other recent appearances include the Universities of Wisconsin and Southern Mississippi.

Through their groundbreaking new music-commissioning program, Newman & Oltman have built a unique repertoire of works for two guitars by leading and emerging composers such as Paul Moravec, Augusta Read Thomas, Lowell Libermann, Dusan Bogdanovic, Arthur Kampela and Roberto Sierra. Fanfare Magazine hailed the Duo's latest CD, Music from River, as "top notch" and "a winner all around." Their artistry has also been captured on a dozen other acclaimed recordings.

Recognized for their contributions to the world of music, Newman and Oltman have received grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and other national and international organizations, including the ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.

In addition to founding and serving as artistic directors of the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes, Michael Newman and Laura Oltman have served as ensemble-in-residence at Mannes College of Music since 1987. They also are the founders and artistic directors of the Raritan River Music Festival which marked its 25th year this season. They are artistic advisors to the D'Addario Foundation Performance Series at Carnegie Hall and are the 2013-14 Alan and Wendy Pesky Artists-In-Residence at Lafayette College.