"Taste of the Holidays" with Minnesota Musicians and recipes from the "Splendid Table"

Classical MPR traditionally puts out its 7th volume of a holiday music compilation, featuring Eva Beneke as solo guitarist.

The host of Regional Spotlight on Classical MPR,  Steve Staruch has long been committed to the rich and vibrant choral and instrumental traditions in Minnesota.

To highlight the wonderful music in our midst, Staruch selected accomplished regional artists with strong Holiday repertoire to showcase in Classical Minnesota Public Radio's 'Taste of the Holidays' series.

Last year, the program featured local musicians in a holiday special broadcast on Classical MPR. As a result of the show´s success MPR is doubling the pleasure by adding selections from the broadcast special with delicious recipes from Lynne Rossetto Kasper of American Public Media's The Splendid Table and mixing it all together in a CD.

And it's only available from MPR!
Tune in to listen to the CD presentation on Dec. 1, 6 p.m. — Taste of the Holidays (live)
with host Steve Staruch and recipes by Lynne Rossetto Kasper

Eva Beneke visits Las Vegas Arts Academy

World Premiere of New Guitar Ensemble Music
Swiss composer Jürg Kindle, writes compositions for the Las Vegas Academy Guitar Program,
Dr. Eva Beneke to perform.

Las Vegas, NV: The Las Vegas Academy Guitar Ensemble will be premiering four new works written by internationally acclaimed composer Jürg Kindle who dedicated these pieces to Bill Swick-Director of the LVA Guitar Program.  The premiere is scheduled for Friday, October 14 at 7:00 p.m. in the Lowden Theater on the Las Vegas Academy campus.  Admission is only $7.00.

The four premiere selections are entitled Blue Train, Red Train, Green Train and Yellow Train.  Each piece offers various shades of train sounds combined with contemporary harmonies and unique techniques for guitar.  The academic guitar world is excited about the addition of these new works by world renowned Jürg Kindle.  These works will be released for purchase the Monday following the premiere.  For now, only the Las Vegas Academy has a copy of this music.

In addition to the premiere, the LVA Guitar Ensembles will be joined by internationally acclaimed classical guitarist Dr. Eva Beneke, currently the professor of guitar at McNally Smith College of Music.  Dr. Beneke will perform a concerto with the Varsity 3 guitar ensemble.

The Las Vegas Academy Guitar Program under the direction of Bill Swick has been featured in DownBeat Magazine, Just Jazz Guitar Magazine, School Band and Orchestra Magazine, The National Association for Music Educators Teaching Music Magazine, and the Guitar Foundation of America Soundboard.  This program was the first in the country to be recognized by the GRAMMY Foundation with the prestigious Gibson Award. This program is also a four-time recipient of the DownBeat Magazine Award.  The LVA Guitar Program has recorded sixteen CD’s and has over one thousand YouTube videos.

Eva Beneke with LVAA students in 2015

Bach Society of Minnesota appoints new board member

Congratulations to the new director of the Bach Society, Matthias Maute! Maute won the JUNO Award—the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy—for Best Classical Album of the Year (Vocal or Choral Performance) for Gloria! Vivaldi”s Angels on the Analekta label.
Eva Beneke was asked to join the board of directors of the Bach Society in September of 2016.

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New NAXOS album to be released in 2017!

Spanish mezzo-soprano Nerea Berraondo and German guitarist Eva Beneke met through mutual musical friends, and began exploring the Spanish voice/guitar repertoire. As a result of this collaboration and the critical acclaim they received so far, the duo has been signed by the acclaimed NAXOS label to undertake a complete recording of Fernando Sor´s repertoire for voice and guitar. This album, to be released in 2017, will include Sor ́s famous Seguidillas, along with some lesser known songs, Lied and Sor´s own Arrangements of Mozart’s Don Giovanni Arias, along with other yet to be discovered treasures.