David Tanenbaum will appear in chamber music festivals in Madison, Wisconsin, San Antonio, Texas and Napa, California; in the Boston Guitarfest; and, as co artistic director, in the GFA festival in San Francisco.

At GFA he will appear in a concert he created called Friday Night from San Francisco on August 8 at Herbst Theater. In that concert he will conduct the U.S. premiere of Sergio Assad’s Trois Brasiliens a Saint Paul, and perform, with Terry Riley, the U.S. premiere of that composers Moonshine Sonata.

He will also perform chamber works of Aaron Jay Kernis and Terry Riley. For concert dates, check the Schedule page.

David Tanenbaum’s 07-08 season included performances in Brazil; Henze’s El Cimarron in Tijuana Mexico; the world premiere of Jorge Liderman’s Imaginary Tunes with Quarteto Latinamericano at Cal Berkeley; a Julian Bream tribute at the 92nd Street Y in New York; and the world premiere of Terry Riley’s new triple concerto for two guitars and violin, Soltierraluna, with the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra.

He also premiered Five Pieces for Guitar and Electronics by Ronald Bruce Smith in a featured concert at the Festival of New American Music in Sacramento, a concert which was voted the second best of the entire Sacramento year by critic Edward Ortiz. He wrote:

“…Tanenbaum delivered one of the most wide-ranging and intelligently conceived programs for one instrument in recent memory. And he left no doubt that he is one of this country’s best classical guitarists…This outstanding performance was clearly one of the best of the festival and of the concert year. It was delivered with intelligence and urgency, as if Tanenbaum was single-handedly ushering the classical guitar into the open-book realm of the 21st century.”

David Tanenbaum’s upcoming season includes performances in Brazil, Korea, Mexico and throughout the U.S. Highlights include a performance of Henze’s El Cimarron in Tijuana, Mexico; the world premiere of Jorge Liderman’s new work for guitar and string quartet with Quarteto Latinamericano at Cal Berkeley, a Julian Bream tribute at the 92nd Street Y in New York and the world premiere of Terry Riley’s new triple concerto for two guitars and violin. He will also premiere a new work by Ronald Bruce Smith for guitar with interactive electronics.

Some months after he died a guitar trio was found in Lou Harrison’s papers called Elegy for Harpo Marx, composed in 1964. The history of the piece is unclear but the version found was certainly written for guitar. Tanenbaum performed (premiered?) the work at the San Francisco Conservatory November 7, 2004 with Brian Dowdy and Rodrigo Placencia, and they recorded the work Nov. 25 for Mode Records.

The long awaited recording of John Adams‘ Naive and Sentimental Music, featuring David Tanenbaum as guitar soloist with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, was released July 30, 2002 by Nonesuch. Mark Swed, in the Los Angeles Times, writes of

‘The gorgeous solo guitar melody (elegantly played by David Tanenbaum) that haunts the central slow movement.’

The cd was nominated for a Grammy in 2003.

Tanenbaum performed the Vivaldi D Major concerto with John Adams conducting on May 11 at the Dean Lesher Center in Walnut Creek, California. Tanenbaum performed Naive and Sentimental Music with the San Francisco Symphony October 20-24, 2004

New Albion Records has released Serenado-Lou Harrison (NA 123), containing the complete solo guitar music plus arrangements from harp and piano, performed by David Tanenbaum. The CD features the first recording of the final guitar piece, Scenes from Nek Chand, which was dedicated to Charles and Carol Amirkhanian and to David Tanenbaum. The work, premiered by Tanenbaum March 7, 2002, is for National Steel Guitar, in DADGAD tuning.

Some reviews:

So far, this is my cd of the year.’ T. Hashimoto, San Francisco Examiner

’superlative…a delectable collection of Harrison’s gutar pieces performed with vigor and sensitivity by David Tanenbaum.’Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle

‘It is no surprise that following the death of Lou Harrison, one of the great champions of modern music on the guitar should provide a retrospective recording of Harrison’s idiosyncratic contributions to the repertoire. Housed in New Albion’s earth-toned, stylish packaging which, like the composer, entices the consumer with casual wildness, the new recording also surprises, as the composer did, with an intellectual rigor and honesty often obscured by outside appearances.

‘Over the last thirty years, no one has done more for new music on the guitar than David Tanenbaum. Henze, Riley (Elder, younger), Harrison, and Kernis have all found champion, friend and interpreter in Tanenbaum. Thus, it with heavy heart that Tanenbaum offers up Serenado, a collection of original works and transcriptions, which span Harrison’s fifty-year relationship with the guitar…Tanenbaums excellent program notes provide the background for his remarkable performance.’Andrew Hull, Guitarra Magazine

Tanenbaum performed the New York Premiere of Scenes from Nek Chand June 26 during the New York Guitar Seminar at Mannes College of Music.

An article on Lou Harrison and the Guitar by David Tanenbaum appeared in Guitart International Issue 4. Acoustic Guitar published an article by Tanenbaum on Harrison’s Serenado in the February 2004 issue. Articles also appeared recently on Harrison by Tanenbaum in Soundboard and Guitar Review Magazines.