Guitarist finds opportunities online
Instrumentalist and educator makes the most of online opportunities
With summer’s end in sight, this seems like a good moment to check in and see how some of our local musicians have been doing. One who comes instantly to mind is classical guitarist Adrian Verdejo, who has adeptly turned disappointments into opportunities.
Verdejo moved from Victoria to join the Vancouver music scene about a decade ago. He has developed a strong reputation as the go-to guy for new music featuring guitar. In his best-laid plans, the summer of 2020 was supposed to be devoted to performance-oriented travel. By spring it was obvious that a planned trip to Mexico with chamber music partner Mark Takeshi McGregor wasn’t going to happen. But lots of other things did.
“Fortunately, projects started to come in,” Verdejo says. “Resourceful
friends set things up, especially a series of videos produced by Jordan Nobles and Sean Bickerton of the Canadian Music Centre, which developed very sophisticated results with minimal resources.”
Another initiative saw the McGregor/Verdejo Duo hired to play at the Powell Street Festival.
“We showcased a new Hiroki Tsurumoto commission, recorded as a live telethon reflecting traditional and contemporary Japanese culture,” Verdejo says.
Also included was a piece by Kara Gibbs with Verdejo’s Vancouver Community College colleague soprano Dory Hayley.
Verdejo’s August activities revolve around a call for new guitar compositions.
A Little Further Series: Call for Miniatures #2 is an initiative by Vancouver Pro Musica to companion an earlier call for new scores for clarinet.
“The idea is works up to two minutes long for solo performers,” Verdejo says.
Submitted pieces for classical guitar, electric guitar, and acoustic guitar will be selected for a concert on Oct. 25, which will be streamed from his home studio. Check out vancouverpromusica.ca.
New music has taken to our changed circumstances particularly well. While traditional concerts have gone at least temporarily by the wayside, other activities are multiplying thanks to technology. Verdejo regrets that a concert for New Music Vancouver had to be postponed, and he particularly misses performing for the Health Arts Society in hospices and adult daycare centres. But in the fall he will be adding podcasts for Redshift Music as another new music-centred outreach.
His teaching continues both at VCC and, in the fall, at New Westminster’s
Douglas College. New ways of engaging with students have emerged from the chaos of lockdown.
“In the beginning, I joined everyone in the mad scramble to stream online,” Verdejo says. “Since, I’ve learned a lot about doing it with individuals and in a classroom format. I’ve worked online with students living outside the core of Vancouver. The obvious thing is that they can stay in the comfort of their own homes. Another major advantage is not having to allow for transportation time. Students are generally quite comfortable in one-on-one lessons, because we can still have eye contact.
“A lot of academic courses are now evolving more efficient models for educators. We have technology that we didn’t even dream of 10 years ago, so the future is promising. We just have to continue refining the flow of information.”