American guitarist and composer Aaron Larget-Caplan returns to the Center for New Music on March 6, 2025, for a solo program at 7:30pm titled ‘A Modern American Guitar Celebration.’
Larget-Caplan explores contemporary American compositions through new solos and arrangements, and premieres for electronics and guitar and a genre bending micro-opera that push the envelope of the guitar and performer and challenges the audience to rethink its position of Art in today’s world.
American composers include the California connected: John Cage, Ken Ueno, and Daniel Felsenfeld, as well as California premieres by composers Richard Cameron-Wolfe (NM), Douglas Knehans (OH), Ian Wiese (MA), and Larget-Caplan (MA/CO).
Opening with two solos by Larget-Caplan by Eastern musical traditions and a third, a world premiere, a meditation on driving the Coastal Highway.
Two solos by UC Berkeley faculty Ken Ueno and New England Conservatory faculty Ian Wiese represent Larget-Caplan’s groundbreaking endeavor the ‘New Lullaby Project,’ which has seen over 75 premiers since 2010. They prepare us for two movements from LA born/NY-based composer Daniel Felsenfeld’s first guitar solo ‘Only Winter Certainties.’
Lyrical solos by John Cage arranged by Larget-Caplan represent Aaron’s trailblazing John Cage Guitar project, the first guitar pieces to be sanctioned by the John Cage Trust for publication and recording. The two premieres from ‘Harmonies – Apartment House 1776’ were begun in the summer of 2024 at an Artist Residency Larget-Caplan spent at the John Cage Trust at Bard College.
The micro-opera ‘Heretic’ by Richard Cameron-Wolfe is a 15min tour-de-force inspired by the novel ‘The Hill of Dreams’ by Artur Machen. The work explores the psyche, the place of art in the world, and makes the guitarist act, move, sing, as well as play. Larget-Caplan’s American premiere performance in 2024 was voted Best of 2024 by The Arts Fuse.
The world premiere of Douglas Knehan’s ‘Cloud Lacrymae’ written in 2024 for guitar and electronics closes the program. The 10min solo runs the emotional gambit with improvisation elements recalling unmeasured preludes of the past and syncopated contrapuntal frenzy.