Monday, November 29, 2010

I can't believe how time just zips by!

I'm still here! It is already the end of November and I am still out there playing my butt off. I have been studying like a monster but have not been up to blogging since my last input. I have so much to tell you but am in the realm of " Does anyone really want to hear this stuff?". It seems that I was asked to join a special site to share my writings. That was nice to see and maybe that will prod my desire to share. I don't have the time now but will try again to get myself on track with this blog and others on the web. Pia Gazarek-Offermann is awaiting some continuation of my coverage of her brilliant career. I have not been getting out to many concerts as I try to finally get to the best of my playing. There is awlays so much to learn and I am trying to curb my stupendous appetite for catching up with my teaching videos. There are so many nights when, while my sweet wife sleeps, I am hunched over my guitar in front of my tv trying to teach myself yet another guitar technique! I just want to cram all of these great guitar lessons down my throat! Alas,there is no magic pill that will speed up the process. I have gotta put the time in but am having the time of my life learning so much guitar! Anyway, time to take a break from the meat of tonight's work! I will see how it turns out and hope that you folks are applying yourselves to the best guitar tasks you can! See you soon right here on my blog.

Monday, October 4, 2010

DONNIE AT FALL GUITAR FESTIVAL WITH BEN VERDERY

My last blogg left you expecting a review of the Great Ben Verdery concert.I was undecided about attending the Fall Guitar Festival October 2/3 which would feature Ben as guest artist and decided after his Rubin Museum Concert that I would attend. You will be getting a mouthful from me about the Fall Guitar Festival presented by the Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York! It was P H E N O M I N A L !!!!!!
There were so many great young virtuosos and a couple of seriously outstanding Classical Guitar Luthiers!! This Festival has been my darling love for the last 10 years. I have attended 8 out of the 10 years because it is a pure love of the instrument that the people in this neck of the woods have and my first Classical Guitar teacher,DENNIS TURECHECK has led the Society to great hights over his tenure.He is retiring as President of the Society,so with that,the 10th anniversary and Benjamin Verdery my lost twin brother,you know I had to be there!!!! I look forward to sharing all the great stuff that occured this weekend. I also have not forgotten about my dear German Friend PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN,so it looks like the crazy man will have his job cut out for him.Thank you all for your patience with me.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Time Flys!

I can't believe that my last post was July 28th. Just to let you know I have been working on my post of the Great German Guitarist,Pia Gazarek-Offermann. We have exchanged e-mails recently as I am beginning to firm up the content of my review. There are many angles I am looking at and I only want the best of my ideas to grace this blog. Just to let you know that I am still playing around town as part of Music Under New York. I have just started my "60th BIRTHDAY CONCERT TOUR" of the Public Library System and for the next year will continue to spread these concerts out over hopefully all 5 boros of New York!

Last night Sunday,September 26th, BEN VERDERY gave one hell of a great Concert at the RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART in Manhatten.I will post a review either later today or tomorrow.I have known Ben since the mid 70's. This man is a genius in every which way and we must be proud that he is using our great instrument to strut his stuff!!! At 55 he continues to show us the way in so many areas. He is one of the greatest instrumentalists in HISTORY! What a creative composer!He has such a wonderful sense of humor.I was in my usual seat right under him,front row center and just ATE IT UP!!! This was the 1st concert in which I did not write notes. I just enjoyed watching him work that 2002/2003 Greg Smallman and Sons Cedar Topped Guitar. He let me taste it just after he received it in 2002 and it was a JEWEL! Easy to play no matter what you had to do! When you have a Guitar like this, you can have the whole gamut of musical expression ready at your fingertips and Ben surely showed us this facility all evening! It didn't matter if he had to make a super pianissimo or a spine shaking rasgueado, the guitar said "NO SWEAT"!.I thoroughly enjoyed just watching those hands work their magic with the music! Shadings,colors,apt tempos- everything was top notch! Ben has so many pots cooking on his musical stove all of the time that it is amazing that he has time to sleep and eat plus be a parent and husband! Several decades ago, Ben distinguished himself as a great interpreter of BACH and started his Concert tonight with the 6th Cello Suite. What a glorious performance he gave especially of the Sarabande which was so deep and moving.I was honored to be a part of the audience as this Concert was especially prepared to reflect the content of the present exhibition. I will get more into this when I deliver the review later. Any Benjamin Verdery performance is worth breaking your neck to get to,so don't ever miss him!!!!. Speak to you in a few.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Yes I AM STILL HERE!

That is what I am asking myself these days. I last left you promising to get back to you about the wonderful performances of two exceptional artists: PIA GAZAREK - OFFERMANN AND ANA VIDOVIC! My dear Pia has been anxious to check out my review of her great performances at The New York Classical Guitar Society and The Long Island Guitar Festival. Let me say that it was a rare treat to hear such an incredibly sensitive artist share her immense and deep musicality with us. Her encore of a simple Etude by Fernando Sor transported us into another world as inner voices fluttered like the wings of gentle butterflys! Her masterful performances left all saying "WHY HAVE WE NOT HEARD ABOUT HER"! Her ascent into the limelight has been delayed due to familial obligations setting her career back several times.She now is going full speed ahead and alarming all who hear her because her mastery of both Music and Guitar,will leave you so touched and moved that you will crave more and more. I am presently working on the review of her concerts and will offer you a great glimpse into the mind of a very, very special artist!

ANA VIDOVIC has taken the Classical Guitar world by storm over the last several
years! She is an incredibly gifted artist in every way and what an incredibly beautiful and thoughtful person! I have been lucky to have known her for several years and I even had the care free nerve to ask her to marry me during a concert for the Upstate Classical Guitar Society a couple of years ago! ( I was of course joking but that comment mirroed the thoughts of all the guitar playing/loving males in the room!).Those of you who know me know that I never hold back my thoughts about people who touch me deeply! ANA VIDOVIC deserves every single accolade she has received because it is all true! Take, for instance,her performance at the Long Island Guitar Festival! After completely sending us to heaven with her fantastic concert, she asked the audience "What would you like to hear?". I didn't need to attend her Sunday Masterclass as I have been to a couple over the years and know that she has a gentle and loving way with her students. This woman also has a stage aura that just glows. Every gown I have seen her in has been so beautiful and she looks model perfect in them all! Her beauty is natural and I told her a couple of times over the years that she doesn't need any makeup at all! Let me tell you that she always serves the main intention of each composition she plays. She will not play anything she does not love just to fill out a program. I will relay to you that when she played a concert here in New York a year or so ago , she chose to play some Tarrega because she loves his works. I heard that some people walked out of her concert exclaiming that it was beneath her to play such trivial pieces! I am glad I was not at that concert because I would have given them a piece of my mind. At this time, Dear Ana is incredibly popular because she has it all: Fantastic Viruosity,Top Shelf Musicianship,Great Beauty and Darling personality. I've told her that I hope she never changes because she is such a lovely person and great example of a great artist and warm human being! I am glad she has been a part of my life over the past few years and I hope to continue our friendship till I kick the bucket!

Let me end this post by getting back to you about PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN.She will cast a spell on you when you get a chance to experience her mind blowing depth of artistry. This wonderful artist and beautiful human being, will have you travel to every nook and cranie of the musical world.I will be doing my best to have her better known by you all over the next year or so. I have taken my time to write about her because I am trying to figure out what is the best way to open you into her magnificent musical aura! I interviewed her a couple of times during her one week stay here in New York and have so much material that I am slapping my head to make sense of it all.I want to do her justice because she is one of our Classical Guitar World's great treasures! Mark my words: "WE ARE IN THE COMPANY OF GREATNESS IN THE PERSON OF PIA GAZAREK OFFERMANN!". Here I am at 4:36 am Wednesday morning tearing up my keyboard feeling good once again about this wonderful and facinating world of the Classical Guitar. I will not give you a timeline on the final post of the concert reviews of these two exceptional artists as I can't trust myself these days as I drift in and out of depression about the world situations. There is so much that has made me so sad and depressed about the Wars,Oil Spill,Haiti,New Orleans, our so called Leaders and generally people killing and harming each other. I will tell you that at times I feel like ending it all so I don't have to witness yet another bad thing that bumans do to each other, the animals, the earth!! What keeps me from not taking that terrible step is the sanity of MUSIC and the deep and enduring love of my lovely wife! When I yet leave my house for another gig-especially when I really would rather lie in bed and feel sad,I get immediate feedback when I touch the strings of my instrument and do my best to conquer this negative world of ours! On my darkest days, someone always take a second or two to let me know that my music making matters. Being 60 may have a little to do with it in that I have not truly made the mark I want to make in my music,so am in the mist of finally being all that I "Should have been"! Stay tuned because my best is yet to come!! Till next post, may you all keep the child-like wonder for this instrument alive and growing.

Monday, May 3, 2010

I'm still Around!

It is already the beginning of May! I can't believe that I have been dormant for so long! As I believed I mentioned a while back, I have been looking at my Guitar life and have not been happy at what I have surveyed as I just turned 60 in April ( 6th ). By not being happy, I mean to say that I have been supporting so many of my friends and colleagues by attending their concerts and Festivals and workshops and gigs and neglecting my own career so it is time to concentrate on MY PLAYING! I have been on the Guitar scene since the early 60's playing my butt off starting as a Folk singing Guitarist then getting into the Classical Guitar thanks to Andres Segovia. I had a chance to thank Segovia during an intermission of Michael Lorimer's Debut concert here in New York a few decades ago. I told the Maestro how he converted me from the Classical Piano to the Classical Guitar. He said " MOOWEE BIEN ME AMIGO!YOU CHANGE FROM THEE PIANO TO THEE GEETARRR" MUY BIEN!!
Of course I looked around and people were all pointing to him but no one had the balls to just walk up and say Hello! After all, he is a human being and he doesn't walk on water! Although it was he who introduced me to the lovely world of the Classical Guitar, Julian Bream showed me the most extreme use of tone color which transported me to the land of the Sound Gods! I really miss Julian because he always left his musical guts on the stage when he performed. I always looked forward to what ever instrument he would be performing on as he would make a shoe box with strings sound the the most glorious sounds in heaven!

I have been fortunate to have studied with just about all of the finest I have wanted to study with in my life. I just gave a really nice performance ths past Saturday May 1st , at the public
Library Branch in New Dorp Staten Island. At this time I have no other library Gigs set up as I am trying to work on many new things! I know of so many wonderful works for the Guitar that are being ignored and I will devote the rest of my life on the Guitar bringing forth these gems in my concerts.

Recently, I attended two superb concerts by two outstanding female artists : ANA VIDOVIC and PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN. My next post will share the details of these great artists. Those concerts have re-awakened my desire to start up my blog again as they struck me deeply with the depth and beauty of their artistry. Of course, ANA VIDOVIC is on the front burner of the Classical Guitar world due to her great beauty and totally fantastic playing. have followed her for several years now and am proud to call her a friend. She is also one of the finest and sweetest people on the planet! She is totally gracious and warm and giving to the public. She has taken some pot shots from some people because she plays things that she likes and when she plays things like Tarrega , there was some grumbling and I heard some people walked. That is their loss because this young woman is totally comitted to each and every work that goes through her hands! I love her dearly! When she gave her concert recently at the Long Island Guitar Festival, she had the audacity to aks the audience what they wanted to hear! What spunk and graciousness! She has an aura of an exceptional ARTIST and extremely warm human bing! You just want to jump on the stage and hug her! As a matter of fact a few years ago whcn she was the guest artist at the Classical Guitar Society of Upstate New York , I shouted from the audience " WILL YOU MARRY ME"! This was after she totally melted the audience with her towering virtuosity and sweet stage presence! She must be seen in person even though there is a Concert video of her by Mel Bay available! She is also a exceptionally gifted teacher who knows how to encourage her students with gentility and clarity. More about my dear ANA in the concert post.

PIA GAZAREK-OFFERMANN is another totally phenominally gifted ARTIST who should be up there foremost in the minds of Classical Guitar community because she is one of our greatest living Guitarists but the least known for various reasons! I have been a colleague and friend of hers for a few years now 1st meeting her and her equally great husband THOMAS OFFERMANN at the Yale School a several years ago and then again here in Brooklyn when she was presented by my dear buddy LARS FRANDSEN at Brooklyn College! I was instrumental in securing her for the New York Classical Guitar Society "Second Sunday Concert Series" . She was already contracted to perform at the same Long Island Classical Guitar Festival as ANA VIDOVIC. PIAS' playing is both poetic and deep. Due to familial obligations, her rise to the top of the Classical Guitar world has been held up but once you hear this exceptional artistry, you will be knocked off of your ignorance seat! This woman is so incredible no matter what she touches! Her tone is all that great tone can be! Technique to give away! A great interpreter in the highest realms! I will give you more of the details in the coming blogg of her two excellent performances. I was also lucky to hang with Pia for a few hours during her New York stay and mark my words- You will be hearing quite a bit about this outstanding artist in our near future because I am devoting much energy to making sure she is better known in our Classical Guitar Community. Stay tuned Folks! Glad to be back!~

Donnie Witter

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Back to posting after illness

Hi folks! I am attempting to get back into the swing of things after a very wierd 2009 in which I had a stent put into a vein due to 95% blockage and had also to deal with treatments for prostate cancer. This human body is a great invention but when things go wrong, it is always great to be able to catch it early in the stage.
Since this is my first post of 2010, I felt I should lead off with the reasons for no posts. I have been on the Classical and Jazz Guitar scene since the mid-60's going to workshops,masterclasses,lessons,Concerts like a madman! In 2008 an incident with the Classical Guitar Society of New York broke my heart so I decided to withdraw from the Guitar scene and concentrate on my own development which I have abdicated for decades in order to support my colleagues by attending their concerts and gigs around town. I will be 60 in April and find that I am playing better then ever because I have been using my private library to finally work with the great lessons I have collected over the decades. I am like a little child in a candy store because I am learning so many juicy things about playing this great instrument. Even on the web there is an enormous amount of great lessons for anything you may want to learn. Each of the major Guitar magazines have a site full of videos and lessons so the only thing stopping you is your laziness! As I return to this blogg, I intend to share what I have gathered in order to help you folks get into playing this great instrument. To those of you who know me, I remain a guitar lover of 1st rank. I'm getting back to hitting the workouts so I can live longer in order to accomplish my set goals for Guitar Mastery.
I am in my 14th year as a performing musician of the MUSIC UNDER NEW YORK program sponsored by the New York City Transit Authority and am proud of this achievement. I play year round in the Subway System and other public venues. I don't care what the weather is doing, rain,snow,sun, I make my gigs and am happy to show people what this great instrument can do with its' 6 strings! Even though we are in bad shape economically,I and my fellow artists in the program continue to move forward to add to the positive side of life by sharing our talent with the world. I have been fortunate to have studied with some of the greatest artists in the Guitar world, Classical,Jazz and otherwise.This year I hope to finally update my website which is woefully behind in current information about my most recent exploits. I must take a moment to publically hug my dear wife and life partner Heidi for putting up with me all this years! Especially through thick and thin, we remain in love with each other and I have many times told her how I don't deserve her. This woman is an incredible human being and would hope that you folks out there can be as lucky as I am to share your life with someone so special. Our body shapes have changed over the years but our devotion to each other remains as strong as when we first fell for each other!
Hope this is not too much rambling on. I know that at this point in my life, I want to accomplish all the things I have suspended by supporting my colleagues in their careers. Well as I listen to one of my favorite musicians - RALPH TOWNER who is 70 this year, I am stunned that I was a teenager following Ralph and his group OREGON ( which is 40 years old ! ). To know that I am as old as I am with so many great positive experiences under my life belt, I crave a future of more joyful ones. This coming Saturday, I will be giving a special Valentine's Day concert at the South Beach Branch of the Public Library System in Staten Island. It is a new program and I will be playing my butt off. It starts a 2pm and will be several sweet works to usher in the following days' celebration. See you there! Glad to be back in blogging service!