PORT ANGELES — Classical guitarist Rodger Bennett will perform in the Maier Hall Performance Series with a concert at 7 p.m. Saturday in Maier Hall at Peninsula College.
He is only the second guitarist to be featured in the history of the series at the college, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd.
General admission tickets for the concert are $15.
Students (of any age, with ID) will be admitted for $5.
Tickets are available online at http://bookaneer.pencol.edu/Merchandise.aspx or can be purchased at the door.
Bennett has performed around the globe as a classical guitar soloist and in ensembles.
He has been the featured soloist for the Mesquite Symphony where he performed the “Concerto in D” by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and the celebrated “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquín Rodrigo.
He also has served as the artist-in-residence for the Texas Commission for the Arts, the Texarkana Regional Arts Council, the Idaho Commission on the Arts and the Idaho Commission on the Humanities.
Bennett has devised an exceptionally diverse program entitled “Pairings.”
Renaissance masters of the lute and guitar — such as John Dowland, Robert Johnson and Luis de Milan — bump up against 20th century composers Heitor Villa-Lobos, Antonio Lauro and Roland Dyens.
In between these extremes are some of the most important composers of guitar music from the Classical and Romantic eras: Fernando Sor (his “Magic Flute” Variations), Francisco Tarrega (the soulful classic, “Recuerdos de la Alhambra”) and Mauro Giulani (the Handel Variations).
Bennett is an unabashed lover of American musical theater and several of his transcriptions of this rich repertoire are interwoven throughout the evening: selections from “West Side Story,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Little Night Music.”
Bennett has long been involved in education, taking on many roles during the course of his career, including music professor, chairman of the Temple College Music Department and head of the Guitar Division at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
He assumed the position of Brookhaven College’s dean of the School of the Arts and the Division of Physical Education, Athletics and Nutrition where he worked closely with his colleague, Elaine Gardner-Morales, now of the Peninsula College faculty.
Bennett retired as the vice president of academic affairs and student success at Brookhaven College in February 2015.
This has allowed him even more time to concertize and to teach guitar lessons in North and Central Texas.
When he is not engaged in his music, he serves as a research consultant for the Dallas County Community College District where he helps the colleges in design thinking and strategic planning projects.
For more information, contact Dr. David Jones at djones@pencol.edu.
