Guest Artist Workshop & Masterclass | Eva Beneke

Challenging the Canon - Works by Female Composers
Eva Beneke holds her guitar in an outdoors setting
Event Date & Time
| -
Event Location
Lloyd Ultan Recital Hall in Ferguson Hall

2106 4th St S
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Challenging the Canon - Works by Female Composers 

An investigation of repertoire, biographies and circumstances of women in music throughout the centuries. From social norms to music reception - there are multiple, known reasons for the traditional absence of works by women in the so-called canon, that strongly influence choices for teaching, performance and competition repertoire until today.
 
This workshop and masterclass introduce exciting and meaningful pieces for solo classical guitar and chamber music. With musical examples by Barbara Strozzi, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Catharina Pratten, Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi, Sofia Gubaidulina, Germaine Tailleferre, Jana Obrovska and many more.
 
This event is supported by a SEO grant from UMN student life. 
 
This School of Music event is free and open to the public. A livestream will be available at this link (click on the Lloyd Ultan Recital Hall events in the callout box). 
 

Artist Bio

Born in East-Berlin, Eva Beneke was drawn to music via her father´s guitar collection. 
At age 3, she also demanded a piano to accompany her repertoire (socialist children´s songs, Beethoven chorales and the obligatory Für Elise) a wish that was met by her parents in form of a tiny red toy-piano.

Her music studies started with a foundation in theory and performance of classical music, complemented by weekly escapades as guitarist and song-writer for the pop/jazz band “Colores de Mellow”, a formation that survived her teenage years by a few more and led to some local fame in the Pankow district of her hometown Berlin.  

Eva went on to successfully study classical guitar at the Berlin University of Arts. Later on, the mentorship and friendship of one of Germany’s most influential guitarist, Thomas Müller-Pering, sparked a love for chamber-music and a fascination with higher education. During those years at the “Franz Liszt-Hochschule” in Weimar, her days consisted of 6-8 hour practice sessions, long nights of arranging art-songs by Schubert and Bach-suites to the guitar, sight-reading marathons with other musicians and the satisfaction of denying the existence of a world outside the practice-room.

When the realities of pursuing a music career outside the practice chamber finally hit home, Eva moved to Los Angeles, where she then morphed into an entrepreneurial musician. Armed with the curiosity of a child that grew up behind the Berlin wall, one suitcase, two guitars and a doctorate from the University of Southern California, she started crafting what is now a career that rests on three pillars: performance, education and entrepreneurship.  

What makes this musician stand out is her openness to many art forms and pathways of music and art. Seminal musical encounters with guitarist Scott Tennant, rapper Dessa, country-singer Carrie Underwood or the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra are part of her growing portfolio. A tested performer, accompanist, arranger and musical partner she nurtures her many musical interests while staying true to her instrument, the classical guitar. With four records under her belt, the latest being a NAXOS-release of 19th century Spanish music for voice and guitar (2016, with mezzo soprano Nerea Berraondo) she is an internationally sought-after chamber musician.


A passionate educator, Eva has taught music to every age-group from kindergarten to seniors, from teaching beginning guitar classes in crime-ridden South Central L.A. to installing a classical guitar program at McNallySmith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. She now is serving as a professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Eva Beneke lives in Berlin with her husband, photographer Stefan Maria Rother.

Photos by Stefan Maria Rother

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