**Take advantage of advance ticket prices, as they go up the day of the show!** ADV: $18/$16 MEM; DOS: $20/$18 MEM
Internationally acclaimed acoustic guitarist Beppe Gambetta is continually composing his personal mosaic of sounds and flavors. From his unique roots developing as an Italian musician in love with American country and bluegrass as well as the music of his native country, Gambetta has traveled the world and even crossed the “Iron Curtain” to dazzle and charm music enthusiasts everywhere. After 11 CDs, four DVDs, four teaching books and numerous collaborations with many other top-flight musicians, Gambetta is increasingly known as one of the true live master innovators of the acoustic guitar.
While Gambetta still lives in his native Geneva, he travels to North America at least twice each year. His reputation in the U.S. and Canada is reinforced by his participation in prestigious festivals like the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kan., Merlefest in N.C., the Kerrville Folk Festival in Tex., and Canadian Folk Festivals in Winnipeg and Edmonton, as well as events like the radio shows All Things Considered and E-Town. Gambetta is also featured in the movie “The Primal Twang” and has performed in prestigious rooms like the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
In his career he has performed with some great heroes of the folk scene like David Grisman, Doc Watson, Norman Blake, Gene Parsons, Béla Fleck and, on a regular basis, with Dan Crary and with the band Men Of Steel: an international guitar summit (Dan Crary, Tony McManus and Don Ross) of different guitar schools with complex musical interaction.
With his latest CD, Rendez-vous, Gambetta says: “I’m trying to break the borders of the flatpicking technique in a creative way, experimenting new, ‘full-sounding’ solutions to obtain a sort of a ‘plectrum-fingerstyle’ sound in an unusual synthesis. I have the pleasure to present to the listeners artists that come from completely different artistic worlds in a really stimulating combination: from the singer songwriting avant-garde of Patty Larkin and Darrell Scott to the Italian wave of the Sixties of Francesco Guccini, from the newgrass mastery of Missy Raines and Jim Hurst to the early-music tenor voice of Marco Beasley; from the button accordion of my son Filippo Gambetta to the guitar of the Brasilian maestro Marco Pereira, from the progressive European style of French mandolinist Patrick Vaillant to the ethno-urban percussions of Marco Fadda and the jazzy bass of Riccardo Barbera.”
In a world dominated by the trends and logic of the market, Gambetta’s playing and singing stand out for their intimate emotions, communication, research in tone, sobriety and humor. An inspired music that modestly avoids relying solely on his high level of technical excellence, but also reveals the innermost feelings of a brilliant, playful mind that is always firmly exploring and innovating while staying firmly routed in tradition.
Opening for Gambetta is Denver’s own Doug Wood, whose Dreamcatcher album was nominated Best Acoustic Album of 2007 by KUNC 91.5 FM.
