Andre Feriante

Over 20 years of performing and recording, award-winning, virtuoso Italian-born guitarist Andre Feriante has left his musical mark on the classical, world music, and fusion scenes. His classical pedigree is impeccable, having trained with Colombian concert guitarist Henry Rivas, renowned New York guitarist Leon Atkinson, and Jose Tomas, assistant to the legendary Andres Segovia, but his creative performance style, which draws on his gift for improvisation and a broad understanding of many musical and cultural traditions, has made a substantial impact on audiences of all kinds.

A cross-over artist in the vein of YoYo Ma or Sting, his performance program represents a bold but fluid musical fusion, featuring music from Bach to Leonard Cohen, flamenco improvisation to jazz standards, and even poetry by Federico Garcia Lorca, Rumi, and Feriante himself. Internationally acclaimed, he's performed at an Andres Segovia Master Class in Madrid, at Javeriana University in Bogota, Colombia, and for the Jose Carreras Leukemia Foundation at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Now based in Seattle, he has established himself as a local favorite. Seattleites look forward to his much anticipated annual performance at Benaroya Hall, and Feriante has played a wide variety of local venues including The King Cat Theatre (where he opened for Olita Adams and David Benoit), The Frye Art Museum, The Paramount Theater, and the Key Arena, where he performed the National Anthem for the Seattle Sonics.

Festival appearances include the Maui Music Festival, the Seattle Folklife Festival, Seattle Hempfest and Bumbershoot. He makes regular appearances on Seattle radio and television and was featured on the Classical King FM Compilation Natural Symphony CD, as well as on the Tigerbreath label with Ottmar Liebert, Craig Chaquico, and others. He has released seven albums that have consistently charted within the top 10, and his latest, "Bohemian Boulevard", debuted at No. 1 on the world and ambient radio charts. It remained in the top 20 for 5 months and then went on to win "Best World Album" in the New Age Reporter's 2006 Lifestyle Awards. A seasoned, expressive, performer whose style is as elegant as it is conversational, Feriante's innovative and effortless style appeals to anyone with a love and passion for music. He has dedicated his life to his art, and his ability to communicate through sound never fails to lead his audience on an emotional journey that is as deeply personal as it is universal.

Influences: Arthur Rimbaud, Erik Satie, Julian Bream
Andres Segovia, Leonard Cohen, Frederic Chopin, Joan Miro, Baudelaire, La luna

Reviews:
"An Exercise in Spanish Guitar Perfection - Andre Feriante - his style is so perfect, so precise and fresh that I had to go back into my cassettes and judge it against something I knew. It reminded me of the 1970's Christopher Parkening Album and some of John Barry's Spanish guitar albums. Now I am not making a comparison, it is just that I have not been so impressed with a Classical Spanish guitar performance since I can't remember when. Feriante's new album Bohemian Boulevard is a serious study in the classics, but with a surgeon's touch and a poet's soul. It enamors not only complex classical pieces, but Feriante's own spectacular improvisations using emotional themes of World music..." The Sounding Board - R J Lannan
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"Feriante's solo guitar blends classical and Spanish styles in a manner guaranteed to open the hardest heart - The Utne Reader

"Feriante's music is full of lyricism and reflection... I'm not surprised he's gaining national and international recognition." - Peter Donnelly, President, Seattle Corporate Council for the Arts

"Muy bien... wonderful tone." - Andres Segovia

"His musicianship is sensitive, articulate, pleasing and entirely in accord with his own music. One does not always find this sort of harmony on the concert platform." - R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer Music Critic

"Feriante is a master at painting musical pictures." - Victory Review

"Feriante's music is soothing and romantic with the fiery undercurrent of flamenco." - Latin Style

"Extraordinary touch... exquisite musicianship, authenticity and innate sense of tase." - Willamette Week, Portland