Internationally renowned guitarist Pat Metheny stops by the School of Music for a question-and-answer session on Friday, April 30, noon to 1 p.m. in Brechemin Auditorium.
A 17-time Grammy award winner, Metheny is a versatile musician almost nearly without peer on any instrument. Over the years, he has performed with artists as diverse as Steve Reich, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Milton Nascimento, and David Bowie, to name but a few. His 20-year songwriting association with keyboardist Lyle Mays has been compared to the Lennon/McCartney and Ellington/Strayhorn partnerships by critics and listeners alike.
Metheny's body of work includes compositions for solo guitar, small ensembles, electric and acoustic instruments, large orchestras, and ballet pieces, with settings ranging from modern jazz to rock to classical.
Metheny is in Seattle for an April 30 concert at Meany Hall in support of his Orchestrion Project. "This project represents a conceptual direction that merges an idea from the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the technologies of today to create a new, open-ended platform for musical composition, improvisation and performance," Metheny writes in a recent update on his website. 'Orchestrionics' is the term that I am using to describe a method of developing ensemble-oriented music using acoustic and acoustoelectric musical instruments that are mechanically controlled in a variety of ways, using solenoids and pneumatics. With a guitar, pen or keyboard I am able to create a detailed compositional environment or a spontaneously developed improvisation, with the pieces on this particular recording leaning toward the compositional side of the spectrum. On top of these layers of acoustic sound, I add my conventional electric guitar playing as an improvised component."
More information about Pat Metheny and his music is available here.