Hailed as a “revelation to hear” by The Washington Post and celebrating their 40th anniversary season, the Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo perform a broad range of repertoire that spans Renaissance duets through commissions from today’s top composers. Their innovative programming, matchless technique and ensemble precision, combined with their commitment to expanding the repertoire for guitar duo, make Newman & Oltman a widely recognized and influential ensemble both in the United States and abroad.
Newman & Oltman have been recognized by National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America, and received an ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, among others.
João Luiz Rezende, a highly trained and internationally acclaimed guitarist, is the head of the classical guitar program in the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College. As a performer and composer, Rezende is equally at home with classical, Brazilian, and world music. His solo guitar and guitar ensemble repertoire covers all the main works in the guitar literature, from Dowland to Carter and Brazilian rhythms from choro to baião.
Rezende has recorded more than 10 CDs playing solo and in duo, trio, and quartet; all have featured his arrangements of classical or Brazilian works. In addition to his career as a performer, he writes guitar methods for beginners, designs the guitar curriculum, and trains instructors for an important music education initiative for underprivileged children, Guri Santa Marcelina, in São Paulo, Brazil.
