Steven Seidenman

Steven's early musical influences were a couple of old guitar recordings of Andres Segovia and Narciso Yepes, and the classical piano playing of his father, Neil Seidenman. His first music lessons were in folk and classical guitar at Wheaton Music in Maryland. He subsequently studied with concert guitarists Jan Filip, Larry Snitzler, and Myrna Sislen, the latter of whom he studied with at the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

He has performed in master classes with internationally acclaimed guitarists Frederick Hand, Michael Cedric-Smith, and Roland Dyens. He also had the privilege of performing in a series of master classes in music interpretation given by the late eminent Italian-Uruguayan composer, Guido Santorsola during the maestro's visit to Washington in 1988. Steven also attended Segovia's historic last master class and two-week commemorative held at The University of Southern California in 1986.

He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from The University of Maryland, and studied harmony with composer Robert Parris at The George Washington University.

In addition to performing at cafes, restaurants, receptions, fundraiser and other charitable events, Steven has given numerous concerts at various venues, including the Martin Luther King Memorial Library, The Washington Guitar Society, Church of the Epiphany, Montgomery College Guest Artist Series, the Mansion at Strathmore, Rockville Civic Center, The Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, University of Baltimore's Wright Hall, and George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium.

He performed as a winner of the Montpelier Recital Competition, one of two guitarists to first win in the competition's history. And in 1996 he edited and performed, with orchestra, the original guitar score of the broadway musical, "The Pajama Game" with the Damascus Theater Company.

In 2011 he was invited to perform at the 8th annual Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival (Zihuafest) held in Southern Mexico, representing the classical guitar among the diverse styles of guitar music presented at the festival.

Other musical activities have included his service as Vice-President of the Washington Guitar Society, and as a founding editor of the society's newsletter. He has written several concert reviews of local and visiting guitarists, as well as articles on Andres Segovia, Christopher Parkening, Narciso Yepes and others.

He has made several guitar transcriptions of music by Bach, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, Chopin and other classical composers. His repertoire also includes several arrangements of vintage American standards in fresh, classical renditions.

Steven's musical interests range from original guitar music from the Renaissance and Baroque through that of the 18th and 19th century guitar virtuosos, as well as the 20th century repertoire, including guitar greats such as Antonio Lauro and Heitor Villa-Lobos. He also performs less well known guitar music by composers such as Michael Berkeley (England) and Hans Haug (Switzerland). Additionally, his repertoire includes several works from the guitar chamber music repertoire, including music for guitar and flute, violin, and string quartet by Giuliani, Paganini, Sor, Berlioz, Boccherini, Lhoyer, Schubert, Bach, Mozart and other outstanding classical composers.

He has released two CDs, "Prelude Impromptu: Guitar Gems from Bach to Berkeley" and "Guitar Recital," and has a third one in the works.