Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner

Bradford Werner is a classical guitarist and music publisher from British Columbia, Canada. He owns and edits the online publication This is Classical Guitar and sheet music store Werner Guitar Editions. He has taught a wide range of students from dedicated youth, hobbyists adults, and emerging young professionals in collage programs. Bradford taught classical guitar at the Victoria Conservatory of Music for 16 years and freelanced and performed in Greater Victoria for 20 years. He adjudicates festivals, and has given exams and masterclasses for The Alberta Provincial Festival, Mount Royal University, Calgary Guitar Society, and many more. Also see his work with the Quelus Guitar Duo, and the Victoria Guitar Trio with Michael Dias and Adrian Verdejo. The trio has commissioned numerous premieres and recorded an album on RedShift Records showcasing contemporary Canadian composers. See more at his personal website.

Gabriel Bianco plays Turina

Amazing playing by the excellent Gabriel Bianco . I love his clean playing, control over the sound, and highly expressive performance. He is great at pacing himself and making certain moments very special. Gabriel Bianco plays mov.1 from Sonata Op.61 for guitar…

Tariq Harb plays Giuliani’s Gran Sonata Eroica, Op.150

I’ve featured Tariq Harb on Classical Guitar Canada on many occasions but rarely here on this is classical guitar.  He’s excellent and certainly a one of my favorite upcoming professional guitarists who’s been taking competitions by storm. He also has…

Gerald Garcia – Etudes Esquisses

One of my favorite recommendations for contemporary works are these excellent etudes from Gerald Garcia. These etudes, as the composer suggests, are for the intermediate student from the third year of study onward (I would move that down to one…

Angelo Gilardino: Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza

Angelo Gilardino‘s Studi di virtuosità e di trascendenza. Although the compositional style is very pattern-oriented and guitaristic the etudes are filled with a huge wealth of musical ideas. Each one has a dedication and resembles the style of the dedicati…

The German Baroque: Wolff Jakob Lauffensteiner

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque (click to see all posts). Wolff Jakob Lauffensteiner (1676–1754) is the last composer I’ll feature on this week’s theme of the German Baroque. His music, as his wiki page suggests, is similar to Weiss in many ways.…

The German Baroque: Bernhard Joachim Hagen

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque. Bernhard Joachim Hagen (1720–1787) wrote some amazing works of beauty that are not often played. One reason for this is the unavailability of this works. To my knowledge there are no readily available editions in modern…

The German Baroque: Adam Falckenhagen

Theme of this week:  The German Baroque (click to see all posts). Adam Falckenhagen  (26 April 1697 – 6 October 1754) was a German lutenist and composer. He travelled around from court to court much of his life but eventually settled in Bayreuth. It has also…

The German Baroque: Sylvius Leopold Weiss

New to the site: Theme of the Week. I’ll be posting articles, links, and videos based on the theme. There will still be other posts such as lessons etc, but the theme will add a narrative to the week. To…

Spotlight: Heike Matthiesen, guitarist

I’m very happy to present this spotlight and interview with guitarist Heike Matthiesen. Heike is very active online and at concerts, festivals, as well as recording. It’s a real pleasure getting to know such a great player and such a kind…

Jason Vieaux plays Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood”

The excellent Jason Vieaux lets loose with a rendition of Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood.” It’s so nice to see a high level classical guitarist embrace jazz so successfully. So of his playing sounds so natural that if he wasn’t…

Giuliani 120 Arpeggio Studies – No. 1-20, Op. 1 (Free PDF)

Mauro Giuliani’s (1781–1829) 120 Right Hand Arpeggio Studies (exercises) for the right hand – free sheet music in PDF format for classical guitar. This is from Giuliani’s Op. 1 titled Studio per la Chitarra. Giuliani was considered one of the…

Review: Essential Bach Arranged for the Guitar by Lily Afshar

Amazon Link: Essential Bach: Arranged for the Guitar Paperback: 116 pagesPublisher: Mel Bay Publications (December 14, 2012)Level: Intermediate to Advanced. Students could start with the cello works and go from there. Works included: Cello Suite No. 1, BWV 1007 Cello Suite No. 3,…