Jason Vieaux


Jason Vieaux is an American classical guitarist. He began his musical training in Buffalo, New York at the age of eight, after which he continued his studies at the Cleveland Institute of Music. NPR describes him as, "perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation," and Gramophone magazine puts him "among the elite of today's classical guitarists." His album Play won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. In June 2014, NPR named "Zapateado" from the album as one of its "50 Favorite Songs of 2014." He was the first classical musician to perform in NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series.

Career highlights

Jason Vieaux has performed as a concerto soloist with over 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Houston, Toronto, San Diego, Fort Worth, Santa Fe, Charlotte, Buffalo, Grand Rapids, Kitchener-Waterloo, Richmond, Edmonton, Auckland, IRIS Chamber, Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Orchestra of St. Luke's, Chautauqua Festival, and New Hampshire Music Festival. Some of the conductors he has worked with include David Lockington, David Robertson, Edwin Outwater, Jahja Ling, Michael Stern, Miguel Harth-Bedoya, Stefan Sanderling, Gerard Schwarz, and Steven Smith.
Recent and future highlights include returns to the Caramoor Summer Music Festival, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and New York's 92nd Street Y, as well as performances at Argentina's Teatro Colon and Oslo, Norway's Classical Music Fest. Vieaux's appearances for Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, Strings Music Festival, Grand Teton, and many others have forged his reputation as a first-rate chamber musician and programmer. He collaborates in recitals in the 2017-18 season with Escher String Quartet; Grammy-winning mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; violinists Anne Akiko Meyers, Kristin Lee, and Tessa Lark; acclaimed harpist Yolanda Kondonassis; and will tour the U.S. with accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro. Vieaux's passion for new music has fostered premieres of works by Avner Dorman, Jeff Beal, Dan Visconti, Vivian Fung, David Ludwig, Jonathan Leshnoff, Jerod Tate, Gary Schocker, and Eric Sessler.
In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music, and he has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks, a technological interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world.

Awards and honors

In 1992, Vieaux was awarded the Guitar Foundation of America International Guitar Competition First Prize, the event's youngest winner. He is also honored with a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, and a Salon de Virtuosi Career Grant. In 1995, Vieaux was an Arts Ambassador of the U.S. to Southeast Asia.
He followed this success with a 53-city recital tour of the United States and France. His debut album, released by Naxos Records in 1996, won the rosette in its rating in the Penguin Guide to Compact Discs.
Vieaux's solo album Play, released in January 2014 by Azica Records, won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo.

Discography

Solo:
Chamber:
Guest:
Upcoming album releases include Jonathan Leshnoff’s Guitar Concerto with the Nashville Symphony, Jeff Beal’s “Six Sixteen” Guitar Concerto with the Norrköping Symphony, and a recording with Escher Quartet.