Peter Blanchette
As a self-taught electric guitar prodigy growing up in the lively rock and roll environment of the Boston area in the 1970s, Peter Blanchette was composing and performing professionally in jazz/rock fusion and blues groups while in his early teens. At 16, however, his life changed when he saw guitarist/lutenist Julian Bream perform in Amherst, Massachusetts. Blanchette sold his electric guitar and amps and gave up the electric music scene to attend the Boston Conservatory of Music, where he studied composition with John Adams and classical guitar with Walter Stanul.
At 22, Blanchette commissioned the first 11-string ôarchguitar,ö an instrument designed together with Stanul. The instrument was a hybrid of the 15th century Vihuela and the modern guitar, featuring a unique tuning which enables Blanchette to play idiomatically in many different keys and tunings. This departure from traditional guitar design has made it possible for him to arrange and perform music which traditionally has eluded the guitarist. With his seven ground-breaking archguitar recordings, ranging from Medieval and Renaissance music to Bach arrangements to contemporary music and his own compositions, Blanchette has become the prime mover of what is now a flourishing ômovementö of multi-stringed ôarchguitaristsö in Europe and America.
Throughout the æ80s, Blanchette was a busy performer, playing on occasion with archguitarists Peter Michelini and Elliot Gibbons as ôArchguitar Duoö in 15 countries; his recordings, on his own Angelic Alternative Music label, have sold over 50,000 copies in Europe and the Americas. In the æ90s, Blanchette got his M.A. in Composition from Smith College, studying with Donald Wheelock. In 1995 Peter Blanchette was awarded the first prize in composition in the Massachusetts Cultural CouncilÆs ôArtist of the Yearö Grant Competition. His orchestral piece, ôNorth/South,ö was selected from a pool of 1,100 professional and academic composersÆ submissions for performance at BostonÆs Jordan Hall, conducted by Richard Hoenig.
Teaming up with composer/trumpeter Charlie Schneeweis and bassist Jean Chaine, Blanchette formed The Virtual Consort. The Consort has made two recordings, ôArchguitar Renaissance,ö which features arrangements of 15th and 16th century airs and dances, and ôA Night In The Village,ö which features arrangements of Bartok, Stravinsky, and original compositions.
6/14/01: Peter Blanchette
