A christmas pastorale +cd (Mel Bay Presents) - Tapa blanda

Celebration of the Christmas holiday includes a rich musical tradition.

Hailed by the New York Times as "Fresh, hot and headed for fame," The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo explores the farthest reaches of the ensemble literature, performing and recording the premieres of many new works. Guitarists Laura Oltman and Michael Newman collaborate with such diverse artists as mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and folk singer Sally Rogers, violinist Arnold Steinhardt and fiddler Jay Ungar, and the Lark and Turtle Island String Quartets. As ensemble-in-Residence at New York's Mannes College of Music, Artists-in-Residence at Lafayette College, and recipients of numerous grants and awards including those from the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America, the duo's concert tours have taken them to forty-nine states, to Asia, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean. The duo's eight critically praised recordings for MusicMasters/BMG and Sheffield Lab Audiophile reveal the extraordinary stylistic and cultural breadth of their repertoire. The Washington Post called Laments & Dances: Music from the Folk Traditions, their recent MusicMasters/BMG CD, "a revelation to hear." On the Air Magazine said: "Newman and Oltman are true musical explorers, and their performances are as electrifying as their choice of repertoire." The duo's newly-released CD for MusicMasters/BMG, Cantos de España, features fifteen Spanish Romantic works by Isaac Albéniz. Laura Oltman graduated with honors from Florida State University and teaches at Princeton and Rutgers Universities. Michael Newman is a graduate of The Mannes College of Music and serves on the faculty there. Newman and Oltman are music directors of the Raritan River Music Festival. In between concert tours, Michael and Laura are restoring their 19th-century house on the Delaware River in New Jersey, where they live with their horse ("Bunny") and numerous cats.