Anthony Bez, guitar

 

Anthony Bez, ASCAP composer, began guitar studies at the age of five.  He began performing on a regular basis at the age of nine.  As a member of the Power Memorial Academy Orchestra, he appeared at Alice Tully Hall yearly during High School. Classical guitar debuts were made in his early teens at the Westchester Classical Guitar Society and in area churches.  Since then, he has performed throughout the country as well as in Europe.  

Mr. Bez has studied with guitarists Alice Artzt, Frank Koonce, Fredric Lehrman, Stephen Bell, Michael Dadap and Jorge Morel. He has been influenced by leading classical musicians and musicians of other genres as well as attending numerous master classes.  After meeting and playing for such flamenco greats and educators as Serranito, Manolo Sanlucar, Carlos Montoya and Brook Zern, he began to incorporate flamenco into his repertoire.  Learning from friends like Antonio David and then studying with Ramon el Morro he began to appear locally and accompany the dance classes of Maraquita Flores.  He has been featured as Flamenco Dance TheaterÕs guest soloist and accompanist as well. He has performed with ÒI Giulari di PiazzaÓ of the St. John the Divine Cathedral in New York City specializing in Medieval, Renaissance, and Southern Italian music.  He has performed off-Broadway with MCC Theater, with the DiCapo Opera, with TIPA (Towards International Peace through the Arts), with the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival as well as in the homes of renowned artists, state legislators and diplomats.

Mr. Bez is a recipient of the Medal of Merit from the Costa Rican Consulate for his outstanding musical efforts in conjunction with the Rainforest Alliance.  He was the on-stage music for the award winning ÒSouls Breaking FreeÓ with the William Carlos William Poetry Symposium and has received an Artist Award from the New Jersey Theater Alliance for his work with the Actors Shakespeare Company. ASCAP composer and a recipient of a grant from ÒMeet the ComposerÓ, he has been the Music Master/Composer and Director of the ActorÕs Shakespeare Company Consort at New Jersey City University since 2005. 

Mr. Bez is a devoted teacher and has served on the faculty of the American Institute of Guitar, the Manhattan Institute of Guitar, the Woodbridge Academy of Music and presently at New York Music School and the Hudson School.  His articles have appeared in Soundboard Magazine, the publication of the Guitar Foundation of America, Guitar Review and NYlon Review. 

Mr. Bez is presently the Executive Secretary on the Board of the New York City Classical Guitar Society.  His CD Holy Mountain of his own compositions has been featured on WNYCÕs ÒNew SoundsÓ and on Public Radio here in the United States and in Canada.  Other productions include a follow up solo CD Return to Mountain also recorded at the Dai Bosatsu International Zendo. He is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music, Arizona State University and Mannes College of Music.