The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo

Hailed by The New York Times as "Fresh, Hot and Headed for Fame," The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year with a new CD release on MusicMasters Classics/BMG (their nineth recording overall) -- Cantos de España: Songs of Spain, featuring Spanish Romantic works by Isaac Albéniz -- as well as with the start of their second decade as Ensemble-in-Residence at New York's Mannes College of Music and recital and orchestral performances in North America and Europe.   Billboard Magazine recently named this CD it's "Critic's Choice," and Guitar Player Magazine proclaimed: "the pair's Vulcan-mind-meld delivery is downright astonishing.  It's especially remarkable in the context of the floating, quasi-improvised rhythms with which the pair breathe new life into the music."

The duo's recent MusicMasters/BMG CD, Laments and Dances: Music from the Folk Traditions, received unanimous critical acclaim:  "A revelation to hear." -The Washington Post.  "Spirited, informed performances." -American Record Guide.  "Newman and Oltman are true musical explorers, and their performances are as electrifying as their choice of repertoire." -On The Air Magazine.

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, South America, Canada, and the Caribbean.

The Newman & Oltman Guitar Duo explores the farthest reaches of the ensemble literature, performing and recording the premieres of many new works.  Newman and Oltman collaborate with such diverse artists as mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade and folk singer Sally Rogers, violinist Arnold Steinhardt and fiddler Jay Ungar, Celtic artist Seamus Egan, and the Lark and Turtle Island String Quartets.  The duo's critically praised recordings for MusicMasters and Sheffield Lab reveal the extraordinary stylistic and cultural breadth of their repertoire.

Laura Oltman teaches at Princeton and Rutgers Universities.  Michael Newman serves on the faculty of The Mannes College of Music.  They serve as Music Directors of the Raritan River Music Festival.  Beginning this summer, they will direct the guitar program at the Bowdoin Summer Music Festival.  In between concert tours, Michael and Laura are still restoring their 19th-century house and perennial gardens on the Delaware River in New Jersey, where they live with their horse ("Bunny") and numerous cats.

Visit the duo's website at: www.guitarduo.com