Fred Benedetti
Fred Benedetti, Director of Guitar Studies, was born in Sasebo, Japan and began playing the guitar at age 9. In 1986 he was one of 12 guitarists chosen worldwide to perform in the Master Class of Andres Segovia at USC where Guitarra Magazine wrote, "...Fred Benedetti amazed the audience with his performance of the (Bach) Chaconne..." He has also been a performer for the master classes of Pepe Romero, Christopher Parkening, Federico Moreno-Torroba, George Sakellariou, and David Grimes. Fred has performed with the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera, the Starlight Opera, the American Ballet Company, the Old Globe Theatre, Luciano Pavarotti, and jazz artist Dave Brubeck.
Presently he is an associate professor of music at Grossmont College where he is chair of guitar studies, and is a member of the guitar faculty at San Diego State University with Celin Romero, and Brian Kilmer. Equally at home playing classical music or contemporary music, he records on the SBE label and DOMO records with three noted ensembles: The Odeum Guitar Duo, "Blurring the Edges" a recipient of the 1994 San Diego Music Awards "Best Pop-Jazz" album of the year featuring jazz musicians Peter and Tripp Sprague, and the Benedetti/Svoboda Guitar Duo pairing Fred with Czechoslovakian guitarist George Jiri Svoboda.
As a composer Fred has written numerous contemporary pieces for the international CD library company Network Productions and as a studio musician for 15 years his playing is featured on over 50 CD's, numerous movie soundtracks, and TV commercials. He has shared the stage with Art Garfunkel, Basia, Michael Franks, Michael Hedges, and Ottmar Liebert, and has recorded with Willie Nelson, Juice Newton, Paul Overstreet, Patty Loveless, Tom Barabas, Big Mountain, Ronny Robbins and William Lee Golden. He has performed for dignitaries such as the King & Queen of Malaysia, Mikhail Gorbachev and President Jimmy Carter.
Fred Benedetti has been a member of the Grossmont College Music Department faculty since 1986. He has written two textbooks: Music Theory for Guitar, and An Introduction to Class Guitar. His classes include class guitar I & II , classical guitar I, II, & III, music theory, guitar theory, and guitar ensemble.
For more information on Fred Benedetti, please click on Fred's "solo site."
Office: 230-E
Phone: (619) 644-7259
E-Mail: Fred.Benedetti@gcccd.edu
Fred Benedetti on YouTube