PORT ANGELES — In an increasingly hostile and sad world, guitarist and composer Andre Feriante is on a mission to offer joy and respite using the sweet notes coaxed from his guitar.
Feriante, 54, will perform a solo concert at 7 p.m. Saturday at Studio Bob, 1181/2 E. Front St.
Upstage and Studio Bob are presenting the concert.
Music, Feriante said recently over the phone from his Seattle home, is “a healing force in the world.”
“Life,” he continued, “can be beautiful. It also can be rough. I think that there is a quality in my music that is relaxing.”
Feriante, a classically trained musician, said he wants to offer his listeners “something that is inspiring and beautiful. Some people go to a guitar concert because they just want to hear a bunch of fast songs. You will have some of that, but there is definitely a philosophy of love and beauty” in the music he performs.
Feriante has performed for more than 30 years in Europe, South America and the United States, beginning with his first concert in Rome in 1979.
He said his creative blend of classical, flamenco and Brazilian styles speaks to people from all walks of life.
Feriante has released 13 solo recordings in his career.
Feriante said his concerts will take listeners on an inspiring musical journey around the world with original music, classical and jazz standards, vocals in Italian and poetry over guitar.
“I really love mixing it up,” Feriante said.
“That is why I have the show now with multiple instruments. So you will hear steel strings, jazz guitar, ukelele [and] nylon string banjo. I think it is nice, if you are doing a solo show, to present some variety and also a variety of sound.”
Passion and humor
“I like to incorporate humor and lightheartedness into the show, because some of the flamenco stuff — and some of the Spanish guitar stuff — is very passionate,” Feriante said.
“It is the minor key and it is kind of romantic and intense. In between those sounds, it is nice to throw in some random lighthearted humor.”
That includes a smattering of pop tunes, he continued.
“I do like playing pop tunes on the ukulele,” he said.
“I play finger style on the ukelele, so it is a little bit like the classical sound. Still, the ukelele [produces] such a sweet and innocent sound. It has got this higher register, and even if you are trying to be serious and have this serious presentation with it, it is still the sound of the ukelele. I look at is as the child of the guitar family.”
Feriante also dabbles in blues and exotic music on his nylon stringed banjo.
“I play things that are a little bit bluesy on the banjo, and I can also get into a little bit of an Arabic sound” similar to the oud, a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in Near and Middle Eastern music, he said.
“I will start out with these Arabic scales that sound exotic and interesting, and then I will change into a major key. That is kind of reminiscent of the exotic sounds The Beatles were using.”
As part of his concert, Feriante will perform on a one-of-a-kind guitar.
In 1995, the late Richard Schneider, a nationally known luthier from Sequim, invited Feriante to perform on one of his guitars at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, Feriante said.
In the months before his death, Schneider was in the process of building Feriante a guitar, but was unable to finish it. The luthier, Jay Hargreaves, completed the build.
Feriante has a 20-year history with the Arts Center and Juan de Fuca Festival, he said.
This year, he is dedicating his concert to the late Jake Seniuk, long-time director of the Arts Center.
Seniuk’s “passion for the arts and furthering cultural awareness was unparalleled,” Feriante said.
“I am very grateful to Jake for his wonderful support of my music.”
Italian seasoning
Born in Naples, Italy, Feriante said he spent his formative years between Southern Italy and Manziana, a village just outside Rome.
Feriante’s mother is an American citizen from Yakima while his father was an Italian national, he said.
At age 9, he announced his intentions to be a flamenco guitarist, and worked and saved to buy his first instrument, and at age 13, he began studying at the Overseas School of Rome.
By the time he was 16, Feriante was performing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi, Isaac Albéniz and Domenico Scarlatti.
“As a teenager in my formative years, I was surrounded by a mecca of culture in Italy and travel in Europe,” Feriante said.
“I didn’t really think about all the historic tone and influence that was seeping into my formation.”
By age 18 he had launched his musical career, performing in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
He continued his studies with world-renowned classical guitarists Andres Segovia and Jose Tomas — Segovia’s assistant — in Madrid, Henry Rivas in Bogota, Colombia, and Leon Atkinson in New York.
Feriante moved to Seattle in the 1980s.
Feriante has played a wide variety of venues including The King Cat Theatre, The Frye Art Museum, The Paramount Theater, and Key Arena, where he performed the national anthem for the Seattle Supersonics.
He also has performed with the Northwest Symphony at Benaroya Hall with Heart and Alice and Chains.
Tickets
Tickets are $20 at the door of Studio Bob, and can be purchased in advance at Harbor Art Gallery, 110 E Railroad Ave., in Port Angeles, or online at newupstage.com.
For more information about the show, call 360-385-2216.
For more information about Feriante, visit andreferiante.com.
