Darren Curtis Skanson

Darren Curtis Skanson is a classical guitarist, composer, and arranger working and residing in Denver, Colorado USA.

Skanson was born the eldest of four brothers March 31 1967, in Fertile, Minnesota. Music was always an important part of his family life, and he grew up singing, playing instruments, and composing his own music, encouraged by his parents, especially his mother who plays and teaches piano. At age 13, he took his first classical guitar lesson, and found the instrument that would be formative of his musical life and career.

Education

Skanson graduated from Moorhead State University (now known as the University of Minnesota, Moorhead) with a B.A. in music in 1990. While in school he toured Spain (1987) with the university's concert chorus. He was also awarded the Donald R, Key Memorial Scholarship for Composition.

Performance

Skanson has had a variety of performance experiences, including touring nationally with a heavy metal band, Mata Hari, for several years, and teaming up with a classical violinist for several more. Subsequently he decided to return to his training as a solo classical guitarist. His popularity first grew in the Denver area and spread nationally as he traveled to perform. The discovery of art shows as a unique venue to promote and sell his work was a great advantage to Skanson. His sharing of that knowledge with Lisa Lynne [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Lynne] of Celestial Winds and Bob Culbertson {http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Culbertson] led to them using the platform to build their careers. Art shows are now a venue that is thriving with independent musicians promoting their music. A cataloguing of these artists who made names for themselves in this venue is on the "Acoustitherapy" line of CDs for which Skanson was the producer. That music includes Lisa Lynne [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Lynne] , Bob Culbertson{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Culbertson] , Acoustic Eidolon, Malcolm Watson, and many more. In addition to playing solo, he performs with his electro-acoustic trio called “The Skanson Strings”. This group includes Skanson, violinist Debra Fuller (“Phantom of the Opera” concertmaster) and cellist Kevin Johnson (Boulder Philharmonic).

Musical Style

In general, Skanson’s arrangements and compositions are more gentle and melodic than other modern guitar artists. He calls his style “light classical”. Skanson performs a wide variety of classical pieces, including well-known favorites such as Tarrega’s “Recuerdos de la Alhambra”, and his own original compositions, blending the two into a seamless listening experience. His choices are varied, ranging from soft, gentle pieces to more dramatic offerings full of well-resolved dissonance and churning with motion. The harmonies he creates and the resolutions he uses, although in some ways orthodox, are unique and fresh sounding.

Composing and Arranging

In addition to his performance career, Skanson is a prolific composer and arranger. In fact, this may be his real strength as a musician and his greatest contribution to the classical guitar community. He has composed over 200 original pieces for guitar and arranged a number of pieces by such composers as Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, Pachelbel, Tchaikovsky, Tarrega, and others essential to the well-rounded classical guitar repertoire, Some of his pieces have not previously been arranged for guitar. Notable among them are Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”, two versions of “Ave Maria” — Schubert and Bach/Gounod, and pieces from Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker Suite”. He has also written, in collaboration with cellist Wayne Templeman and producer and musician Tom Capek, cello and violin lines which surround the guitar or sometimes carry the melody. This is a large part of the creation of Skanson’s unique sound. In addition he has composed non-classical works for acoustic finger-style and 12-string guitar. He has made all music from his CDs available in printed form in a variety of notations, some including violin and cello parts.

Currently, Skanson continues to compose, arrange, perform, and record out of his base at his Denver, CO, studio. He has produced ten classical CDs, including two that placed on Billboard’s “Top Classical” chart (“Classica”, 2000, #11, and “Solamente Romanz”, 2002, #8). Beethoven.com, the world’s most popular classical radio station, proclaimed him “…the most requested classical guitarist on Beethoven Radio”.