James Lentini, Guitar

Biography

Award-winning composer and guitarist James Lentini is a recipient of the Segovia International Composition Prize, the McHugh Composition Prize, and the Bluffton University Choral Competition (first prize), in addition to awards from Meet the Composer and the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). A new CD of his works entitled Orchestra Hall Suite has recently been released on the Naxos label's American Classics Series, and his music also appears on the Capstone, MMC, and CRS recording labels. His composition entitled The Four Seasons for classical guitar was recently published by Mel Bay in their Contemporary Anthology of Solo Guitar Music for Five Fingers of the Right Hand.

Lentini's works have been performed by distinguished solo artists such as guitarist William Kanengiser and recorded by ensembles that include the Krakow Philharmonic Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, and the St. Clair Trio. Members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra have regularly performed his works, and commissions include those for the Hanson Institute for American Music, the Plymouth Symphony, and the Rawlins Piano Trio. He has participated as a juror in the Segovia International Guitar Competition in La Herradura, Spain, and he has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome.  In 2007, Dr. Lentini accepted an appointment as Dean and Professor of Music of the School of Fine Arts at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.