Over the past century, the personal idioms of composers and musicians have been unable to resist the influx of music from all regions of the globe. Consequently, the distinction between “high” and “low” art that reigned for centuries no longer exists; the result has been music that is eclectic, music that transcends classification. While much of the material on Scott Wolf’s Un Viaje al Sur (A Journey South) is best described as folk-influenced art music, the eclecticism of the pieces indicates influences from a multitude of styles and genres unified by the warmth, emotion, and intimacy of Latin American music.
Wolf’s journey south takes the listener to Peru, Cuba, Paraguay, Mexico, Venezuela, and Argentina, offering a collection of songs inspired as much from the streets as the conservatory. While some of the pieces are standard guitar repertoire (Villalobos’ Chôro No.1 and Brouwer’s Danza del Altiplano) other selections (Pujol’s Hommage to Astor Piazzolla and Machado’s Caro Amigo Gudin) reflect Wolf’s appreciation for the more obscure music of these regions. (For an in depth description of the pieces on the album visit Wolf’s website at www.wolfguitar.net)
Growing up in the multicultural city of San Diego, less than an hour from the Mexican border, it seems only natural that Wolf would feel a certain affinity for Latin American music. With a rich musical background in flamenco, classical, and rock, Wolf is able to draw from a variety of influences to enhance the inherent eclecticism of these pieces. To that end, Wolf brings to the music a raw and emotional style that he absorbed during his time in Spain where he lived, studied, and played flamenco music. We also hear Wolf’s training as a Classical guitarist in his attention to intonation, his discipline and his subtlety on tracks such as Un Día de Noviembre. And finally, we hear in his playing remnants of his musical youth. As a teenage rock guitarist Wolf played in a variety of outfits, honing his skill as a talented and accomplished player, which is evident on certain passages of Brouwer’s Danza del Altiplano. It is clear that Wolf’s diverse musical background not only allows him to enrich the inherent eclecticism of these pieces but it allows him to offer his own unique interpretation of this music.
Scott Wolf recently was a finalist and winner of the "Latin American Prize" at Boston GuitarFest 2007, an international guitar festival and competition. This coincides perfectly with his debut CD titled Un Viaje al Sur, which features solo guitar music by some of Latin America's most important composers, such as Barrios, Villa-Lobos, Ponce, Pujol, Brouwer and others. Un Viaje al Sur is due for release in March of '08. The TV show "Orale con Veronica" recently welcomed Scott Wolf as an ambassador for GuitarFest 2007 and he can be seen playing a few works from his upcoming CD during the interview.
Scott is currently pursuing a DMA in Classical Guitar at USC where he studies with Scott Tennant, author of the renowned method book Pumping Nylon and founding member of the Grammy-winning LA Guitar Quartet. Scott Wolf holds a Master's degree from the New England Conservatory of Music where he studied with Classical Guitar maestro Eliot Fisk, who Scott first met during his year-long study abroad in Granada, Spain. In Spain he studied Spanish Literature at the University of Granada and studied Flamenco Guitar with artist Yerbita. Since his time in Spain, Scott has continued his flamenco study with the amazing Grisha Goryachev and with Juanito Pascual.
Under Eliot Fisk's urging Scott has published a critical edition of six important works by Spanish Vihuelist, Alonso Mudarra, which is available in pdf format from the download portion of this site. He also arranged the Stravinsky Suite Italliene for guitar duo and violin which was debuted by Grisha Goryachev, Steven Lin and Natalie Favaloro in the Spring of 2007. He also aided Eliot Fisk in a guitar duo arrangement of a Divertissmente by M. Haydn.
Prior to his time in Spain and study at the New England Conservatory, Scott studied with Dr. Randy Pile at Palomar College and the University of California at San Diego. Dr. Pile is not only an excellent teacher, mentor, and friend, and was the reason for Scott's interest in the Classical Guitar, but also introduced Scott to Pepe Romero and his family. This was particularly important to him, as it was Pepe who first suggested Scott study Flamenco and his son Pepe II was the luthier who constructed Scott's concert guitar.
