Jeffrey McFadden

Biography

Over the course of a twenty-five year career, Jeffrey McFadden has established a place among the most admired guitarists of his generation. Concert engagements have taken him throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. He has been a featured performer at many international music festivals, including Guitar ’87, the Guitar Foundation of America Convention, Gitarren-Symposium Iserlohn, the National Flute Association (USA) Convention, the Festival Mediterraneo della Chitarra, GuitarFest Sevilla and many others.

In 1992, Jeffrey McFadden was awarded a Silver Medal in the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America Competition and was a prize-winner in the 1993 Great Lakes Guitar Competition. His debut recording was the first in the Laureate Series on Naxos, and has sold in the tens of thousands of copies. He has recorded eight highly acclaimed CDs since then, featuring the works of Fernando Sor, Napoléon Coste, Agustin Barrios, and most recently, Mauro Giuliani's arrangements for guitar duo of famous Rossini overtures (with guitarist Michael Kolk).

Jeffrey McFadden is the first ever graduate of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at the University of Toronto studying under Norbert Kraft. An Eaton Fellow, he completed his dissertation in 2010. It forms the basis of his groundbreaking book, Fretboard Harmony: Common-Practice Harmony on the Guitar, published in 2010 by Les Productions d’Oz.

McFadden is Head of Guitar Studies and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. A highly sought-after pedagogue and clinician, his students have garnered numerous Canadian and International awards and scholarships. He has worked with students at nearly every major University music program in Canada and many in the USA. He is a prolific arranger and has for many years curated the Royal Conservatory of Music Guitar Series with his colleague Robert Hamilton.

Jeffrey McFadden was the recipient of the 2012 City of Hamilton Arts Award for Music and is the founder and artistic director of the Sauble Beach Guitar Festival.

McFadden's ability to make the guitar sing is second to none. Daily Telegraph (UK)

A technically pristine performance...he is an impressive player. Fort Worth Star-Telegram (USA)

Bass lines simply soar, and the bell-like sound he gets from the higher strings and remarkable registral independence makes us wonder if McFadden is actually playing a piano disguised as a guitar!