Ben Verdery, who will hold his final classical guitar master class on Maui this year, is performing in concert with Ian O’Sullivan and the Olson/De Cari Duo on Tuesday evening at Makawao Union Church. — JOHN OLSON photo

With an eclectic program ranging from Bach and the Beatles to Mozart and Jimi Hendrix, two classical guitar virtuosos –Yale School of Music professor Ben Verdery and Na Hoku Hanohano Award-nominated musician Ian O’Sullivan — will team for a special concert at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Makawao Union Church.

Verdery will play Bach’s “Prelude from Cello Suite No. 6,” Mozart’s “Adagio K.540” and an arrangement of “Here, There and Everywhere” by the Beatles, while the Olson/De Cari Duo will play three songs Verdery wrote called “What God Looks Like.”

“I wrote the music and set it to three different stories, that are all spiritual texts,” Verdery explained. “There will be the Maui premiere of a beautiful piece called ‘Theme, Variations and Finale,’ that Frederic Hand wrote for me, and I’ll play an arrangement of Hendrix’s ‘Purple Haze.’ Ian and I will play a duo, and all four of us will perform a Hawaiian song.”

Playing guitar and ukulele, O’Sullivan will present four solo pieces including his arrangements of “When You Wish Upon a Star” and Randy Newman’s “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”

Presented in tandem with Verdery’s annual classical guitar master class on Maui, other concerts will be held through July 12. First performing on island in 1985, Verdery has taught in the summer on Maui for 23 years. This will be his last class. “I’m always thrilled to come to Maui,” he said. “We have great students, great players.”

At 2 p.m. on July 9, a free concert will be presented at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Keokea. It will feature solo guitarists Madeline Hall, Fangfang Liu, Reade Park and Brandon Wong. Music will include the world premiere of Tao Huang’s “Hear the Wind,” and works by Roland Dyens, Thelonious Monk and Joaquin Turina.

“That’s going to be a showcase of brilliant, gifted young guitarists,” said Verdery.

Student concerts will also be held at 7 p.m. July 11 at the Lahaina Jodo Mission, and at 7 p.m. July 12 at the Keawalai Congregational Church in Makena.

“There will be a couple of world premieres,” said Verdery. “The whole class is going to write a piece entitled ‘Maui’ for 13 guitars. We’re going to collectively write it. That’s going to be really exciting. There will also be a premiere by a young composer, 18 years old, Reade Park. That’s a piece again for 13 guitars, and Ian will have an arrangement of Hawaiian music for multiple guitars.”

“I arranged a Kamehameha Schools song, usually sung by the senior class at founders day, ‘Pauahi Ke Ali’i’ by Cordelia Clymer Yardley,” O’Sullivan added. “This will be performed by all the guitar students at the ending concert.”

Nominated for a Hoku in 2020 for Hawaiian Slack Key Album of the Year for “Kahakauila” with Patrick Landeza, O’Sullivan is a classically trained guitarist and composer from Oahu’s North Shore. He is well-versed in Hawaiian slack key guitar and ukulele, in addition to the Western classical repertoire. Currently teaching at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, he is also the director of guitar/ukulele at the Kamehameha Schools’ Kapalama campus.

Acclaimed as one of America’s leading classical guitarists, Verdery is celebrated for crafting innovative, extended works for large guitar ensembles. Based on a hypnotic classical Indian rhythm cycle, his brilliant composition for guitar orchestra, “Scenes from Ellis Island,” has been extensively performed at festivals and colleges in America and Europe, and was recorded by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

It was just performed by 40 guitarists in New York to a standing ovation.

“We had this thing called the Guitar Foundation of America, and every year they have a huge festival. It’s an international competition and this year they were celebrating their 50th anniversary and they wanted me to perform my ‘Scenes from Ellis Island,'” Verdery said. “It was exhilarating, with 40 guitarists from different countries and there were projected photographs, old and current photographs of immigrants. It was very powerful, very much a statement about our current problem of immigration. New York City is overflowing. It kind of addressed that in a musical way. I never had a piece so immediately received. People leapt to their feet. A guy came up to me the next day on the street and said, ‘I’m an immigrant and I wept through your whole piece. Thank you so much for writing it.'”

Known for his love of Bach as well as the music of Jimi Hendrix and Prince, Verdery just released the marvelous album “A Giant Besides You” with the Ulysses Quartet. It features Verdery’s original compositions, including the title track, which references Sly Stone’s “Stand,” played on electric guitar; an arrangement of Bernstein’s “Clarinet Sonata” and a new work especially composed for him by longtime friend Bryce Dessner. A member of the popular rock band The National, Dessner has collaborated with Paul Simon and Taylor Swift.

“It’s very exciting, my first record with a string quartet,” he said. “Bryce wrote a knock out piece for string quartet and guitar dedicated to me, and I have piece that I wrote for electric guitar and string quartet. It’s the first time I’ve ever really seriously put electric guitar on a CD. I’m super excited to get that out to the world.”

Verdery, O’Sullivan and the Olson/De Cari Duo perform at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Makawao Union Church. Donations will be accepted at the door, with proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Maui, Makawao Clubhouse.