Fred Benedetti and George Svoboda have collaborated for over nineteen years, establishing themselves as engaging performers capable of evoking profound emotions through their music. Their repertoire spans from tranquil melancholy to vibrant flamenco rasgueados. In addition to their performances, they are also recognized for their work as composers and arrangers, earning acclaim from audiences, musicians, and critics alike.
In 1996, Benedetti and Svoboda contributed to the Old Globe Theatre's production of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing in San Diego. Under the direction of Tony Award-winning Jack O'Brien, they wrote, arranged, and performed the music for this successful production. Their albums, Scirocco-Desert Wind and Zephyr, released on the SBE label, showcase a unique fusion of Slavic, Latin, Indian, and Middle Eastern musical influences. More recently, their CDs Flamenco Dreams and Spanish Gardens, produced by Domo Records, explore the Flamenco Nouveau style. The duo has performed extensively across the United States and Mexico, as well as on successful tours in Europe, including performances in England, Germany, and the Czech Republic.
Fred Benedetti was born in Sasebo, Japan, and began playing the guitar at the age of 9. In 1986, he was one of twelve guitarists selected globally to participate in a Master Class with Andrés Segovia at the University of Southern California, where Guitarra Magazine noted, "...Fred Benedetti amazed the audience with his performance of the (Bach) Chaconne..." He has also participated in master classes taught by prominent guitarists such as Pepe Romero, Christopher Parkening, Federico Moreno-Torroba, George Sakellariou, and David Grimes. Benedetti’s performance credits include appearances with the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera, the Starlight Opera, the American Ballet Company, the Old Globe Theatre, Luciano Pavarotti, and jazz artist Dave Brubeck, among others.
Currently, he serves as a full-time professor at Grossmont College, where he chairs the guitar studies program, and is a member of the guitar faculty at San Diego State University alongside George Svoboda, Robert Wetzel, and Celin Romero. Benedetti has been recognized in the "Who's Who Among America's Teachers-2002" and received the "Outstanding Faculty Award" from SDSU in 2001. He also received the "NISOD" Excellence in Teaching award from the University of Texas at Austin in 1992 and the "Outstanding Chair" award from Grossmont College in 1990.
Versatile in both classical and contemporary music, Benedetti records with four notable ensembles: Keltik Kharma (a Celtic band), The Odeum Guitar Duo—which was recognized by Acoustic Guitar magazine as one of the ten best independently produced guitar CDs of 2000—"Blurring the Edges," which won the 1994 San Diego Music Award for "Best Pop-Jazz" album, and the Benedetti/Svoboda Guitar Duo.
As a BMI-affiliated composer, he has created numerous contemporary works for the international CD library company Network Productions. With two decades of experience as a studio musician, his guitar work appears on over 60 CDs, as well as in various movie soundtracks and television commercials. Benedetti has performed alongside notable artists including Art Garfunkel, Basia, Michael Franks, Mark O'Connor, Michael Hedges, and Ottmar Liebert. He has also collaborated with Willie Nelson, Juice Newton, Paul Overstreet, Patty Loveless, Tom Barabas, Big Mountain, Matthew Lien, Ronny Robbins, and William Lee Golden, and has performed for dignitaries such as the King and Queen of Malaysia, Ravi Shankar, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Benedetti plays on guitars crafted by Miguel Rodriguez, Jose Ramirez, Simon Marty, James Goodall, and Bob Taylor.
George Svoboda has garnered praise from San Diego Tribune staff writer Bob Corbett, who described him as "a first-class musician, top-drawer stuff...his fingers seem to fly effortlessly across the guitar strings." Svoboda has performed in his native Czechoslovakia, as well as in England, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Austria, Mexico, and the United States.
Recognized as both an immaculate performer and a composer, Svoboda's work includes arrangements for solo guitar, small ensembles, and large orchestras. His music, rooted in the folk traditions of Eastern Europe, has received consistent acclaim from musicians and critics. As a member of the Second Avenue Klezmer Ensemble, he has performed extensively throughout California, Arizona, and Mexico. Notably, he played for President and Mrs. Clinton at the renowned Hotel Del Coronado.
With nearly twenty-five years of experience in performing, recording, and teaching, Svoboda taught guitar and music theory in Public Schools of Art in Czechoslovakia before moving to the U.S. Since then, he has served as an Artist in Residence and guitar instructor at San Diego City Schools, Mesa College, Grossmont College, and is currently a faculty member at CSU San Marcos and San Diego State University. He has also published successful instructional books on classical guitar technique.
Born in Cheb, Czech Republic, George now resides in San Diego, California. He studied guitar and music history at the State Conservatory of Music in Pilsen, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in Music from San Diego State University in 1996 and his Master’s Degree in Music in 1998.
Svoboda plays on guitars made by Miguel Rodriguez, Archangel Fernandez, and Jose Ramirez.
