Byron
Paul Tomingas, Concert Guitarist, Composer
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Byron’s Birthday Concert June 28th 2008 Saturday at 6pm St. John’s Episcopal Church
downtown Jackson, WY “Playing a few of the many
musical presents given to me and dedicating them to the people who shared
their enthusiasm” |
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Reviews |
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Phone/Msg: 307-690-1514
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Background:
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Byron Paul Tomingas has appeared
as featured soloist and with chamber groups and Symphonic Orchestras on
stage, live radio and in more than 20 Public Broadcast television
productions. Instructor to
multiple thousands of students and Composer of award winning film scores
Tomingas has received such concert reviews as: “Enchanted Animation,” “Brilliant,” “Splendid Musicality” for his
Classical and Originals concerts. |
Photo by Jose Oribe |
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While consistently receiving standing ovations, appearances
are as rare as recordings by this artist. The few recordings are usually very limited release items
to celebrate an event and are often filled with a blend of classics, original
works, transcriptions and song arrangements. Tomingas withdrew from major concert stages a decade ago
in favor of a quieter, simpler life. The best chance one has of hearing
Tomingas play is to stroll the quiet streets of Jackson Hole and listen for a
stream of music emanating from his home. |
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Concert Guitarist Byron Paul Tomingas |
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Maestro Tomingas is a unique
concert artist with a warm, humorous, outdoor, adventurous spirit that “enchants”
his performances with programming of romantic and energized music targeted to
the “hearts of concert audiences” (Guy Horn). Classic Commentator
Euell Labahrd called Tomingas “A
leading force in music” |
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Master composer Roman Ryterband
wrote significant music for the instrument after hearing a performance by
Byron Tomingas. Tomingas has appeared in several movies as well as composing
music for award winning films.
Students of Byron Tomingas have also been featured in many television
productions, concerts and are highly regarded by the industry in their own
right. |
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Byron Tomingas has taught multiple
thousands of successful students at colleges, privately and in Master Classes
with such reviews as: “Phenomenal,” “Determined,
Skillful and Articulate”. He
received his Bachelor of Music with Graduate Studies from the prestigious
California Institute of the Arts where he studied intensively with such
notables as: Sitar Master Ravi Shankar, Conductor Leonard Stein, Composer
Harold Budd, Roth Quartet Chamber Cellist Cesare Pascarella, and Electronic
Music Composer/Innovator Morton
Subotnik (2001 Space Odyssey).
Tomingas also received the honor of being nominated to one of
legendary Maestro Andres Segovia’s last master classes in Spain. The award winning documentary “The
Bountiful Harvest of Steinbeck Country” soundtrack was composed and performed
by Tomingas. Byron also made his
own movie productions two of which were recently shown at the Eastman Film
Festival in Los Angeles. Maestro Tomingas was a Founding Board Member of the
highly successful Carmel Classic Guitar Festival in California. |
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Byron Tomingas, as a single parent
withdrew from major public performances in 1994 to raise his then 3 year old
daughter quietly, compose, pursue his love of the outdoors and technical
innovation more vigorously. Now
that his daughter is in her teens, he has returned to the concert stage; “Our
magnificent guitarist”, “stunning the audience” once again, although only in
Jackson Hole WY. |
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Byron
only plays Jose Oribe guitars in concert by preference, not by contract,
concession or special arrangement.
Tomingas has stated: “Oribe guitars are the Holy Grail of the
Luthier’s craft, living, breathing creatures with gorgeous
personalities”. www.OribeGuitars.com |
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My Oribe Guitar by Byron
Tomingas (a typically long winded account
in two parts) When I finally saw the light and
went to a music school to learn what it was that had captivated me, I arrived
at the downtown Los Angeles California college from a small town in Wyoming
which was quite a culture shock.
I now say that Southern California is a great place to go learn
things. Unfortunately, you also learn a lot of things you really didn’t want
to know; still I wouldn’t exchange that growing experience. There were great talents that
befriended me and we were all caught up in the heady excitement of rapid
progress in skill, knowledge and testing the power of being able to change
the world with our ideas. |
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For
the previous five years I had taught myself how to play mostly with a phonograph
where I would put the record on, hear the first note, stop it and try to find
that note on the guitar and so on.
From that starting point wonderful Stippy Wolf and kind Marc Schupman
provided some framework for all of these notes. During my sophomore year at High School I created the
first Rock and Roll band (Teton
Rocks) in Jackson Hole Wyoming and Grand Teton National Park. I had to teach myself all the other
instruments and all the parts to each song so I could then teach others to
play. We played exuberant songs
had such fun and a good deal of fright but the experiences remain as the
highlight of our youth. |
The original Rock Band Reunion in 2000 |
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When I arrived at California
Institute of the Arts, which was a collection of all the schools of Art;
Music, Theater, Dance, Film and Fine Art, I could play Chet Atkins style
renderings of several song such as the one I auditioned with, “Yesterday” by
Lennon & McCartney. They
were not impressed as I couldn’t read music and knew nothing about theory and
certainly couldn’t play a note of classical music and I was duly mortified
and humbled. However as they
were a brand new college and desperate to add more bodies to the student body
they let me in on probation.
There I was suddenly thrust into the brilliant world of “world class”
guitars, Oribe’s, Hauser’s, Ramirez, something from most of the greats and a
lot of middle greats were there rendering gorgeous music. Being a poverty-stricken boy from a
small town in Wyoming and no experience, I had a $12 guitar I had hurriedly
bought in Tijuana Mexico. Oh,
and what I had to do, was agony, I didn’t get to touch my left hand to the
neck for two weeks. Can you
imagine hitting a single note excruciatingly slowly for ten hours a day? That’s truly what I did but worse,
with a towel wrapped around the neck as the neighbors were being driven out
of their skulls with my incessant “ding, ding, ding”. I had always played a lot, 5 hours
was a minimum, not because I felt compelled to, but simply because I enjoyed
the act of making music and inventing new combinations. Beautifully shaped sensual notes
contrasted with high-energy exuberance, I come alive when rendering those
moments. My first guitar had
been a steel string and I did indeed make my finger tips bleed with that one
and often had a bandage on the end of my middle finger. Prior to going to a music college,
the longest I ever sat was 17 hours just dreaming away with my guitar, and I
fell asleep playing as I often did, I just had to try one more thing. Unfortunately, I don’t have that
passion about playing in public, it’s a lot of fun to get others excited
about the music but not what I live for, in truth, I would rather not be
noticed at all but not an option in the field I’m in, so the end result is
that it’s hard to get me out there.
I have the same passion about long walks in the mountains; I revel in
high alpine meadows and I just have to see what’s over that ridge or around
that knoll, I often have walk back miles in the dark. The smooth elegance of Figure skating
also gives me that thrill that takes you to a place beyond mortal existence
and I always ache to skate just a little longer. Truly though, the only comparison with making music is a
passionate partner who adores you, unfortunately they can be a bit more
demanding and troublesome than mountains or a guitar. Two guitars at college
particularly enchanted me, one was a Red Wood topped Oribe guitar that
sounded like it was absolutely a living, breathing creature and was the closest
thing to absolute perfection I have ever seen. The Oribe’s bargain price at the time of $1000 was of
course astronomically out of my wildest hope of getting, the $12 dollars I
spent on the Mexican guitar meant I literally didn’t eat for a week. The other great guitar was a Ramirez
Flamenco guitar with wooden tuning pegs but the instrument never interested
me, it was the pegs. What I
wanted was an Oribe with wooden tuning pegs but he didn’t make those, or so I
thought. But every night I would
wrap that awful towel around my poor little Mexican guitar and I would set to
it. To give me inspiration, I
began imagining, and I have always had a vivid imagination, that it was a Red
Wood topped Oribe guitar with wooden tuning pegs and so I would sit every day
for ten hours, “ding, ding, ding”.
It’s no wonder I went a little mad in those years. I tried to tell my friends they
weren’t seeing the real me that I was a little out to lunch until I got this
thing under control but I doubt that any of them had a clue what I was
talking about. That was all happening in 1968 and guess what Oribe was
constructing at that very moment?
My guitar, precisely the way I was imagining it, of course I didn’t
know that at the time. |
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PART II My freshman year at college
progressed and within a few weeks I was playing real classical music and by
the end of the first year I had the Bach Bouree in e minor well sorted, of
course I also played it a minimum of 100 times per day during that year. I did my first recital in my
Sophomore year, my brother kindly bought me a concert suit and later I played
at his wedding in that suit.
Many of my friends had Oribe’s by then but not me. One of my good friends, a wonderful
guitarist Morris Mizrahi had one and deserved it as he could play concerts
with vigor and panache. It was
always a treat to ask Morrie what he was working on, his enthusiasm was
infectious and he would whip out his Oribe where ever we were, a hallway,
restaurant, street or staircase and within a few notes of say something like
“Danza Pomposa” you were captivated by the magic of the music, what
inspirational fun. He had been a
serious Flamenco guitarist and lived in the caves of Spain with the Gypsies
for five years to learn it, he had an indulgent personality and would
completely engross himself in whatever inspired him. I have heard that Morrie doesn’t
exist anymore, and that loss is sadder because he loved playing magical music
for audiences where they would stand up and cheer “Bravo”. Morrie and I were probably the worst
sight readers out of all 25 guitar majors at Cal-Arts and certainly not the
most cherished by the establishment as we ran wide of accepted standards but
interestingly, even though we had radically differing personalities, we
seemed to be the only two who could actually play a concert and pull it off,
the others seemed to freeze up and fall apart and not to be uncharitable, the
truth is they just couldn’t seem to get much more than a lot of thumps, bumps
and rattles out of their instrument.
Maybe they just didn’t have the mortifying fear of falling on your
face in front of anyone as I do so I really put forth a lot of prior effort
in the panic stricken hopes of ensuring a reasonable modicum of success. One of the better sight-readers that
was a disaster on stage grumblingly said to me after my first concert
“There’s more to it than just playing the right notes”. My retort is that people have to
actually hear the right notes before anyone can derive an opinion about interpretation. I had a little better guitar in the
second year but it was still only a $100 dollar instrument and pretty thick
sounding and I was still envisioning my absolutely perfect, beautiful,
vibrant Oribe that I didn’t know he had already completed ---- and had
already sold to someone else. My Junior year a lot of old fiends
such as vocal major Hal-James Pederson had dropped out, in Hal’s case he had
won a part in the tremendously successful play “You’re a Good Man Charlie
Brown” which set his career running.
Others had hit pop records and started touring but none of the guitar
majors did anything significant and slowly they seem to drift away. So many of my friends had such near
misses with fame and success including me! Out of the group of 25 Guitar
majors that started, I think Morrie and I one of the very few to receive a
Bachelor’s in Music Performance.
People often asked about my cheap guitar and I would say such nonsense
as “I’m not getting an Oribe until I deserve it” and they would say “when
will that be” and I would say “when I play the Concerto in D Major by Vivaldi
with an orchestra”. Oribe’s
price had doubled by then but he probably wasn’t making more than 75 cents an
hour for the time and effort he put into them. Everyone who knew of Oribe guitars spoke in reverent tones
and those lucky few who could afford them considered them Holy Relics that
had to be obtained by a trial of fire by going to Oribe’s shop, meeting him
in person and being worthy. He
was famous for losing his temper and chasing people out of his shop if they
didn’t show proper respect or care in handling them and quite frankly he was
right to do so, Oribe creates miracles.
Then one day I had a friend, Jesus
who was an Art major, sweetest most innocent guy in the world and trying so
hard to be perfect at everything including body building and guitar playing
and oh how the women loved him and he in turn loved them. His art renderings were all highly
regarded but they were all of macabre scenes, who knows what goes on in a
person. Jesus tried hard, maybe
too hard his playing was pretty stiff as if he was weight lifting his fingers
in both directions but Art was his thing and music was a hobby and he was
very good at guitar as a hobby.
Anyway, he excitedly dragged in a beat up old guitar case that looked
like a ragged grey silk pin striped suit twisted sideways that someone from
Bulgaria would wear if they were trying to stylishly standout in the 1940’s
and it looked very weird on a guitar case. He said “Look what I’m buying from a friend of mine, he
doesn’t care about it, he just buys a guitar for awhile and then sells it and
gets some other guitar” he opened the case and there it was, my
beloved Oribe. I was standing
there stupefied thinking, “What’s my guitar doing in that case?” I could not
come to terms with the fact my beautiful guitar was in someone else’s
arms. Jesus jerked the guitar
out; it’s perfect body had dings and signs of neglect. “Do you want to play it? You can borrow it for awhile if you
want.” I played it and it spoke
to me with beautiful phrasing and balance, the epitome of grace and elegance,
my perfect, oh so cherished Oribe.
In fact I played it for the rest of that year and then I had to make
the ultimate devastating sacrifice, I had to give it back when I went home
for summer and go back to playing my thick guitar. I was back for my Senior year for
a month or so when I ran into Jesus again and asked him if he had bought my
Oribe guitar. He said, “Oh, I’ve
changed my mind, I’ve been loaning it out to my students, there’s a new
guitar maker that’s making one just for me”. I thought my friend and the guy who owned my guitar must
be absolutely deaf and blind not to see the glory in this instrument. So, probably with a shaking voice, I
asked if I could buy the Oribe and over a nerve wracking 12 days he finally
checked with the owner and the deal was done for far less than a new Oribe,
but I still had to somehow raise the seemingly enormous funds which that was
made more difficult as the price of the college kept going up each year and I
wasn’t making any more money than before. I played in pop bands with bass or guitar and taught in LA
to supplement my summer earnings but things were definitely tight. My senior recital was coming up and I
was practicing hard for that, I had done a transcription for Guitar and
Harpsichord and I also played the Bach Bouree of course and then just two
days before my recital I paid for my Oribe guitar walked on stage and played
as the finale at the concert, the Vivaldi Concerto in D Major with a string
orchestra with my Oribe guitar and my heart and soul sang. |
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And then door on my college days
closed and my Oribe guitar and I were on our own. We came to know each other well over the years; the emotional
levels we’ve reached together are well beyond descriptive words. |
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Jose Oribe & Byron Tomingas 2007 Photo by Juanita Oribe |
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Addendum 2007:
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After many years of very serious playing, it was time to return
my beloved Oribe to the Master Maker for checkup. So I went to the Maker and he showed me three
miracles. Impossible as it might
be, he raised the bar several notches and has produced such brilliance that
it literally took my breath away, I had to stop, take a few breaths and
pretty soon, instead of playing to show off my ability or the grace of some
composition, I was rolling through a simple chord and breathlessly listening
in awe to such beautifully matched tones that seemed to resonate forever,
then one or two single notes in the upper registers, captivatingly
beautiful. So, if you hear one
of my concerts today it will be with my Grand Concert Oribe, which has
already been described by one listener as sounding more like a Grand Piano.
The abundance of sheer of volume not only echoes off the back wall of the
concert halls I’ve played but equally off the side walls, so the range of
dynamics is incredible and oh, the sweet quiet notes, it hurts your heart to
hear such innocent beauty.
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Now, I’m a very sentimental sort of guy, so what about my
cherished Red Wood Flamenco?
Oribe, performed yet another miracle and took my well-worn guitar and
brought it back to absolutely new condition. Now, when I want a warm, quiet contemplative nostalgic
moment, my Red Wood is back in my arms as we stroll through the beauty that
music can weave. And as it is
just like new and better, it’s like being in a time machine, and getting my
dream guitar all over again as the first owner, so it’s saved for those special,
personal moments in pristine condition at last.
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Concert at the National Museum of Wildlife
Art
‘Twas a
dark and stormy day, February in Jackson Hole, the height of winter was upon
us with hazardous weather advisories, closed roads and airports, low
visibility, cold weather and a blizzard blowing. And yet, they came, the lovely Concert Hall filled up with
enthusiasts who tolerated a half hour delay, a long concert of over an hour
and a half and still they cheered, applauded, whistled with shouts of bravo
while standing and calling for an ovation. This turns out to be my debut return to the concert stage
after a decade and a half as well as the debut of my new Grand Concert Oribe. The event was the most satisfying and
enjoyable concerts of my entire career.
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Some of the many comments and reviews
received about this concert:
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"The emotion you put
into your playing/composition shines through your brilliant fretwork" Max
Ludington, Bluegrass Bandits |
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"I was lost in
lost" Amber H. |
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“Magical fingers and
extraordinary talent” Ralph L. |
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"Tears were in my eyes
during the Shostakovich Romance" Mary S. |
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"As an audience
member, I was completely wrapped up in your playing" Amber H. |
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“A great concert....those
pieces were wonderful” Tom Turiano, Musician & Author |
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“Fantastic” Mark Memmer,
musician |
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“What a momentous occasion”
Nate Edwards, musician |
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"I’ve been awestruck
by his undeniable virtuosity time and time again " Aaron Davis, Musician |
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"Boo's Requiem touched
me so deeply" Madeleine C. |
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"I couldn't get up to
leave, your music was still playing in my head and in the room even after
everyone left but I just couldn't let it go" Amber H. |
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“That was the best version
of Dark Eyes I have ever heard”
Unknown Patron |
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“Bravo, encore” John
Kuzloski, Blues musician |
More reviews from other concerts below.
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Instruction:
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After teaching literally thousands of
guitar students, for many years, Tomingas does not offer private lessons
anymore, only master classes.
Refreshingly non-judgmental, non-ego
oriented and respectful in approach, the Maestro custom tailors’ well
balanced instruction, targeted specifically to personal musical goals. In
addition, he does not lock into a rigid generalized formula, each session is
custom tailored to ones needs and rapid advancement.
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email Byron@Tomingas.com |
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Music Notes
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By
Byron Tomingas |
Dark Eyes
Arranged
by B. P. Tomingas
Key of A minor During
the reign of the last Tsar, Emma Matilda Kinna was a very young girl growing
up in Saint Petersburg Russia; she lived near the Hermitage Museum in some
degree of elegance for she was well educated and wore many beautiful dresses.
In the winters, Emma and her
mother Tiina would often ice skate on the frozen Neva River. Emma spoke many
languages and could write in several as well, she was a budding
horticulturist and loved to play the organ. There is a mystery about this bit
of history for Emma, her mother and father were Estonian, Russia at that time
despised Estonians and worked very hard to subjugate the little country and
created many Russian laws to restrict Estonian rights and attempted to make
them second class citizens. A few years earlier, Ukrainian
poet Yevhen Hrebinka (1812-1848) composed the poem "Oche Chyërnia" in St. Petersburg, Russia
after falling in love with some un-named dark-eyed beauty, The poem was later
set to music by an unknown composer, or perhaps it was just new words for an
ancient Russian folk song. However, the Russian Revolution was on the verge of exploding, so
Tiina’s brothers boldly kidnapped Tiina and Emma from Russia and took them to
Canada. There, life changed
drastically, they lived on a farm with all the hardship that farming in the
cold north can bring. Emma met
another displaced Estonian, a handsome man that she had read about in
underground Estonian newspapers, a leader of Esti freedom fighters with a
Russian price on his head who was nearly captured, wounded in his escape and
hid out in the forest through one entire winter with his cousin. They too, then made their way to
Canada and Jaan met Emma and they married. They built a home for themselves in Gillette Wyoming and
farmed while raising their eight wonderfully gifted children. The one luxury that Emma managed to
save was an organ that was played by pumping air into it with pedals. There was a flood one spring and the
entire house floated away, however the organ was again saved. The organ is still in the family
line.
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When
I was a very small child there were two songs that touched me deeply and
continue to do so to this day, one was Oche Chyërnia and the other the Brahms
Hungarian Dance number 5. Beyond
their elegance and energy, they have a common ground in accelerating rhythm
structures that have always excited me beyond words, add glorious melodies
and simple harmonies, the result is, I am passionate about these songs and so
it has been one of my greatest pleasures to render this instrumental
arrangement of Oche Chyërnia that embodies so much of who I am, it offers all
of the emotions, sensitivity, excitement and lets me take extreme risks in
the hopes of breathing emotion into this moment of time we all share. I
would very much like to think that my grandmother Emma Matilda Kinna/Tomingas
would enjoy my arrangement and fortunately I already know that my Mother
Hallie loves this rendering and she still remembers the words in
Russian. So, I now offer it to
you in the hopes you too can be swept into the magical flow of “Oche Chyërnia”
which means of course, “Dark Eyes”. |
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Emma
Kinna/Tomingas, her grandson, Byron Tomingas and his brilliant and famous
dog, Commando and wonderful car built by his creative Dad |
Boo’s
Requiem
Composition by B. P. Tomingas
In
the Key of E minor composed mostly during 1995 assembling earlier musical
fragments from 1968-71 and recent “renovations” in 2007 This composition speaks to the journey of life and loss. Its first percussive notes are not about the notes str |
