Guitarist John Britton ’12 has released an arrangement of Shubert’s famously dark Lied, Erlkönig, with a Canadian publishing house as a teaser for a larger anthology of music for voice and guitar. The recent graduate is on something of a quest to breathe new life into the traditional pairing of voice and guitar. (He volunteers that he married the first singer he ever worked with.) Inspired by joint guitar and voice department recitals at SFCM, Britton is now marrying advances in guitar technique with warhorses of the art song repertoire to open up new possibilities for musical collaboration. He writes, “I hope my work will inspire the composers of my generation to help create our own warhorses and help revive the humble and profound pairing of the voice and guitar.”

A former student of David Tanenbaum, Britton is also preparing to release a CD of spirituals recorded with baritone Lester Lynch and an album of Schubert lieder featuring bass-baritone and former Adler Fellow Philippe Sly.