News & Events
June 2025
The second installment of Christopher Berg's "Forensic Fingering" series is now available on The Guitar Whisperer Blog. This installment takes an in-depth look at Fernando Sor's famous Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9 and explores how Sor's use of notation implies fingerings that are different from what usually appears in modern editions that are neither facsimile nor Urtext editions.
"Forensic Fingering, Part Two" can be found here. The introduction to the series is in part one.
June 2025
Three new transcriptions of outstanding Elizabethan lute music are now available from OrpheusOnFire Editions. These pieces are:
- John Dowland: The Earl of Essex Galliard
- John Dowland: Lady Clifton's Spirit
- Anthony Holborne: Fantasie No. 3
The Holborne piece is available on the Free Downloads page and the Dowland galliards are available on the Articles and Editions page.
Go to About OrpheusOnFire for information and to view sample pages.
January 2025
There's a new post on The Guitar Whisperer Blog: Christopher Berg begins a new series on "Forensic Fingering." The first installment looks at what he terms "The Segovia Code."
Much can be learned by looking at fingering problems and practices in the context of the literature in which they occur. If consistent practices are found, one can evaluate these practices, discard some, modify some, and take advantage of others.
Read the post here.
December 2024
There's a new post on The Guitar Whisperer Blog: Christopher Berg explores "The Means and Ends Problem" and pedagogical clichés and in music teaching. Read the post here.
March 2024
A new transcription and performance edition of John Dowland’s “Sir John Smith his Almaine” is available now. The OrpheusOnFire edition of this remarkable and virtuosic lute piece includes five pages of performance notes that explore what Diana Poulton referred to as the piece’s “anomalous form.”
This edition includes two versions of the piece: one with right- hand fingerings that are a modification of Renaissance lute technique and another that is fingered according to standard guitar technique.
For more information or to purchase available scores through Gumroad's secure pop-up window, please go to the Articles and Editions page of the Store. Go to About OrpheusOnFire for information and to view sample pages.
January 2024
New performance editions available now:
- Aguado: Rondo brillante, Op. 2, No. 2
- Bach: Fugue, BWV 1000
- Barrios: Estudio de Concierto
- Giuliani: Grande Ouverture, Op. 61
- Granados: Danza Española No. 5
- Sor: Grand Solo, Op. 14
- Sor: Variations on a Theme of Mozart, Op. 9
- Weiss: Fantasie
For more information or to purchase available scores through Gumroad's secure pop-up window, please go to the Articles and Editions page of the Store. Go to About OrpheusOnFire for information and to view sample pages.
September 2023
The score for "The Emperor and the Fool" from Christopher Berg's recording of original music is now available.
If you're unfamiliar with music from The Pilgrim Forest, you can stream all ten works on Apple Music Classical, Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify, SoundCloud and other streaming services.
For more information or to purchase available scores through Gumroad's secure pop-up window, please go to the Scores page of the Store.
April 2023
New Release: Common-Tone Scale Practice for guitarists
Inspired by Rachmaninoff's 1923 article in The Etude magazine, this fifty-page booklet presents a guide to scale study that is not rooted in learning patterns and moving them about the neck of the guitar. Included is a detailed exploration of modifications to string-crossing technique to meet the requirements of high-speed scale playing.
Go to the new Articles and Editions page of the Store for information or to purchase through Gumroad's secure pop-up window.
March 2023
Six more scores from Christopher Berg's The Pilgrim Forest have been released for sale: "Into the Night," "The Girl Without Arms," "Gorilla Music," "Song ForGiving," and "The Pilgrim" are now for sale on Gumroad. For more information or to purchase available scores through Gumroad's secure pop-up window, please go to the Scores page of the Store.
February 2023
There's a new post on The Guitar Whisperer Blog: Zen in the Act of Pernicious Pedagogy.
January 2023
The score for "Waltz of the Hermit" from Christopher Berg's The Pilgrim Forest has just been released for sale on Gumroad. It joins "Pavane for All Souls" and "Lullaby Blue." For information about the waltz or to purchase a copy, visit to the Scores page of the Store.
There's also a new post on The Guitar Whisperer Blog: The Re-Imagination of Guitar Performance.
November 18, 2022
Christopher Berg performs Antonio Vivaldi's Concerto in D Major with the Pacific Philharmonic Orchestra at the Taylor-Meade Performing Arts Center, Pacific University, Forest Grove, Oregon.
The performance is at 7:30. Tickets are $10.00 ($7.00 for Senior, Student, or Military) and are available here.
April 24, 2022
Christopher Berg will perform a solo recital in the Recital Hall of the University of South Carolina School of Music on Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 3:00 pm. The concert will feature Leo Brouwer's El Decameron Negro, Mauro Giuliani's Grande Ouverture, Op. 61, music from The Pilgrim Forest, and more. The concert is free.
This performance will not be streamed.
March 11, 2022
Christopher Berg performs at the Clemson Guitar Festival at the Brooks Center for the Performing Arts at Clemson University in South Carolina on March 11, 2022 at 7:30.
The festival runs March 11–12. Other artists include Hiroya Tsukamoto, Alex de Grassi, Andrew York, and Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway.
February 11, 2020
The University of South Carolina published “Q&A with Christopher Berg.”
Read the interview to learn his thoughts about expanding the means of musical expression, whether this is done by playing concerts, composing music, or writing books.
July 22, 2021
Christopher Berg is a guest on Karl Wohlwend's fabulous Guitaromanie Podcast! Listen to a freewheeling conversation.
June 2019
Routledge releases Christopher Berg’s Practicing Music by Design: Historic Virtuosi on Peak Performance.
November 2019
Oxford University Press releases Christopher Berg’s The Classical Guitar Companion, a major work for the guitar.
Performing
Christopher Berg’s experience performing early music on lutes and guitars has afforded him a unique perspective when performing the standard classical guitar repertoire. He also believes each artist has a responsibility to create something that never existed before.
Teaching
Although Christopher Berg’s teaching is systematic, he teaches each student rather than a system. His pedagogy unites critical thinking and problem-recognition skills (necessary for problem solving) with refined artistic sensitivity. Read more about his approach to teaching here.
Recordings
The Pilgrim Forest is a musical novel, a wordless story told in music of a traveller who has strayed from the main road in search of truth. Although conceived as an hour-long cycle, each piece also stands alone.
Resources
Here you will find free downloads of scores in the public domain edited by Christopher Berg, teaching handouts, exercises and selected writings.
Books
Christopher Berg has four books in print: The Classical Guitar Companion (OUP), Practicing Music by Design: Historic Virtuosi on Peak Performance (Routledge); Mastering Guitar Technique and Giuliani Revisited (Mel Bay). Learn more here.
Scores
Scores for all ten compositions from Christopher Berg’s The Pilgrim Forest are now available. Visit the Scores page of the Store. These can be purchased as PDFs through Gumroad's secure pop-up window without leaving the page.
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Christopher Berg and Andrés Segovia Los Angeles, 1981
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"Lullaby Blue" touched me so deeply that the tears kept falling. It was obvious after the Haydn that we were in for a real treat, but I was unprepared for the deep connection to The Pilgrim Forest selections.
—Cindy (SC)
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We have since bought your CD The Pilgrim Forest and look forward to listening to the whole collection—as soon as we can stop listening to "Lullaby Blue" over and over.
—Sandra (IN)
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I just want to thank you for your book about guitar technique. I have suffered from dystonia, but now the problems are definitely solved thanks to your writing. You understand the rest! I will always refer to you when I feel that I'm slipping back into my old technique again.
—Bo L. (Sweden)
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Mr. Berg’s analysis is among the most thorough and professional to come my way…. If you are having real problems playing clearly, efficiently and in a relaxed manner, Mastering Guitar Technique could be the book for you to read and open up your technical know-how.
—Classical Guitar Magazine (Great Britain)
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Berg’s performance is beautiful. His sound, his sense of progression, and level of artistic intensity are compelling and make repeated hearings of this recording very enjoyable.
—The Soundboard, Journal of The Guitar Foundation of America
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Christopher Berg gave a stellar display of guitar virtuosity Tuesday night… His technique was awesome!
—Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
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Christopher Berg’s Sunday afternoon recital at the Columbia Museum of Art left the standing-room-only crowd eager for more!
—The State (Columbia, SC)
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The full house was treated to an outstanding performance…. His lyrical phrasing and rich tone exemplified the romantic potential of the guitar in the hands of a master.
—Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
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The Rodrigo concerto was electrifying…
hugely enjoyable and freshly played.—The State (Columbia, SC)
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A man with no technical boundaries, angelic composing abilities, simply breathtaking! This album tells a terrific tale, and is full of imagination. From start to finish, Mr. Berg is able to touch on every human emotion. It is a wonderful contribution to the ever-growing guitar literature.
—Chad
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Packed with pleasure… expertly played guitars and lutes… wondrously nimble passage work.
—The State (Columbia, SC)
The Classical Guitar Companion
Published by Oxford University Press in November of 2019, The Classical Guitar Companion features over 200 examples, etudes, and pieces organized to help serious guitar students better navigate the shoals of becoming well-trained and expressive artists. It is neither a method, treatise, nor anthology, although it contains elements of each. Rather than try to shepherd each student down the same path, the book allows students to approach their training within a flexible and personal curriculum based upon their weaknesses and strengths.
