Martin Gangl’s music draws from many influences and traditions. From the great fingerstyle players of the twentieth century to the great flatpickers and instrumentalists of American bluegrass music, Martin has developed a compositional style that is truly eclectic. He began his musical journey with the guitar at the age of thirteen and has gone on to explore the worlds of classical guitar, fingerstyle, country blues, bluegrass, and jazz.
His journey led him to Temple University in the 1990s, where he studied classical guitar with Alan Krantz while earning a Bachelor of Music degree in music education. The formal training that he acquired from that experience led to an interest in composition. While he never formally studied music composition, he devoted much of the next several years to composing and arranging the music that would culminate in 2006 with his first album, Conjuring the Muse, a collection of original pieces and arrangements inspired by the fingerstyle genre of the late twentieth century.
Martin is constantly re-tracing his lifelong journey by exploring the traditional music that first drew him to the guitar. From Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Blake, to rediscovering Celtic music, and several years focusing on flatpicking guitar technique, he has become a well rounded guitarist with national and international recognition.
As a performer, Martin has delighted audiences with his warm stage presence and intricate solo guitar pieces, many of which utilize open tunings such as DADGAD. His note for note interpretations of classic flatpicking tunes in the style of his heroes Doc Watson and Clarence White are regular crowd pleasers as are his arrangements of ragtime and country blues music and Irish reels and jigs. Martin views his note for note interpretations of the repertoire of the Twentieth century School of steel string fingersyle guitar masters as a musical endeavor devoted to treating the music of his heroes much the same way that a classical guitarist interprets the works of the great classical guitar masters.
Some of the venues at which Martin has appeared include the American Music Festival, in Harrisburg, PA , The Swannanoa Gathering, in Asheville, NC. He has performed as an opening act for such acoustic music luminaries as The Modern Mandolin Quartet, Malcolm Dalglish, and the legendary Michael Hedges. His work has also been featured on the Echoes radio program.
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