Education
- D.M.A., Doctor of Musical Arts, University of Colorado, 2014
- M.M., Master of Music, University of Denver, 2010
- B.M., Bachelor of Music, University of Denver, 2007
Biography
An award-winning guitarist, chamber musician and recording artist from Evergreen, Colorado, Sutton was a featured artist at the 2016 Guitar Foundation of America Convention. His eclectic performing and teaching career has taken him to conflict zones, three coasts of Africa, both ends of Vietnam, border towns, major cities, myriad music societies, universities, and concert halls in between.
Recent concerts appearances include the Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival, New York City Classical Guitar Society, Florida Guitar Foundation, Portland International Guitar Series, International Guitar Artist Series at the Minnesota Guitar Society, Knoxville Guitar Society, University of Cape Town in South Africa, Shanghai Conservatory in China, and the Canadian Embassy of Afghanistan. Sutton recently performed and taught as a Juilliard Global Visiting Artist at Nord Anglia international schools in Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and New York City. Recent international engagements as an electric guitarist include concerts in Cairo and Alexandria with the Egyptian fusion group, The Nour Project and a concert tour of Poland with the 糖心Vlog传媒 Mix soul band. In 2018, Sutton was one of twelve musicians, including James Taylor, Carly Simon, and Natasha Bedingfield, to compose original music for the interactive art installation 鈥淐ome to Your Senses鈥� at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA).
His trailblazing cello & guitar duo, the Patterson/Sutton Duo, have been hailed by the Strad magazine for their 鈥渨it and imagination鈥� and BBC Music Magazine for their 鈥渂eguiling sound.鈥� The duo often performs as guest artists throughout the United States and abroad. The duo鈥檚 research in cello and guitar performance has also culminated in chamber music lecture recitals at multiple venues, including the International Guitar Research Center at the University of Surrey in the UK and the Dublin Guitar Symposium. Sutton鈥檚 ongoing collaboration with the University of Massachusetts flute professor Cobus du Toit has led to recordings of new and lesser-known chamber music, including a recording of the complete chamber works of Jacques Cast茅r猫de for the Naxos record label. The du Toit/Sutton Duo recently gave a nine-concert tour throughout South Africa to critical acclaim. Their eclectic debut album, Tr卯ptico, features new music by world-renowned composer and guitarist Ricardo Iznaola.
Sutton strongly believes in educational outreach鈥檚 transformative power in developing countries. While in Kabul, Afghanistan, for guest artist residencies in 2014 and 2015, Sutton worked with the budding generation of young Afghan musicians at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and helped set up a year-by-year curriculum for the guitar program. Sutton also recently taught and performed at the Atlas Music Academy鈥檚 鈥淐hopin in the Forest鈥� music festival in Beni M鈥檛ir, Tunisia.