Brandon Jack Acker

Since winning the 2010 Society of American Musician’s Guitar Competition (Collegiate division), Brandon J. Acker has established himself as a prominent performing artist in the Chicagoland area.  In his frequent and versatile performances, he enjoys combining his love for opera and the guitar by featuring operatic fantasies from the 19th century as well as his own arrangements of opera arias.  This passion for opera has also led him to the study of basso continuo playing on the Baroque guitar and Theorbo at the Madison Early Music Festival and has culminated in performances of Baroque operas by Purcell, Monteverdi and Telemann with the DePaul and Northwestern University Opera Theaters.  Internationally acclaimed guitarist Jason Vieaux referred to his playing as possessing a “Beautiful sound and a really nice touch on the instrument.” His other notable instruments include the Charango (from Bolivia) and the Chonguri (from the Republic of Georgia), on which he’s been featured as a soloist with multiple choirs and the Chicago based ensemble, Alioni. After beginning his studies with UW Whitewater professor George Lindquist, Brandon continued his studies with Mark Maxwell at DePaul University. He has received many master classes from artists such as Oscar Ghiglia, Jason Vieaux, Hopkinson Smith, Paul O’Dette, Elena Papendreou, Johannes Möller, Eduardo Fernández, and more. He graduated in 2012 with his Bachelors’ Degree in performance and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in performance at Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music. Brandon also serves on the board for the Chicago Classical Guitar Society as Secretary.