Harry G. Pellegrin
Encyclopedia
Bronxville, New York
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, United States
United States
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.
Classical guitarist, composer, author, photographer, and graphic artist. The only child of Harry Pellegrin (1902–1981) and Veronica M. Pellegrin (1918–2004), Harry G. Pellegrin attended Mount Saint Michael Academy
Mount Saint Michael Academy
Mount Saint Michael Academy, also known as The Mount, is an all-boys Roman Catholic High School in the northeast part of the Bronx, New York, on the Mount Vernon city line, . The 22-acre campus is a non-boarding college preparatory school for some 1,100 boys grades 6 through 12...
in the Bronx, graduating in 1974. Pellegrin studied piano as a small child but became interested in the guitar in 1970 and by 1973 was performing. He performed sporadically with a proto-punk band The Void during the late 1970s, but this was not the direction he wished his career to take. Pellegrin attended Bronx Community College from 1974 to 1976. He majored in classical guitar at The Mannes College of Music in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, studying with Albert Valdés-Blain and Eliot Fisk
Eliot Fisk
Eliot Fisk is an American classical guitarist.-Biography:Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andrés Segovia and is the holder of all reproduction rights to Segovia's music, given to him by Segovia's wife, Emilia...
. After graduating in 1980, Pellegrin formed Air Raid with Martin Seddon (1956–2006), British-born graphic artist. It was Seddon that introduced Pellegrin to both photography and the graphic arts.
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
and the associated neurological deficits curtailed his musical career for almost seven years and channeled his energies towards his other interests, writing and photography. Pellegrin wrote for Soundboard, The Journal of the Guitar Foundation of America
Soundboard (magazine)
Soundboard is a magazine published quarterly by the Guitar Foundation of America . The GFA is a 501 non-profit organization dedicated to furthering interest and knowledge of the guitar - primarily the classical guitar and classical guitar music...
and Ironhorse Magazine before publishing his first novel Low End, in 2003. The first of a series, Low End (ISBN 1589820746) was followed by Deep End (ISBN 1435721985) in 2006. Classic Guitar Method, A Comprehensive Method designed to transform the student from novice to recitalist (ISBN 978-0-557-26825-2) combined Pellegrin’s writing skills with his musical expertise. Pellegrin performed his come-back recital at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, New York on February 13, 2007, his first classical performance since the 1989 accident.
In May 2008 PAB Entertainment Group released The Guitar (700261240428) a CD of solo classical guitar music performed by Mr. Pellegrin which includes a number of compositions by the performer. In 2010 PAB released his second album of solo classical guitar Old and New (885767622234) which includes favorites of his from a number of stylistic periods. Pellegrin also composed and recorded a series of four brief waltzes for this CD, two of which are dedicated to his parents and celebrate their lives and chronicle his sense of loss at their deaths.
Now residing in Northern New York State with his wife and two daughters, Pellegrin performs, teaches and writes. Since January 2008 he has been a member of the adjunct faculty of Union College in Schenectady, New York. Installed as a member of the Board of Directors of the CGSUNY for calendar year 2011.