BGS Presents ...

BenMark Duo: Benny Goldberg & Mark Limber

March 25, 2024

All kidding aside, a night of extraordinary duets

The BenMark Classical Guitar Duo is the pinnacle - nay, the apex - the apogee - the climax! - of the musical careers of Benny “Hollandaise” Goldberg and Mark “Snappy Dresser” Limber. One of the top duos in the South and East Boulder Metro Area, they specialize in music from 20th-century Rio, 18th century Saxony, and mid-20th century Liverpool, but will occasionally stray into music from Roaring ‘20s New York City. As multiple Grammy Award Show watchers, they have honed their craft as few others possibly could. To put together today’s program they persevered through disagreements over the capitalization of BenMark (Benmark?!?!?!), Benny’s giggle fits, learning to play while receiving licks on the hand from Mark’s dogs, frequent swearing, and countless punishing puns.

Benny started playing guitar at age 5 right here in Boulder, Colorado. Studying under pillars of the guitar community such as Masakazu Ito, Jonathan Leathwood, and, well, rumor has it, Felicity Muench, he quickly became known as one of the most talented guitarists in the area. Having left his very talented sister behind in his musical dust, he followed her to Yale University, where he found himself studying music despite his best efforts to get a useful degree. Since entering the world of earning a paycheck via things related to technology, he’s continued to play guitar as his main hobby. These days, you can find him doing a mixture of solo music, BenMark, and samba performances while procrastinating on applying for jobs.

Mark started playing guitar at age 7, first studying Carcassi, in Spanish, in Hawaii, at Punahou (after Obama was there, sadly) with a teacher who didn’t know any Spanish. His parents sacrificed everything for Mark’s budding career and moved the family to the musical mecca that is Boise, ID where he continued his studies at the local university throughout his high school years. While he didn’t exactly major in music at the University of California at Santa Cruz, he did play an awful lot. After a long break during which he started a family, earned a PhD and worked for a living, he has returned full time to pursue his greatest passion - his calling! - playing guitar, mostly with other people because that’s more fun than playing alone.