Ian Ethan Case  * Open Land Music

Acoustic double-neck guitarist and Candyrat recording artist Ian Ethan Case (Boston, USA) is quickly becoming recognized as “one of the most creative and engaging fingerstyle guitarists in the world" (International Center for Creativity). His unmistakable, one-of-a-kind playing style and compositional voice has drawn praise from icons like guitarist John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), bassist Lee Sklar (James Taylor), Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackermann, and Fingerstyle guitar legend Don Ross, who declared his live performance “some of the most massively inventive musicianship I’ve ever heard/seen.” Other listeners have described his music as a cross between Michael Hedges, Steve Reich, and Pat Metheny.

He has recorded, performed, and/or shared the stage with some of the most noteworthy artists in instrumental non- classical music including Victor Wooten, Stanley Jordan, Andy McKee, Jeff Pevar (David Crosby), Manu Delago (Björk), Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon, Bokanté), Jharis Yokley (Jose James), Gregory Groover Jr., GoGo Penguin, and Grammy Award winners Eugene Friesen and Paul McCandless, as well as members of the Hartford Symphony and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. In the United States, his music has been featured on popular nationwide radio programs including NPR’s “Here & Now” and PRI’s “Echoes”, while numerous viral videoshave reached over 14 million listeners around the world.

Growing up in a rural area and with few musicians to play with, Case was forced to develop creative ways of extending his reach as a solo musician, using a combination of technology, unusual instruments, and inventive techniques in order to achieve the multi-layered ensemble music he was hearing in his head. He later studied at Berklee College of Music and gleaned further insights from music camps, clinics, and private lessons with top jazz musicians such as John Pattitucci (Wayne Shorter), Antonio Sanchez (Pat Metheny), Aaron Goldberg (Joshua Redman, Kurt Rosenwinkel), Mike Manieri (Steps Ahead), Adam Rogers (Michael Brecker, Chris Potter), and master percussionists Giovanni Hidalgo, Jamey Haddad, Rajna Swaminathan, and Glen Velez.

Since then, he has crafted and refined his unique voice and his live performance over the course of hundreds of concerts throughout the US, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, and Italy. Following his 2018 ensemble album “Earth Suite” (Candyrat Records), 2024's Open Land Trio EP, and a forthcoming duo album with Latvian fingerstyle guitarist Gints Smukais, Case’s 2026-2027 concerts mark a return to the solo format, newly expanded with the incorporation of organ pedals, foot percussion, and cutting-edge electronic capabilities all tastefully integrated into his masterful acoustic playing. As one first-time listener in California exclaimed: “Ian’s music is phenomenal - watching him play is not ‘listening to musc’; it’s a full-mind experience. Transporting.”