Winter Festival to Feature the Best in Classical Guitar Music

The fourth annual Ithaca College Winter Guitar Festival — held to celebrate the classical guitar tradition at Ithaca College — will take place on Saturday and Sunday, February 24 and 25, in the James J. Whalen Center for Music. The Saturday events will include a day of solo and ensemble performances, an exposition of rare and vintage guitars, and a lecture, "Rhetoric and Semantics in the Bach Lute Suites," by Uruguayan guitar virtuoso Eduardo Fernández. As the festival’s featured artist, Fernández will cap the Saturday events with an 8:15 p.m. performance of the complete lute suites of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Saturday evening concert will also feature the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra playing Radamés Gnattali’s Concerto a Brasileira, with adjunct assistant professor of music Pablo Cohen (left) as soloist. On Sunday Fernández will conduct a three-hour master class for guitar students.

Those who wish to attend just the Saturday evening concert, which will take place in Ford Hall, may purchase tickets at the door or in advance at the ticket office in the Clinton House and at Willard Straight Hall on the Cornell University campus. The cost is $12; Ithaca College and high school students receive a discount price of $8. Call 273-4497 for more information on advance sales.

Those interested in participating in the festival have two options. The fee for the full weekend of events, including the evening concert on Saturday, is $45 per person. The cost of attending only the daytime events — which do not include the Saturday evening concert — is $35. Ithaca College students and high school students receive a special discount: $25 for the full program; $20 for daytime events only. Registration for the festival is required and may be done by contacting the College’s continuing education office at 274-3143 or online at www.ithaca.edu/cess/guitar2001. The registration deadline is February 16.

"The classical guitar program at Ithaca is one of the oldest in the country," says Pablo Cohen, the festival’s coordinator. "For the past 33 years, the program has combined excellence in academics with numerous performance opportunities."

This year the festival will also commemorate the 250th anniversary of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach by showcasing the performing and teaching talents of Eduardo Fernández (left). His lecture, as well as his solo performance and master class, will critically explore and examine Bach’s lute music.

Recognized as one of the world’s leading guitarists, Fernández won critical accolades with his New York debut in 1977. Since then he has played with prestigious orchestras throughout the world. An active composer, Fernández is also an energetic teacher, having taught several years at the University Conservatory in Montevideo. His much-anticipated book, Technique, Mechanism, Learning, will soon be published by Chanterelle Verlag.

In addition to Fernández, the following artists will perform. Except for Fernández and Miles Brown, all are students, faculty, or alumni of the Ithaca College School of Music.

	Due Colori ("two colors") is composed of soprano Megan Monaghan and Daniel Boring, who performs on classical guitar, lute, and theorbo, a 17th-century stringed instrument that resembles a large lute. The ensemble’s extensive range of musical styles spans the Renaissance to present day.
	The Finger Lakes Guitar Quartet comprises four outstanding guitarists — Joel Brown, Matthew Ardizzone (left), Sten Isachsen, and Petar Kodzas. The quartet’s unique repertoire includes many arrangements and transcriptions by the group, from Bach to the Beatles.
	Townsend Plant won first prize in classical guitar at the Music Teachers National Association Collegiate Artist Performance Competition in Nashville. As a soloist and chamber musician, he is committed to finding and performing new and unknown repertoire.
	Matthew Ardizzone has performed throughout the United States and has won top honors in the Stotsenberg International Classical Guitar Competition and the Rantucci Guitar Festival and Competition. His first CD, Mazurka!, has just been released by Aardvark Media Productions.
	Paul Henry has been highly acclaimed as a performer throughout the United States since winning first prize in the Society of American Musicians Competition. His numerous recordings reflect his avid interest in expanding the Spanish and Latin American repertoire. GuitarOne magazine recently named him one of the top 10 guitarists in the nation.
	Steve Brown (left) and Miles Brown, in addition to being father and son, are solo artists who regularly appear as a duo. Steve Brown is a professor of music and director of the jazz studies program at Ithaca College, as well as a guitarist, composer, and arranger. He has performed with Chuck Israels, Billy Hart, Bobby Watson, and Gerry Niewood, among many others. Miles Brown has performed with several orchestras, including the Eastman Philharmonic, the Musica Nova Ensemble, and the New York All-State String Orchestra.