Guitar
Studies at the University of Akron, Stephen Aron is Teacher of
Guitar and founder of the classical guitar studies program at
the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. www.stephenaron.net
 Paul
Galbraith
Paul Galbraith’s recording
of the Complete Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas (Delos) was nominated
for a 1998 GRAMMY AWARD in the category of Best Solo Instrumental
Album. Galbraith has been featured twice on National Public Radio's
"All Things Considered" and numerous times on "Performance
Today." He made his New York début at the Frick Collection,
receiving a rave review in the New York Times; a subsequent NYC
engagement on Lincoln Center's "Great Performances"
series was sold out. Recent and forthcoming North American recitals
include NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta,
St. Louis, Albuquerque, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Portland, Eugene,
Seattle, Miami, Baltimore, Buffalo, Amherst, Milwaukee, San Antonio,
San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Cuernavaca, Mexico.
Galbraith's unique playing position was first revealed at the
Edinburgh Festival in 1989. His guitar (designed in collaboration
with the late luthier David Rubio) is supported by a metal endpin,
similar to that of a cello, that rests on a wooden resonance box.
The instrument has two extra strings, one high, one low. Both
the guitar's extraordinary design and Galbraith's playing style
are considered groundbreaking development in the history of the
instrument, increasing its range to an unprecedented extent.
At the age of 17, Galbraith won the Silver Medal at the Segovia
International Guitar Competition. Andrés Segovia, who was
present, called his playing "magnificent." This award
helped launch an international career including engagements with
some of the finest orchestras in Britain and Europe (Royal Philharmonic,
Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Philharmonic, Scottish Symphony
Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Orchestra,
Scottish Baroque Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra
and Scottish Chamber Orchestra among them).
Born in Scotland, Galbraith has lived in Malawi, Greece, London,
and, for the last five years, Brazil. He was a founding member
of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, playing with them until summer
of 2003. His principal teacher, since 1983, has been the Greek
conductor, pianist and philosopher George Hadjinikos. www.paul-galbraith.com
 Douglas
James
Douglas James has appeared
as a classical guitarist throughout the United States as well
as in Europe and Mexico. Soundboard magazine has noted his performances
to be filled with "appealing intensity and obvious enthusiasm."
A noted proponent of period instrument performance, Dr. James
uses 19th century guitars when playing music of the Classical
and Romantic periods. In 1992 he was the top prizewinner in the
Arturo Toscanini Solo Guitar Competition (Italy). He has twice
been awarded a National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist
Fellowship and has received touring grants from Arts International
and several state arts commissions. James' recent concert schedule
has included engagements at the Oberlin Conservatory, Peabody
Conservatory, the Cleveland Institute of Music, numerous American
guitar societies, Piccolo Spoleto, and the Stetson International
Guitar Workshop. Dr. James has served in the Artists-in-Residence
program of the State of North Carolina, and as a touring artist
for the Southern Arts Federation and the Arizona Commission on
the Arts. He frequently serves as a judge for important guitar
competitions, including such events as the Guitar Foundation of
America International Solo Guitar Competition and the GOLD Competition
at Oberlin Conservatory. As a radio recitalist, James has been
featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today, as well
as special broadcasts on the major classical stations of Los Angeles,
Chicago, and New York. His critically acclaimed CD of Italian
Romantic solo guitar music performed on period guitars was recently
followed by the release of a duo CD with Italian guitarist Pasquale
Rucco, Early Romantic Music for Two Guitars. Both discs are on
the Cala Vista label. Douglas James holds the Doctor of Musical
Arts degree from the University of Arizona, where he studied guitar
with Thomas Patterson. Dr. James is currently Director of Guitar
Studies and Appalachian Guitar Fest at Appalachian State University
in Boone, North Carolina. www.douglasjamesguitar.com
 Robert
& Pamela Trent (Duo Firenze)
Performances have taken
Pamela Swenson Trent throughout the United States and in Europe
(as fortepianist with Duo Firenze), as pianist, and as organist.
Pamela’s studies have been with Seymour Bernstein and fortepianist
Stephen Lubin. She has been an Artist-in-Residence in Minneapolis,
US and at the Accademia L’Ottocento in Italy and at Chemin
Neuf in France having performed at Chartres Cathedral in that
country. She is a well-known teacher of Kindermusik ( a music
curriculum for very young children) and is a highly sought after
as a teacher and collaborative artist.
Robert Trent has performed on the continents of North and South
America and in Europe. Dr. Trent performs on modern guitar, Renaissance
lute and on an original French guitar from the early 19th c. and
a reproduction of a 10-string double-necked Romantic guitar of
Scherzer. In addition to his solo recitals he performs regularly
with fortepianist Pamela Swenson (as Duo Firenze). The Duo has
been in residence at the “Accademia L’Ottocento”
in Rome and Verbania. He has appeared in chamber music recitals
or concerti with The Audubon Quartet and the Kandinsky Trio and
the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra. He has been a first
prize winner in numerous National and International competitions
including; the Webb National Guitar Competition, the Masterworks
Young Artist Competition and the chamber music prize at the International
Competition “Arturo Toscanini” in Italy. Duo Firenze
is the recent recipient of numerous awards including: unprecedented
two Career grants from The Peabody Conservatory, two Faculty Development
Grants from Radford University and two from the Virginia Commission
for the Arts. The first recipient of the degree of Doctor of Musical
Arts in guitar from the Peabody Institute, Dr. Trent is currently
director of Guitar and Renaissance Lute studies at the College
of Visual and Performing Arts of Radford University. He is a recording
artist for Dorian Records© as a member of Duo Firenze. Their
first Dorian CD is entitled “Italian Nocturnes: Early Romantic
Music for Guitar and Fortepiano (catalogue no: DIS 80156). Recent
tours have taken Dr. Trent to Russia, Brazil, Germany and France.
Sought after as an expert in performance practice of the early
nineteenth-century, he has contributed improvised cadenzas in
the style of Fernando Sor to the “Complete Sonatas of Diabelli,
Giuliani and Sor, Vol. 1.”, published by Mel Bay text (melbay.com)
www.duofirenze.com
 Stanley
Yates
Stanley Yates enjoys
an accomplished and diverse international career as a virtuoso
performer and recording artist, arranger, scholar, and teacher.
Described as "one of an elite breed of guitarists" (Classical
Guitar Magazine, England), praised for his "musical instinct
and brilliant technique" (Suonare, Italy) and noted for the
"transcendent quality of his interpretations" (Fort
Worth Star Telegram, USA), his performances, recordings and editions
have been received with critical acclaim on both sides of the
Atlantic. A past prize-winning performer in such prestigious competitions
as the Myra Hess (London) and the Guitar Foundation of America,
he is regularly invited to present concerts, masterclasses and
lectures at leading music schools and festivals in both the United
States and Europe. He has been dedicatee and/or first performer
of music by such leading guitar composers as Stephan Rak, John
Duarte and Angelo Gilardino, and has given first modern performances
of such important rediscovered works as the Premier Concerto by
Ernest Shand and the Valsa Concerto by Heitor Villa Lobos. His
recordings for Reference Recordings, Heartdance Music and Aeolian
Recordings include chamber music, his arrangements of the Bach
Cello Suites, and first recordings of music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco,
John Rutter, and other contemporary composers. His performance
articles dealing with the music of such composers as J. S. Bach
and Heitor Villa-Lobos have been published internationally, in
six languages, in such journals as Il Fronimo, Guitarre &
Laute, Gendai Guitar, 8 Sonoro, Soundboard and Classical Guitar.
He currently directs the guitar program at Austin Peay State University,
home of Tennessee's Center of Excellence for the creative Arts.
www.stanleyyates.com
 William
Yelverton
William Yelverton's
exceptionally diverse repertoire and brilliant technique set him
apart as one of today's most exciting and unique concert artists.
He is an award-winning classical guitarist whose eclectic recital
programs often include jazz, folk, latin, and flamenco, together
with early music performed on Renaissance lute. As an authority
on the art of guitar transcription, his unprecedented performances
and recordings of masterworks by great composers have received
wide critical acclaim. His debut CD, "Harpsichord Music on
Guitar" was cited as "first-rate" by Guitar Review.
Since his 1988 European debut in Glasgow, Dr. Yelverton has performed
throughout the United States, Europe, Mexico, Canada, and the
Caribbean. His concert schedule has included performances at the
Aspen and Tanglewood Music Festivals, live radio and television
appearances, and guest artist recitals at prominent universities
and music societies. As a founding member of the Stones River
Chamber Players, he has performed with the group throughout the
US and on their May '03 European tour of Switzerland, Germany
and France. In June '03, William Yelverton performed as concerto
soloist with the Black Sea Philharmonic Orchestra in Constanta,
Romania. In February 2002, William Yelverton commissioned and
premiered a new guitar concerto by Roger Hudson with the Nashville
Chamber Orchestra strings during NCO's Nashville Guitar Festival.
At the festival, he performed a showcase solo concert and with
elite Nashville guitarists: John Jorgenson, John Johns, and Phil
Keaggy. In February 2000, he was selected to accompany legendary
tenor Luciano Pavarotti in concert with the Nashville Symphony
before an audience of 16,000. His '95 performance was heard nationally
on NPR's broadcast of "150 Years of American Fingerstyle
Guitar." William Yelverton holds a Doctorate in Guitar Performance
from the Florida State University and has won top prizes in the
Guitar Foundation of America International Competition and the
National Federation of Music Clubs Competition. As an instructor,
he has given masterclasses throughout the US and has been invited
to teach at the National Guitar Workshop's "Classical Summit"
in Connecticut. He currently directs guitar studies at Middle
Tennessee State University, in Murfreesboro, Tennessee where is
Professor of Music. www.williamyelverton.com
|
