FESTIVAL 21

FESTIVAL 21 RETURNS TO BOSTON
Contact:  Frank Wallace, (917) 693-5603; wallacecomposer@gmail.com

SPONSOR Boston Classical Guitar Society

WHO Rafael Aguirre [Spain], Olson/De Cari Duo [NYC], Maarten Stragier [Belgium], Nathan Kolosko, Jose Lezcano, BCGS Community Guitar Orchestra, Back Bay Guitar Trio, others

WHAT Festival 21: New Music for Classical Guitar; concerts, master class and lectures

WHERE Old South Church, 645 Boylston St., and First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley St, Boston

WHEN Saturday April 16, 2011, 10:00am – 10:00pm

ADMISSION Festival Pass: $60 general admission; $50 seniors; $10 Discount for BCGS & Church members; Student price $35. Order at www.bostonguitar.org or call (818) 640-7047

INFO 917-693-5603; wallacecomposer@gmail.com; www.bostonguitar.org

On April 16 the Boston Classical Guitar Society (BCGS) will present Festival 21 in celebration of 21^st century music and all that is new in the world of classical guitar.  This year features one of the most exciting virtuosos to come out of Spain in decades, young Rafael Aguirre.  With phenomenal technique and elegant interpretive voice, Rafael will perform Joaquin Rodrigo’s newly discovered work Toccata, lost in archives for 75 years, as well as selections from Leo Brouwer’s Nuevos Estudios Sencillos, the world premier of Daniel Real’s Estalacticas y stalagmites and other Spanish works. The BCGS Community Guitar Orchestra will give a short prelude to Aguirre’s concert with the world premiere of A Journey through Eastern Villages in which composer/director Scott Borg captures the essence of three very different cultures: Japanese, Javanese and Chinese. The concert is at First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley St. Boston.  Tickets: $15-25 at the door or online at www.bostonguitar.org.  Festival Pass is $60 general admission; $50 seniors; $10 discount for church or BCGS members; $35 students.  Both First Lutheran and Gordon Chapel (used for daytime events) have stunning acoustics for guitar and are easily accessible on the T.

The day begins at 10:00am at Old South Church, 645 Boylston St. with an open rehearsal of three community guitar orchestras: Timberlane High School, Keene State College and BCGS prepare for the afternoon and evening concerts.  The groups will perform Frank Wallace’s New England Sextets in the Members’ Concert as well as Borg’s work in the evening.  Bring your guitar for the next class – at 11:00am Nathan Kolosko will direct a workshop on “prepared guitar.”  Nathan will discuss the history of “prepared guitar” techniques through a survey of the  literature and players that employ them. He will demonstrate these techniques and bring materials for participants to try their hands at playing in a short score for “prepared guitar” ensemble.

At 1:15pm Belgium guitarist Maarten Stragier will play a program of 21^st century guitar works. Les Effaceurs, Harvard composer Nicholas Vines’ 5 movement-long tour de force, was commissioned by Festival 21 with the help of the New England Foundation for the Arts. The second half of the program will submerge the guitar in a bath of interactive electronics with Kogarashi, Le Premier Soupir des Fantomes by the up-and-coming French composer Jerome Combier, and a new work by Caroline Park.  When the last electro-acoustic reverberations have dissipated, the Olson/De Cari duo will take stage at 2:15pm with songs from their Science/Music Commissioning Project. “Is no one inspired by our present picture of the universe? The value of science remains unsung by singers: you are reduced to hearing not a song or poem, but an evening lecture about it.” — Richard Feynman.  John Olson and Gioia de Cari are creating music for voice and guitar that celebrates the insights and illuminates the human side of science through song. The Duo will perform works by Champlin and Donahue with texts by Einstein, Bohr, Curie, Donahue, Teilhard de Chardin, Richard Feynman, and give world premiers of Orbits by Andrew Dickenson and Men, Women and Molecules by Frank Wallace, poetry by Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Prize-winning chemist at Cornell University.

After a coffee hour with entertainment by the Keene State College Guitar Orchestra, members of the BCGS will share their passions and creativity over the past year with performances by the Timberlane and BCGS Orchestra,  Aaron Larget-Caplan, Robert Margo with Wendy Silverberg soprano, Jose Lezcano and the popular Back Bay Guitar Trio.

Festival 21 is made possible by generous grants from the Augustine Foundation, D’Addario Musical Foundation and is funded in part by a grant from the MetLife Creative Connections program of Meet the Composer, Inc. and the New England Foundation for the Arts with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts.  BCGS is a nonprofit organization that annually presents four Artist Series concerts, Festival 21, Saturday Sounds Special concerts at Hingham Library and monthly member events with essential support from sponsors, donors and members.  www.bostonguitar.org.

Daytime: Gordon Chapel, Old South Church, 645 Boylston Ave., Boston

• 10:00am Open Rehearsal Scott Borg directing
  BCGS Community, Keene State College and Timberlane High Guitar Orchestras
• 11:00am Lecture/demo and workshop Nathan Kolosko “prepared guitar”  techniques
• 1:15pm Concert Maarten Stragier 21st century solo guitar, new commissions
• 2:15pm Concert Olson/De Cari Duo 21st century song, new commissions
• 3:15pm Coffee break with Keene State College Guitar Orchestra, Jose Lezcano, director
• 4:00pm Members’ Concert Back Bay Guitar Trio, Aaron Larget-Caplan, Jose Lezcano, Robert Margo with Wendy Silverberg and Timberlane High School Guitar Orchestra and BCGS Community Guitar Orchestra, John Zevos, conducting

Evening: First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA

• 8:00pm Concert Rafael Aguirre works of Anton García Abril, Lorenzo Palomo, Rodrigo,  Brouwer, de Falla, world premier of Estalacticas y stalagmites by Daniel Real
  Concert prelude: world premier of Scott Borg’s A Journey through Eastern Villages performed by the BCGS Community Guitar Orchestra with the Keene State College and Timberlane Regional High School guitar orchestras, Scott Borg directing

The basics: http://www.bostonguitar.info/performers/11_festival21.html
The stories: http://festival21.tumblr.com/