Trio Voces de Puerto Rico   September 16, 1988, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

This internationally acclaimed trio blends fine musicianship with song to bring you a dazzling evening of Puerto Rican culture. Rafael Scharron, José Cruz and Junior Nazario have revolutionized the "trio" tradition in their native land to become a recognized force in today's Hispanic music throughout the world. Not only have they been heard on radio and television and also performed in most of the important hotels and entertainment centers in their native land, including the Governor's Mansion and the Bellas Artes Center (the artists' mecca in Puerto Rico), they have performed on New York's Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall stages, and also in Chicago, Philadelphia, Mexico, Japan, Bangkok, Bombay, Athens, Rome, Madrid, and of course South and Central America. The Voces de Puerto Rico have recorded for RCA, Ansonia, Orpheon and Taurus Records, and appeared in a number of motion pictures.

Ricardo Cobo   November 4, 1988, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater; Nov 5, 1988, O.D.U. Batten Hall, Norfolk

Columbian guitarist Ricardo Cobo has concertized to great acclaim throughout the USA, Columbia and Spain. Cobo is currently (1988) Postgraduate Assistant in Guitar at Florida State University, where he is pursuing doctoral studies under the tutelage of Professor Bruce Holzman. During the past year and a half he has won First Prize in the Fifth International Competition of the Guitar Foundation of America, the Ninth International Guitar Competition of the Casa de España in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the National Guitar Competition of the Music Teachers National Association. He has also won prizes at the 21st "Francisco Tárrega" Guitar Competition in Spain and at the Fourth GFA Guitar Competition. Ricardo is undoubtedly a young man on his way up.

Sharon Isbin   November 19, 1988, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

Winner of the Toronto Guitar '75, Munich 1976 and Queen Sofia 1979 International Competitions, Sharon Isbin directed Carnegie Hall's first Guitarstream International Festival and currently directs the Ordway Music Theatre's annual Guitarfest. American Public Radio's historic national series, Guitarjam, which will be broadcast nationally in the summer of 1988, is also directed by Ms. Isbin. In July of 1987 she performed with the Emerson Quartet in Avery Fisher Hall and the Kennedy Center for the Mostly Mozart Festival. This season's highlights include the world premiere of a concert by Joseph Schwantner with the St. Louis Symphony in Carnegie Hall.

Ms. Isbin has toured Europe annually since she was 17, and has also toured Canada, Japan and the Orient, New Zealand, South America and Israel, performing solo concerts and appearing with the London Symphony, the Jerusalem Symphony, the Palliard Chamber, Spanish National Radio and the Tokyo orchestras. She makes frequent appearances on BBC and Radio France, and her festival appearances include the Three Rivers, Aspen, Strasbourg, Paris, Bermuda, Istanbul, Puerto Rico, Karis (Finland) and Budapest International festivals.

Active in promoting new music, Ms. Isbin has commissioned and premiered numerous solo works and concerti by such composers as Joan Tower, Leo Brouwer and Joseph Schwantner. Upcoming premieres will include a concerto by Lukas Foss.

Timothy Olbrych - Baroque Guitar   December 4 1988, St. Andrews Church, Norfolk

Timothy Olbrych has appeared in concert throughout the East Coast in both solo and chamber music settings, including the University of Connecticut, the University of Massachusetts, The College of William and Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University and various concert series in Virginia, including the Richmond Guitar Society, the Norfolk Chamber Consort and the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society. His TV and radio appearances include WGGB-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts, and WHRO-TV, WAVY-TV, WTAR_TV, WHRO-FM and WGH-FM in Virginia.

Mr. Olbrych holds degrees in Music Education and Guitar Performance from the Hartt School of Music and a Master of Music in Guitar Performance from Virginia Commonwealth University. He has studied guitar with Richard Provost, Alice Artzt, Jesus Silva and Gordon Crosskey, and has performed in Master Classes with Alice Artzt, Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Toyohiko Satoh, Michael Lorimer, Carlos Barbosa-Lima and Jesus Silva. He is currently on the Artist Faculty at The College of William and Mary and resides in Williamsburg. He is a founder and past president of the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society, one of the most active and prestigious in the United States.

In this performance, Mr. Olbrych presents a unique recital of Baroque and Classic guitar music. The Baroque guitar on which he performs is a reproduction of a Stradivarius. This smaller, five course instrument enjoyed a popularity during the Baroque period in France, Italy and Spain. The elegant Baroque music and the delicate tone of this guitar provides a distinctive contrast to the classic guitar.

John Boyles   January 22, 1989, St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Norfolk/Ghent

John Boyles graduated from VCU with a Bachelor of Music Education degree in 1976 and pursued graduate studies in classical guitar at VCU with Jesus Silva. He moved to Newport News in 1980 to teach classical guitar at Christopher Newport College, high school guitar at Denbigh HS and general elementary music.

A believer in versatility, John has played in many different styles and settings, including blue grass shows at Busch Gardens, dinner theaters, top 40 groups, the Richmond and Virginia symphonies, solo classical and ensemble recitals, jazz duos and trios, restaurant-lounge work, traveling shows and children's music concerts. John has a keen interest in music technology, particularly in recording and guitar related electronics. At least part of this concert was devoted to demonstrating some of the amazing things that can be accomplished by integrating a synthesizer with a classical guitar.

Newman & Oltman   February 3, 1989, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater; Feb 4, 1989, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

"Newman and Oltman proved an excellent duo. Technically accomplished, musically sensitive, they played with uncanny rapport and notable unanimity of intention." - Newsday

Guitarists Michael Newman and Laura Oltman have been making music together since they met at the Aspen Music Festival in 1977, and they are now acknowledged as one of America's foremost guitar ensembles. Ensemble-in-Residence at the Mannes College of Music in New York and recipient of the 1985 National Endowment for the Arts Recitalist Fellowship, Newman and Oltman have established a unique repertoire which ranges from Renaissance and Baroque lute duets to commissioned works and their own transcriptions. Digital Audio wrote of their Musicmasters recording, "A Night at the Opera": "Here are two fine guitarists beautifully interpreting seven 19th century transcriptions of opera overtures. They perform with absolute ensemble precision. Dynamic changes are carefully worked out and are marvelously executed."

Newman and Oltman actively participate in chamber music, and are regular performers for such presenters as the Grand Canyon and Mohawk Trail Chamber Music Festivals. They have collaborated separately and together with such artists as mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade, violinists Arnold Steinhardt and Nancy Wilson, pianists Abba Bogin and John Danke, and the Alexander, Manhattan and Sequoia String Quartets.

David Russell   March 25, 1989, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

Classical guitarist David Russell was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1953. His parents, both artists, moved to the Spanish island of Menorca where David was to spend most of his childhood, studying with his first teacher, his father.

At sixteen, Mr Russell began studying the guitar at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Hector Quine, where he also studied the violin and the French horn. Twice he won the Julian Bream guitar prize and after graduating received a scholarship from the Ralph Vaughn Williams Trust. A grant from the Spanish government in 1975 enabled him to study with José Tomas in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The following year Mr Russell won the Alicante Guitar Competition. He has since won numerous international competitions, including first prize at the Andrés Segovia Competition in Palma del Mallorca and Spain's most prestigious competition, the Tárrega Prize in Benicasim.

David Russell has given recitals in Europe, the United States, Canada, South East Asia, and most recently in Africa - all to enthusiastic critical acclaim. He made his Wigmore Hall debut in London and his Merkin Concert Hall debut in New York the same year. After having heard Mr. Russell's playing in London, Andrés Segovia wrote, "My congratulations on your musicality and guitaristic technique". Uruguayan composer Guido Santorsola, also after hearing a performance, was so impressed he composed the Brasileira Sonata No. 5 for Russell, and guitarist-composer Jorge Morel dedicated a sonatina to him.

David Russell has recorded for Overture Records of Canada, The Phoenix label and Guitar Masters Records in England. His newest recording on Pearl label features music by Eccles, Haydn, Ortiz, Granados, Paganini and De Falla for double bass and guitar. Mr Russell spends most of the year touring North America, Europe and the United Kingdom, performing in recitals and conducting master classes.

Andrew York   April 21, 1989, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater; Apr 22, 1989, Norfolk Unitarian Church

Andrew York has shown his extraordinary talent and versatility as a musician in many styles: electric guitar in a jazz quintet; classical guitar with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet; even lute with the USC Early Music Ensemble. Andrew is now concentrating on a solo career, recording and performing his own compositions. He has played many solo concerts throughout the United States and in Europe, and was recently selected to be included on Windham Hill Records' Guitar Sampler. He has two other albums as well: "Perfect Sky, Andrew York - Solo Guitar" on Timeless Records and "Ectasy", an album of classical guitar duos on a British label.

A skillful composer and arranger, Andrew has a number of published works to his credit. Classical guitarist John Williams performs two of Andrew's original compositions from 'Perfect Sky" in his concerts. The arrangement "Selections from the Nutcracker Suite" for two classical guitars has been broadly acclaimed as a "Masterpiece of arranging for classical guitar".

Andrew was born in 1958 in Atlanta, Georgia, and grew up in Virginia. He attended James Madison University where he received a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance in 1980. He completed his Master of Music degree at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles in 1986 and was a recipient of numerous awards and scholarships while there, including the Jack Marshall Memorial Scholarship, the Barry Manilow Endowment Fund Award and the Del Amo Foundation Grant for study in Spain. Andrew York is an accomplished and experienced musician with an extraordinary natural gift and a sincere desire to share his music with others.

TCGS Members' Concert   April 29, 1989, Saint Andrew's Episcopal Church, Norfolk/Ghent

Well, I have strong evidence that a concert occured at this place and time. Further, it was a landmark concert in that it marked the first of the TCGS' 'Cabaret Style' concerts. I'm sure it was a fun thing. Unfortunately, I have zero information about who played what, let alone when or why. If anyone out there has preserved a copy of a tentative program for that significant day and year, please let me know and I will update this page forthwith. ... Ed.