Pepe Romero   September 30, 1989, Wells Theater, Norfolk

Celebrated world-wide for his thrilling interpretations and flawless technique, guitarist Pepe Romero is constantly in demand for his solo recitals and performances with orchestra.

Pepe's discography is extensive and diverse. Noteworthy among his many releases is his recording for Phillips Classics of Joaquín Rodrigo's "Concierto para una Fiesta" for guitar and orchestra. Mr. Rodrigo dedicated the work to Pepe Romero, and Mr. Romero has consistently championed the work since performing its world premiere in 1983. He has over two dozen recordings to his credit, including the complete Boccherini guitar quintets with members of the Academy of St. Martin in the Field, all of Giuliani's concertos for guitar and orchestra, all of Rodrigo's compositions, and flamenco masterpieces.

Born in Malaga, Spain, the second son of "The Royal Family of Guitar", the Romeros, Pepe Romero learned guitar from his father, the legendary Celedonio Romero. With his father, and brothers Celin and Angel, Pepe Romero helped establish The Romeros as the leading classical guitar ensemble in the world.

Olivier Chassain   October 28, 1989, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk;
October 27, 1989, Williamsurg Regional Library Theater

Born in Paris in 1957, Olivier Chassain was admitted into the Conservatoire National Superior de Musique in Paris. Here he won first prize for Guitar under Alexandre LaGoya as well as prizes in harmony and counterpoint. He now holds the title of Professor in the National School of Music and teaches the guitar at the Conservatoire in Orléans. His career as a concert artist started some years ago, and he has given recitals in the Provinces and in Paris. He has performed in a number of ensembles and has played as soloist with the Orchestra de la Garde Republicaine conducted by Roger Boutry, and with the Regional Orchestra of Limousin conducted by Guy Condette. During the spring of 1990, he will be playing the Ohanna Concerto Trois Graphiques with the same orchestra, and the Dodgson First Concerto with the Orléans Symphony Orchestra under J. M. Cochereau. During 1985-86 and 1986-87 he was appointed musical consultant in the Department of Cher. A number of international appearances are in preparation.

M. Chassain has studied the repertoire of the lute and guitar from the earliest to the most contemporary, and he has a particular interest in the music of living composers. He is the winner of the 1988 GFA International Performance Competition and is presently on the traditional U. S. tour for the winner of this prestigious event. After his first appearance in Los Angeles, the French composer and L.A. resident Georges Delerue wrote, "I understood immediately he was an authentic musician, a great player with a great sensibility, possessing an unfailing technique".

Dennis Koster   December 1, 1989, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater;
December 2, 1989 Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

Dennis Koster began his career as a flamenco guitarist at age 17, being introduced in recital to New York aficionados by the renowned flamenco master Mario Escudero. Throughout the late 60's, Koster performed as a flamenco soloist and accompanist to Spanish dance companies in New York theaters and concert halls. Travels throughout Spain in 1971 gave him first hand knowledge of the flamenco tradition. He is one of the few guitarists to ever study with the legendary Sabicus, who calls Koster "an exceptional interpreter of my compostions".

In the 1970's, Dennis Koster turned to classical guitar, studying with Julio Prol in New York and with José Luis Rodrigo in Madrid. His Carnegie Recital Hall debut as a classical guitarist in 1975 was hailed by the New York Times as "a considerable success ... a brilliant, aptly fantastic performance!"

He has formed a close association with Samuel Zyman of the Julliard School, leading to Zyman's Sonata for Solo Guitar which Dennis debuted at Merkin Concert Hall last year, and which is on tonight's program. Additionally, Dennis will premier a concerto for guitar and orchestra - presently being written by Zyman - next March with the Westfield (Conn.) Symphony Orchestra.

Koster was the first guitarist to be invited to perform an all Bach program for the Graduate Bach Seminar at the Julliard School last year. In 1989 he was named the first solo guitarist to be selected for the roster of performing artists of the Lincoln Center Institute.

Timothy Olbrych   February 2, 1990, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater

Well, I have copious data on the program that was originally planned as guitarist Timothy Olbrych and Soprano Janis-Rozena Peri in a marvelous long program. Unfortunately, at the last minute Janis came down with an acute throat infection and this program was not to be.

True to the standards of the TCGS, Timothy put together a program of "Guitar Music Through the Ages", planning to play the Baroque pieces on Baroque guitar, and later music on the standard classical guitar. However, I noted that he was doing a number of pieces that were originally written for the vihuela - an early version of the guitar that was popular in Spain about the time the Baroque guitar was in vogue in France - on the classical guitar. I happened to know where I could obtain a playable example of this instrument and provided it to Tim. Of course it was up to him to learn how to play it. How hard could it be? It had strings and frets just like all those other instruments :-) But it may be that the strings were tuned somewhat differently.

As I recall, this was a very nice program which was very well received. I think the audience was especially receptive because we made it a free concert. It was, after all, not the program which we had advertised. But where did the record of the actual concert go? In the fullness of time, Tim discovered a copy amongst his archives. Well, he'd like us to believe that. Actually his wife discovered it :-)

Sergio and Odair Assad   February 8, 1990, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts

Recognized the world over for their technical virtuosity, their uncanny precision of ensemble and their musical and stylistic sensitivity, SERGIO and ODAIR ASSAD are hailed by many as the foremost duo guitar team in the world. Born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1952 and 1956, respectively, the brothers moved to Rio de Janeiro while they were still teenagers to study with Monina Tavora, a disciple of Andrés Segovia. The Assads were introduced to North American audiences in 1969, when they visited this country under the aegis of the "Youth for Understanding" program. Since then, they have performed in nearly every major city and hall in their regular tours of the United States and Canada, in addition to extensive tours of the musical capitals and major festivals of Europe and two major tours of Australia and the Far East.

The Assad's first album was released in Europe in 1984, and their first American recording was released by Nonesuch in the fall of 1985. That recording, of music by Latin American composers, met with widespread critical and popular praise, including being designated by Ovation magazine a "Recording of Distinction." Of their concert here, The Ledger-Star wrote, "... Sergio and Odair Assad played with the tightness of a single peerson at a single instrument, and their readings had the subtleties of two soloists caressing their lines." And so it was.

Jeffrey Meyerriecks   March 9, 1990, Williamsburg Regional Library; March 10, 1990 Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

Jeffrey Meyerriecks studied classical guitar with Andrés Segovia, Jesus Silva and Sophocles Papas. Since his prize-winning at the prestigious Palestrina International Guitar Competition in Brazil in 1978, he has gained international prominence performing in Europe, South America, the Caribbean and the United States. In recent years Mr. Meyerriecks has expanded his musical horizons to cross over into jazz and other popular art forms. He has performed with such diverse artists as Baroque violinist Eduard Melkus, singer Burl Ives and jazz greats Charlie Byrd and Louis Bellson. In addition, Mr Meyerriecks can be heard with the improvisational Lenox Ensemble, the Washington Guitar Quintet and the Meyerriecks/ Fath guitar duo. He is a teacher of international reputation and has taught master classes in the United States, Austria, Belgium, Italy and the Dominican Republic, and is on the faculties of George Mason and Catholic Universities. Mr. Meyerriecks is also a composer, whose work was commisioned by the Washington Performing Arts Society and was premiered at the Kennedy Center.

The Modern Mandolin Quartet   April 7, 1990, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

The Modern Mandolin Quartet offers a fresh new twist to string band music, yet this youthful quartet has built its bracing work on an historical base in terms of both repertoire and technique, starting with its chosen instruments. To the casual listener, the mandolin may still evoke an image of rustic folk, of plangent, high and lonesome blue grass or sunny Mediterranean serenades. In fact, however, this venerable instrument long ago found its proponents in serious music, as well as an expanding horizon for ensemble applications. As early as the years immediately following WW I, mandolins graduated to a new prominence for more sophisticated listeners at a time, historian Konrad Wolki notes, when "people had come together. The one time country road strummer flocked into mandolin orchestras." Indeed Gibson's 1921 catalog cited the trend when it boasted, "Today there is hardly a city anywhere which does not have at least one mandolin orchestra ... ".

Now the mandolin brings fresh surprises in the hands of the Modern Mandolin Quartet. "We play legitimate music on illegitimate instruments", quips co-founder Mike Marshall, who has made his own mark as a mandolinist alongside David Grisman in solo and duo projects, as a sideman and, most recently as a multi instrumental force in the Montreux band. Together with Dana Rath, Marshall envisioned the MMQ as a forum for exploring the mandolin's unique string timbres in a classical context. Notes Marshall, "Beethoven wrote some interesting music for the instrument, as did Mozart, Hummel, Hoffmann, even Schoenberg. But most composesrs wrote "down" for the instrument, thinking it was just not capable of much more than fairly simplistic ideas. However when the Gibson Company redesigned the instrument in the early 20's, and some of the players in this century got a hold of it, it turned around."

More specifically, the MMQ plays classical string quartet music from Bach to Bartok and Debussy using the four members of the mandolin family. The quartet features two mandolins (Marshall and Dana Rath), mandola (Paul Binkley) and mandocello (John Imholz), corresponding to the two violins, viola and cello that populate the conventional string quartet. The result in this concert was more than enjoyable.

Annual Members' Concert   May 12, 1990, St Andrews Episcopal Church, Norfolk/Ghent

Well, yes, even then, 10 years prior to this writing, we did have a Members' concert. According to the program, I was there, and I seem to remember some facets of it. There was some good playing and some poor playing. I think I was responsible for most of the latter. This is the program is it is recorded in my files, and it may very well resemble what was actually played way back when.