The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet    Sep 24, 1993,Virginia Beach Center for the Arts

The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet has its roots in Santa Fe, Argentina, a fertile region north of Buenos Aires. Their director Maestro Nestor Enrique Ausqui achieved international acclaim in the early seventies by winning first prize in several international guitar competitions, including the prestigious Heitor Villa-Lobos Prize of 1974. Maestro Ausqui has studied with Abel Carlevano and Guido Santorsola.

Eric Slavin, the only North American in the group, comes from the American University in Washington, D.C., where he studied guitar chamber music under the direction of the late John Marlow of the Washington Guitar Quintet. In 1989, Eric moved to Santa Fe to continue his studies with Ausqui.

Marcelo Cornut is an exceptional young player who began his studies with Rubén Raffo. He later perfected his technique with Ausqui, Santorsola and Eduardo Fernandez. Cornut took first prize in Angentina's Mozarteum Guitar Competition.

Osvaldo Hector Muñoz is a guitar professor at the music conservatory in Córdoba, Argentina. His unique talent lies in masterful arrangements for guitar quartets that have received critical acclaim. Like Ausqui, he has master and doctoral degrees in Guitar Performance. Muñoz has studied with Abel Carlevaro, Guido Santorsola, Rosalyn Türeck, Alvaro Pierri and Eduardo Fernandez.

Following the Carlevano Guitar School, and keeping in mind the guitar as a miniature orchestra, The Santa Fe Guitar Quartet has doubled the guitar's dynamic range through use of guitars of various sizes. This enables the quartet to play string quartets note for note, without transcription. Quartets by Villa-Lobos, Ginastera and Mozart can now be reproduced on the guitar.

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Jason Vieaux   Nov 6, 1993, Williamsburg Regional Library

At nineteen, Jason Vieaux is not only an extremely gifted young man, but a seasoned performer who began playing the guitar at the age of eight, debuting locally at twelve. Since then he has performed yearly solo concerts throughout the Upstate New York area. He has been a featured performer on radio stations WNED FM "Music in Buffalo", WBFO FM "Opus Classics Live" and WXXI FM "Live from Hochstein" in Rochester, New York.

Mr. Vieaux has performed concertos with the Ars Nova Orchestra in Buffalo and also played at the National Arts Club in New York City after being awarded first place in the Classical Guitar Competition sponsored by the New York State Federation of Music Clubs.

In January, 1990, he was one of nineteen musicians chosen from 1200 music applicants throughout the United States to compete in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts competition held in Miami, Florida, where he became a finalist. In June of 1992, he was a semi-finalist in the Great Lakes Guitar Competition held in Akron, Ohio. In November of the same year, he was unanimously awarded First Place in the internationally prestigious Guitar Foundation of America Competition held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Jason will be completing his third year at the Cleveland Institute of Music with John Holmquist in conjunction with his 50 city tour which begins in March of 1993.

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Assad Brothers   Nov 8, 1993, 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 Assads' 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".

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Gene Bertoncini Duo   Jan 7, 1994, Chrysler Museum Theater; Jan 8, 1994, Williamsburg Regional Library

The Gene Bertoncini duo is "one of jazz's most refined and creative duos". Mr. Bertoncini is an eloquent and versatile master of the guitar. His arrangements bridge jazz, classical and bossa nova styles. "The duo eliminates the line between classical and jazz." It is harmonically up to date and acoustically old fashioned, in that neither man uses much amplification. Bertoncini often uses an unamplified classical guitar and the two achieve a full sound. The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle called Bertoncini "the Segovia of jazz", and Gene Lees of The Jazz Letter says he is the "best living exponent of jazz on the classical guitar".

Guitarist Gene Bertoncini was raised in New York and began playing the guitar when he was seven years old. At sixteen, he was appearing on New York television. He attended Notre Dame University and, though working for a degree in architecture, was naturally swept into the musical scene there. After graduation, he returned again to his beloved music. However, he credits his architectural experience with giving his music its finely-wrought form and style, which wins continual praise for the superb structure of his arrangements and improvisations. It also serves as a vehicle for his virtuosic technique. Mr. Bertoncini's teaching credits include the Eastman School of Music, where he regularly performs and conducts summer workshops for jazz guitarists, the New England Conservatory of Music, New York University and the Banff School of Fine Arts. He is highly sought after as a guest clinician in colleges and universities throughout the country.

Bassist / composer Drew Gross has performed with artists ranging the entire spectrum of contemporary improvised music. He is a founding member of the cooperative quartet Joint Venture, whose debut album, Joint Venture (Enja 5049), was released in 1988 to widespread critical acclaim. Their second recording, Ways (Enja 6052 2), received several European music press awards for 1990, and a third offering, Mirrors, was released in 1993.

Gene Bertoncini's and Drew Gross' credits read like a Who's Who in Jazz. Between the two, they have performed with Benny Goodman, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Jimmy Rowles, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Winter, Morgana King, Hubert Laws, Clark Terry, Wayne Shorter and Toshiko Akiyoshi, to name a few. Bertoncini was the guitarist on the Johnny Carson show in New York. The duo guested on that show and have been featured in many concerts, television and night club settings in the U.S. and Canada.

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Unfortunately, no advance program was provided for this concert. The musicians announced the pieces as they played them, and no one had enough sense to keep a record. We were all too busy enjoying the music. Bertoncini has several CD's in press, and I recommend you buy one or more.

Sam Dorsey   February 12, 1994, Williamsburg Regional LIbrary

David Leisner was originally scheduled to play this evening, but a massive snowstorm in New York shut down the airport, so we had to postpone his appearance. The word arrived too late to warn all the concert goers, and the hall was booked, and the refreshments for the reception were bought, so ... . Sam Dorsey, President of the TCGS and a fine player in his own right, put on a substitute concert. We made it a free concert - telling those who already had tickets for the Leisner concert to hold on to them until he should arrive - but most of those who were there called it an excellent concert that they would have been pleased to pay for. Maybe we should have asked for a free will offering?

In any event, the (nonexistent) program for the event is lost in the mists of time. I'm sure Sam chose the best from his list of favorites.

David Leisner   Mar 4, 1994, Williamsburg Regional Library; Mar 5, 1994, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts

David Leisner is one of the top American classical guitarists. His first international recognition came in 1975 when he won 2nd Prize in the Toronto International Guitar Competition, the first one of its kind in North America. Then, in 1981 he won the Silver Medal at the Geneva International Guitar Competition. Since then he has performed in solo and chamber music recitals on stage, radio and TV throughout the United States and Canada. Leisner has also appeared with a number of fine orchestras, including the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Ensemble and the Chamber Orchestra of New England. A recent highlight was the U.S. premiere of Peter Sculthorpe's Nourlangie with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on their US tour in 1993.

A champion of expanding the guitar repertoire, Leisner has introduced new works, many of them written for him, as well as rediscovered old ones. Among composers whose works he has premiered are Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Philip Glass, Richard Rodney Bennett, Peter Sculthorpe, Marilyn Ziffrin and Richard Winslow. He was also a pioneer in the rediscovery of Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806-1856), whose music he recorded on The Viennese Guitar for the Titanic label and also edited for publication by Theodore Presser Co. The latter recently released his new arrangement for guitar of the Bach unaccompanied flute partita.

Leisner is currently (1994) serving on the faculties of the New England Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music. His lively master classes have been given in such institutions as Yale University, U.S.C., Cleveland Institute of Music and the San Francisco Conservatory. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and studied guitar with John Duarte, David Starobin and Angelo Gilardino, and composition with Richard Winslow, Virgil Thomson, Charles Turner and David Del Tredici.

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David Russell   Mar 17, 1994, Ewell Hall, College of William and Mary; Mar 18, 1994, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk

Hailed by the New York Times as "a talent of extraordinary dimension", David Russell is considered to be one of today's greatest performers on the classical guitar. For the past decade, his virtuosity and supreme musicality have made him a legend among classical guitarists throughout the world.

Russell was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1953, and during his childhood moved to the Spanish island of Menorca, where he was introduced to the guitar by his father. At sixteen, he moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Hector Quine. Twice he won the Julian Bream Guitar Prize, and after graduating received a scholarship from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Trust. In 1975, he accepted a grant from the Spanish government to study with José Tomas in Santiago de Campostela, Spain.

David Russell has won nearly all the major international competitions, including the Alicante Guitar Competition, the José Ramirez Competition, the Andrés Segovia Competitionin Palma de Mallorca, and - Spain's most prestigious - the Francisco Tárrega Competion in Benicasim. In 1979, he became one of the Greater London Art Association's "Young Musicians of London".

David Russell will record two CD's with Telarc International this year (1994), in addition to recordings for Opera Tres of Spain, Overture Records of Canada, Guitar Master Records and Pearl label of England, Polskje Nagrania Muza of Poland, La Guitar d'Hier et Aujou d'hui of Belgium and the Phoenix label.

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Sylvie Proulx   Apr 22, 1994, Chrysler Museum Theater, Norfolk; Apr 23, 1994, Williamsburg Regional Library

One of Canada's leading virtuoso guitarists, Sylvie Proulx has concertized extensively in Canada and abroad. Debut Atlantic chose her to tour the Atlantic provinces in November 1992, with fourteen concert engagements, including a helicopter-access recital in Churchill Falls, Newfoundland. In 1992 she was also awarded a FACTOR compilation disc grant enabling her to record works for CD distribution. Canadian performance venues have included Roy Thomson Hall and Ottawa's National Arts Centre (guest soloist with the National Arts Centre Orchestra). She has appeared twice as a feature artist at the International Guitar Festival of Toronto, and at numerous chamber music and guitar society venues. In 1989 she was featured at the International Guitar Festival of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and has performed at guitar events in Europe. From her first public performance at the age of twelve, Sylvie has captivated and charmed her audiences with her natural musicality and brilliant technical accomplishment. Her passion for the guitar is not only expressed in her authoritative performances, but also in her engaging commentaries, which often accompany her concert appearances. She is heard frequently on CBC Radio's Morningside.

Sylvie's expansive repertoire includes dozens of solo and orchestral works for the classical guitar ranging from Dowland and Bach to contemporary pieces by such composers as Ginastera and Berlo. She has performed Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez both in its original concerto form and as arranged for woodwind quintet with guitar. In addition to the standard classical guitar repertoire, Sylvie has a special affinity for music influenced by folk traditions, particularly those of composers from Brazil, Bolivia, Venzuela and Argentina. She has also showcased a number of new Canadian guitar works.

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