Spencer Nott-Bower: 9/23/94 Chrysler Museum Theater; 9/24/94 Williamsburg Regional Library

Jill Nott-Bower, actress and vocalist, and Robert Spencer, lutenist and vocalist, presented the program Eliza, Triumphans, celebrating the life and times of Elizabeth I. The duo did not rest with a concert of period music. Rather, they transported us to the time and presented us with an understanding of the music. We would be pleased to hear more concerts presented in this fashion.

Come O'er the Bourn, Bessy - the "lion's cub" was born 1533 and crowned in 1559. The Spanish ambassador reports Henry VIII's disappointment at the birth of a daughter instead of a son.

Of Many Was I Sought - Courtships 1559-82. Elizabeth's regard for Robert Dudley, who is personified in John Ly]y's play, Endymion.

THE DAUGHTER OF DEBATE - Mary, Queen of Scots, executed 1587 aged 45. Elizabeth playfully tests James Melville's diplomacy.

IN THE MIDST AND HEAT OF BATTLE - the Spanish Armada 1588

THE OUEEN DOTH FISH FOR MEN'S SOULS - sovereign and subject The Queen "doth fish for men's souls" (Christopher Hatton) - Elizabeth obliges the University of Cambridge with her Latin, 1564.

MY WILD HORSE - The Earl of Essex, executed 1601 aged 33. Elizabeth makes a gift to the 19-year old Earl - the Earl writes to her in 1590.

LIKE A RIPE APPLE FROM THE TREE - Elizabeth died 1603. Her last speech to Parliament, aged 68 - Spencer's "Her words were like a stream of honey" describes the effect.

A Festival of Strings     October 20, 1994, Chrysler Museum Theater

Marc Teicholz, a classical guitarist, is a native of Berkeley with a degree in music from Yale School of Music and a law degree from Boalt Hall. He was awarded first prize in the 1989 Seventh International Guitar Competition sponsored by the Guitar Foundation of America. He has performed in major cities throughout the United States and Canada, and has appeared as a concerto soloist with orchestras in California and Spain. Mr. Teicholz teaches guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and conducts master classes throughout the country.

Guillermo Rios studied flamenco guitar in Spain and spent six years performing in flamenco clubs (tablaos) in Madrid. From the clubs came offers to join Spanish dance companies, many of which toured throughout the world. Mr. Rios has been a featured soloist and lead accompanist with every major Spanish dance company in the United States. He has performed numerous solo guitar concerts in Spain, Canada and the U.S., including New York's Carnegie Recital Hall. He has recorded two full-length albums titled Sol y Sombra and Soul of Spain, containing many of his own compositions as well as traditional flamenco selections. Mr. Rios received a 1991 Ford Foundation Composition Grant which was the first such grant ever awarded to a flamenco artist.

Emanuil Sheynkman was educated at the Moussorgsky Institute and the Rimsky Korsakov Conservatory in Leningrad, where he majored in Russian instruments, arranging and conducting. He has conducted Russian symphony and film orchestras, arranged music for Hollywood film scores and was commissioned by the Canadian Brass to create major orchestra works for them. He has appeared as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the USSR, Eastern Europe, Asia and the United States. His discography includes over 20 recordings of major repertoire for both the mandolin and balalaika.

Richard Patterson, concert guitarist, enjoys an active international career as a collaborative artist performing with the Ware-Patterson Duo and Dvoika! Mr. Patterson is a featured artist on 14 recordings and has received critical acclaim for his original compositions and arrangements for commercial radio and television. Educated at UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University and the Oscar Espla Conservatory of Music in Spain, he currently heads the guitar department at the College of Notre Dame in California. He is producer of the D'Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts Guitar series and also produces a series for guitar at the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society.

Kevin Gallagher    December 3, 1994, Williamsburg Regional Library; December 4, 1994, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts

Winning the 1994 American String Teacher's Association, the 1993 Guitar Foundation of America, and the 1993 Artists International competitions, as well as being the only guitarist chosen from the Julliard School to participate in the 1993 Affiliate Artists Residency Program, Kevin Gallagher is a young artist on the rise in the world of classical guitar.

Mr. Gallagher has had a wide range of performing and teaching experience. In October of 1993, Gallagher played his New York City debut to a standing ovation at Weill Hall in Carnegie Hall, and in April of 1993 traveled to Costa Rica and Nicaragua to represent the Julliard School in the US University Performing Artists series. In addition to giving master classes, Mr. Gallagher made several television appearances and performed to critical acclaim at both countries' National Theaters. During the summer, he was an assistant to Sharon Isbin at the Aspen Summer Music School. In August 1993, he performed at the Museum of Modern Art festival in New York, and on the WNYC radio program "Around New York."

Born and raised in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, Kevin began studying guitar at the comparatively late age of 14. His appetite for music lead him to study various styles throughout his high school years, including jazz, rock, and American finger style guitar. Kevin attended a local state college where, unable to gain entrance into the jazz program, began studying classical guitar. After two years in the classical program he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee/Wisconsin Conservatory of Music cooperative program to study with guitarist Benjamin Verdery, where he earned his Bachelor of Music degree. Kevin is currently pursuing his Masters degree at the Julliard School, where he studies with Sharon Isbin.

Kevin Gallagher recently finished recording his debut album, "New Interpretations." The album includes virtuoso works by Legnani, Bach, Bachelor and Britten, and can be obtained through Willow Shade Classics, P.O. Box 143, South Union, Kentucky 42283.

Ortiz & Zumbado    Jan 27, 1995, Virginia Beach Center for the Arts; Jan 28, 1995, Williamsburg Regional Library

Born in San Jose, Costa Rica, they began their studies in the Castella Conservatory in Costa Rica. They went on to study at the Royal Conservatory in Madrid, Spain, with Maestros Valentin Bielsa, Demetrio Ballesteros and Jorge Cardoso. Upon graduating, they received the highest grade in guitar granted by the conservatory.

They have performed, as soloists and as a duo, in important events and numerous concert halls in Europe as well as in North, Central and South America. As invited artists, they have performed with the National Symphony of Costa Rica, Iberamerican Guitars, the University of Costa Rica Symphony and the National Symphony of Honduras.

Their main interest is performing and disseminating Latin American music, especially by Costa Rican composers, some of whom have dedicated works to this duo. Their repertoire includes a large number of arrangements of popular and traditional music.

Nicola Hall     Feb 24, 1995, Chrysler Museum Theater; Feb 25, 1995, Williamsburg Regional Library

Now just 25 years old, Nicola Hall has already established herself as one of the most exceptional musical talents of her generation. A student at Chethams School of Music, and later at the Royal Northern College of Music, she now studies with John Williams. She was a top prize winner at the Polish International Competition in 1986 and at the Toronto Competition in 1987. Hall was also the recipient of the Royal Overseas League's Gold Medal in 1989, the first guitarist to win this award in the competition's history. In addition to performing within the United Kingdom, Nicola Hall has given concerts at the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam in 1990, and performed for the Segovia Society in Madrid in 1991.

Hall made her Italian debut in Milan in May, 1992, and in the same month made a tour of Japan which prompted an immediate re-engagement in 1994. Since then she has appeared at the Schleswig-Holstein Festival in Germany, appeared in concerts with the London Mozart Players and the Royal Scottish Orchestra, and given a world premiere of a guitar concerto by Michael Torke. Nicola Hall's desire to extend the repertoire for the guitar has led to the composition by her of a number of transcriptions which form a regular part of her concert programs. Her repertoire also includes many contemporary compositions, including works by Britten, Tippett, and - most notably - Stephen Dodgson's Partita No. 4, written for Ms. Hall and premiered by her at the Cheltenham International Festival in 1990.

Nicola Hall records exclusively for Decca International. Her first recital disc, Virtuoso Guitar Transcriptions, was released in December 1991 to great critical acclaim. A recording of concerti by Tedesco, Paganini and Sarasate, with Andrew Litton and the London Mozart Players, and a second recital disc were released in 1994.

Ufonia     Apr 7, 1995, Chrysler Museum Theater; Apr 8, 1995, Williamsburg Regional Library

Founded during the recording of Benjamin Verdery's Some Towns & Cities (Newport Classic, 1991) Ufonia brings together the diverse musical backgrounds of classical guitarist BENJAMIN VERDERY, flutist KEITH UNDERWOOD, double bassist HARVIE SWARTZ, oboist VICKI BODNER and percussionist JOHN MARSHALL.

In 1989 Benjamin Verdery began composing works for the classical guitar as well as for the work he was doing at that time with vibraphonist Craig Peyton. In 1991 he brought all his composing together for Some Towns and Cities, a musical travelogue of Benjamin's impressions and feelings on some towns and cities in America. Guest artists for the recording included John Williams, Paco Peña, Leo Kottke, Craig Peyton and those musicians who have since become Ufonia.

"The thing about the group is we're all really close friends," Verdery says. We've played music for such a long time. I'm just honored that they enjoy making my music." This kind of harmony, in addition to its musical versatility, has allowed the group to strike out onto a variety of new musical horizons.

Is Ufonia contemporary classical, jazz, pop, world or out of this world? Ufonia is a bit of each with five exceptional musicians at the helm. Audiences choose their own label(s) and leave Ufonia performances wishing for more music, whatever the label.