Judicaël Perroy   October 16, 1998, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; Oct 17, 1998, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater

Judicaël Perroy, the1997 Guitar Foundation of America First Prize winner, was born in Paris and began to study the guitar at the age of seven at the Paris Academy of Music. By the age of fourteen he was already performing in international competitions and had won Second Prize at the International Competition of the Ile-de-France.. In 1992 he received the First Prize in the René Bartoli International Competition. Two years later he won the 7th International Guitar Competition of Bourg Madame, and in 1996 the First Prize from the Paris National Conservatory.

M. Perroy has performed in Russia, Denmark and Germany, and regularly plays at Saint Julien Le Pauvre in Paris. He is now teaching at the National Academy of Blanc-Mesnil near Paris. This was his first concert tour in the United States.

Once again it is demonstrated that the GFA winner is a competent (if young) guitarist who can hold his or her own amongst the best the world can offer. Why don't we have more of these guys?

The Amadeus Duo   December 4, 1998, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater; Dec 5, 1998, Chrysler Museum Theater

Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchoff have been playing together since 1991. In concerts throughout Europe and North America, critics and audiences alike have acknowledged the musicians' bubbling temperament, virtuoso recitals and great guitar tone. In addition to chamber music programs, they often perform with large orchestras, presenting compositions for two guitars and orchestra by Joaquin Rodrigo, Harald Genzmer, Carlo Domeniconi, Antonio Vivaldi and Joseph Haydn, among others. The Duo performs regularly with the chamber orchestra fonte di musica, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the President Orchestra Ankara and the Chamber Orchestra Berlin.

Dale Kavanagh of Toronto, Canada, has been a top prize winner in Spain's Segovia Competition as well as competitions in Italy, Switzerland and Finland.

Thomas Kirchoff of Cologne, Germany, studied with David Russell. He founded the International Guitar Symposium Iserlohn, one of Europe's most prominent guitar seminars. They presently reside in Toronto, Canada.

Many thanks to the Amadeus Duo for demonstrating once again that we present only the best. How do we do that? Beats me. Ask Sam Dorsey.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet   February 5, 1999, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet - John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Andrew York - is one of the most charismatic and versatile groups performing today. Our Tidewater audience learned this when LAGQ played here in the late 1980's. Since then, three of the four members of the quartet - Andrew York, Scott Tennant and William Kanengiser - have performed solo concerts on our series.

As a quartet they have performed in Lincoln Center, Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall, public radio's St. Paul Sunday Morning, the Today Show and with the the Boston Pops. They have also appeared at the Hong Kong, Singapore and Istanbul International Arts Festivals.

In May 1997 the LA Quartet signed an exclusive recording agreement with Sony Classical, with a first release scheduled for May 1998. Their current CD's are on Delos International and include Dances from Renaissance to Nutcracker, Evening in Granada, Labyrinth and For Thy Pleasure.

This concert has to rank as one of the best we've ever presented. Some of us are still trying to figure out how they produced the sounds of so many strange instruments from around the world, using just four plain vanilla acoustic guitars. If you missed it, their latest Sony release contains many of the 'international' pieces featured in this concert. It's available from sony.com. Follow the link to the LAGQ web site.

*Göran Söllscher   March 19, 1999, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; March 20, 1999, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater

Swedish born Göran Söllscher, a recording artist with over a dozen Deutsche Gramophone recordings, makes one of his rare United States appearances. M. Söllscher studied at the Malmö Conservatory in Sweden and at the Royal Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1978, he won the first prize at the Concours Internationale de Guitare in Paris. In 1991, he was honored with an invitation to participate in the International Homage to Joaquin Rodrigo, celebrating the composer's 90th birthday in Madrid.

From his native Sweden, M. Söllscher has toured all over Europe, North and South America, China and Japan, giving recitals as well as performing as soloist with numerous orchestras. He performs regularly with all major Scandinavian orchestras, and has played with the the Japan Philharmonic, the Camerata Bern, the English Chamber Orchestra, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, under conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Alexander Gibson, Sixten Ehrling, Woldemar Nelsson and Esa-Pekka Salonen.

His appearance here left no doubt the he is an artist of great sensitivity and technical competence. Our audience was uniform in its praise of the concert.

*For the umlaut impaired, this may be spelled Goeran Soellscher.

The Lafayette Trio   March 19, 1999, Contemporary Art Center of Virginia; March 20, 1999, Williamsurg Regional LIbrary Theater

Guitarist Sam Dorsey, violinist Jorge Aguirre and cellist Carter Melin - The Lafayette Trio - bring classical training, consummate skill and artistry to the music of Giuliani, Haydn and Chick Corea. Add in the world premiere of a new work by Dusan Bogdanovic - commissioned by the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society - and you have an evening of unforgettable world class music.

Jorge Aguirre is from Lima, Peru. Following studies at the Conservatorio Nacional, he received a scholarship to study with Henryk Szeryng in Mexico. Mr. Aguirre performed with a number of orchestras in Mexico and with the Xapala Symphony. Since then he has performed with the Roma Sinfonietta in Italy, the Madrid Symphony in Spain and with the South Florida Symphony, the Miami Orchestra, the New American Chamber Orchestra in Detroit, and presently plays with the Virginia Symphony, the Williamsburg Symphonia and the Four Seasons Quartet. He is an Adjunct Professor at Christopher Newport University and Old Dominion University.

Sam Dorsey is Associate Professor of Music and Humanities at Norfolk State University. He has studied guitar with Jesus Silva and Michael Lorimer, and has attended Master Classes with Andrés Segovia. A past president of the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society (and present Music Director), he has been a moving force in bringing artists of international acclaim to this area. He has performed with the Virginia Opera, Virginia Stage Company, Virginia Chorale, Virginia Symphony, and as a solo artist throughout the United States and in Switzerland, Italy, Puerto Rico and Costa Rica.

Carter Melin is a native of Indianapolis, IN. He has been a cellist since the age of nine, when he began his studies with Geoffrey Lapin of the Indianapolis Symphony. Carter earned his Bachelor's Degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and received his Masters Degree from the Eastman School of Music. He has performed at the Aspen Music Festival and the Yellow Barn Music Festival. Mr. Melin has been featured as a soloist with the New World Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Philharmonic, the Palm Beach Opera, Ballet Florida, Charleston Symphony, and is currently with the Virginia Symphony.

This group was warmly received at their Williamsburg debut, with many concert goers asking if there were CD's available. Well, not yet, but maybe someday soon. I offer the group just one suggestion for their next appearance: That great, rollicking performance of Gerschwin's Summertime would make a perfect capper. And it would clear the air after the lovely - but very sombre - Over the Edge. Find something else to put in that slot and use Summertime for an encore - something the audience asked for but didn't receive.

JoAnn Falletta and Friends   April 18, 1999, First Baptist Church, Hampton; April 19, 1999, Sacred Heart Church, Norfolk

JoAnn Falletta, the Virginia Symphony's music director since 1991, has been widely recognized as "one of the finest conductors of her generation" (New York Times), and called "one of the brightest stars of symphony music in America" by the Los Angeles Times. She received her Doctorate in conducting from the Julliard School in 1989, and since then has appeared with many of the best orchestras in the United States, Europe and Canada. Ms Falleta is currently Music Director of the Virginia and Long Beach Symphony Orchestras. At the same time she maintains an impressive schedule of guest conducting. In addition to appearing with leading North American orchestras, she has guest conducted in Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa, and Spain.

What is not so widely known is that maestra Falletta began her musical career - while very young - as a classical guitarist, so the classical guitar has always been close to her heart. For this concert, Falletta steps off the podium to be featured as a guitar soloist with a chamber ensemble comprised of members of the Virginia Symphony, as well as performing a few numbers with our own TCGS Guitar Orchestra. One of these was a new arrangement prepared specifically for this concert.

It's difficult for this writer to imagine when, in her busy schedule, Ms Falleta could find a spare moment to practice guitar. In fact, I arrived prepared to applaud appreciatively - much as I applauded Segovia when I was last privileged to hear him, knowing full well that he had played much better some years earlier. Boy was I surprised! Falletta was definitely the star of the evening!

To be sure, these were not solo pieces, nor were they the toughest in the repertoire, so we were responding more to a keen understanding of the music than to superlative 'guitar chops'. Still, musicianship is at least as valuable as virtuosity, and probably more rare. It also helps to be playing with superlative musicians at your side, and Alemany, Armstrong, Baker and Cross each produced their usual impeccable performance. Even our own Guitar Orchestra - which consists of a few professional guitarists struggling to whip a bunch of amateurs into shape - was inspired to produce a performance that made the audience believe we belonged there. Great work, guys! For my part, I'm really happy I didn't play that evening, because if I had I would not have been able to listen. Those who were not able to listen to either of these two concerts have my sympathy.