Adam Levin came to speak with All Strings Considered about his Fulbright Scholarship to Spain, where he was able to commission an amazing thirty new works from an equal number of 21st century Spanish composers. Adam speaks about this amazing contribution to the classical guitar repertoire, as well as shares his excellent chamber music projects, his teaching style, sense of humor, and lots more!
Coming fresh out of his GFA lecture on the same subject, Dr. Alexander Dunn speaks with All Strings Considered about his new guitar quartets, adapted from quartet arrangements Turina made himself for the then famous Aguilar Laud Quartet. You'll hear about Turina's life during these fruitful collaborations with the Aguilars, coincidentally taking place around the time he began writing his famous solo guitar works. You'll hear Alex, along with Randy Pile, Robert Ward, and myself, play these new wo...
While Irina was here to judge and give a concert at this year’s GFA here in Southern California, she found some time to chat with All Strings Considered. You’re going to love her playing, she has a beautiful sound, exhibiting a maturity in her playing that is well beyond her years. She never sounds forced or self-conscious. On today’s show you’ll hear her recordings of Bach and Jose Maria Gallardo del Rey, as well as a piece from her brand new CD of music by Russian composers. Hear about her jou...
Evan Hirschelman stopped by to talk about his music, his upcoming technique book Classical Guitar Chops, and his inspired take on extended techniques in his text: Acoustic Artistry: Tapping, Slapping, and Percussion Techniques for Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar. We will listen to Evan’s homage to steel-string, fingerstyle guitarist, Michael Hedges, and hear how that composition later paved the way for Evan to write another Hedges-influenced work for the Grammy Winning Los Angeles Guitar Quarte...
Rovshan Mamedkuliev, Russian/Azerbaijani guitarist and winner of the 2012 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, stopped by to chat with All Strings Considered right towards the end of his 2013 international tour. Rovshan gave us notes on preparing for the GFA competition, talks about his choice to play the ever-popular "Capricho Árabe" in the competition final, and you’ll hear that performance. He also introduces us to his arrangements of piano miniatures by Azer...
Departing slightly from the nylon string world to explore contemporary styles with guitarist Richard Smith (although you will hear some nylon string playing from Italian Francesco Buzzurro on their collaborative album). When I met Richard, he was the department chair of the Studio/Jazz Guitar department at USC, and along with USC’s fairly new Popular Music program, Smith has since refocused his teaching duties from jazz to emphasize more contemporary and popular music styles. We will reap the be...
Duo Montes-Kircher consists of husband and wife pair, Alfonso Montes and Irina Kircher, who have been playing together as a professional guitar duo since 1984. Their long list of recordings often serve to commemorate their long history together, several of their CDs are actually subtitled with that year’s anniversary, three of which are their 10th, 20th, and 30th. On today’s show you’ll hear about their somewhat unorthodox rehearsal style, several of Alfonso’s compositions, about their time stud...
Hear Italian virtuoso Aniello Desiderio play stunningly original interpretations of Albeñiz, Scarlatti, Carulli, Vivaldi, and even Paco de Lucía. Desiderio discusses the importance of finding one’s own voice as a performer, especially with regard to imagination, emotion, and sincerity. He passes on some valuable wisdom gained from his conversations with Leo Brouwer and cellist Mischa Maisky, he creates a distinction between playing concerts and playing in competitions, and he also expresses his ...
World-renowned early guitarist and lutenist Paul O'Dette gives us a great lesson on the development of tuning systems, also known as temperament. He takes us from Pythagoras's early discoveries, yes the famous mathematician, up to the present day equal temperament.
Guitarist Capital brings us his great blend of Brazilian music incorporating pop, funk, and jazz influences, with pre-release tracks from his new project Bossa Zuzu, and his solo album "Floats on Flat Tires," and hear Capital extoll the benefits of classical guitar technique applied to all these styles. Capital also discusses his connection to the amazing composer and guitarist Guinga, speaks on Brazilian music, his time in Japan playing hip hop, the Bay area music scene, and more!
Like so many American flamenco guitarists, Juanito Pascual's guitar journey began with a heavy dose of the electric guitar greats like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton, progressed to jazz, and was inevitably drawn to flamenco. With his upcoming release, Juanito Pascual New Flamenco Trio, he comes full circle to by bringing all those influences together. Today on the All Strings Considered, Juanito talks about his progression through various styles, about being an American taking part in the flamenc...
Continuing my conversation with John Dearman, here’s a short with a few podcast recommendations and other great piece played by his guitar quartet, L.A.G.Q.: Bellinati’s A Furiosa.
Using a cappuccino to bribe John Dearman to stop by, I spoke with John about his experiences as a member of the Grammy Award-winning ensemble, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. We had a great conversation about how they rehearse, the keys to their success and sheer staying power—the group is now in its third decade—their particular group dynamic, as well as his great suggestions on arranging and transcribing for guitar quartet. Winter is the perfect time to listen to Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite...
Jason Vieaux is an incredibly hard working performing artist and teacher. He is in high demand for solo guitar and chamber music concerts in major festivals all over the world. Vieaux has also been featured soloist with over fifty orchestras, and is a dedicated recording artist having close to a dozen albums to his credit, as well as serving on the faculties of both the Curtis and Cleveland Institutes of Music. On the show today he talks about his new online lesson website, about his upcoming al...
When I’m learning a new piece or searching the repertoire for something new, or maybe I just can’t seem to make immediate sense of a score, I like to listen to a variety of interpretations via recordings. Over the years I’ve developed my “go to” list for recording artists, stellar players like David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Scott Tennant, Pepe Romero, and Adam Holzman. Cornering Holzman for a chat at the GFA symposium a couple of weeks ago, I finally had the chance to ask him about some those p...
To help celebrate Benjamin Britten’s centennial this year, Colin Davin discusses his long-standing relationship with Britten’s only work for the solo guitar, Nocturnal (after John Dowland), Op.70. Conveniently, the piece was written for Julian Bream, who is also celebrating this year, both his eightieth birthday and his receipt of the Gramophone Lifetime Achievement Award. Davin also brings us a new commission, with Dowland and Britten in mind, from Pulitzer Prize Winner Caroline Shaw. Having ju...
A husband and wife duo comprised of Bosnian guitarist Denis Azabagic and Spanish flautist Eugenia Moliner. When Cavatina duo is not performing concerts all over the world or teaching as artist faculty at Roosevelt university in Chicago, they’ve somehow found the time to record five CDs, and are regularly featured in international festivals, along with Denis’s ten or so solo CDs, his DVDs, and more. During their interview, Cavatina Duo explains their take on recording CD’s in a world where consum...
Chapdelaine is the only person to have won both the GFA competition (as a matter of fact the very first one) and the National Fingerstyle Championship. If you happen see Chapdelaine live you’ll see him switch effortlessly between the steel string and the nylon string guitars and hear a blend of his autobiographical compositions, his spot-on arrangements of Rock ‘n’ Roll classics like “Come Together” and “Hit the Road Jack,” and classical pieces by composers like Roland Dyens, Leo Brouwer, and Ba...
John Schneiderman gives us a glimpse into the Baroque lute and Russian guitar traditions, with a little banjo, and the no-nails perspective on playing the classical/Romantic era guitar.
In this second installment of highlights from the 2013 Guitar Foundation of America Festival and International Concert Artist Competition, All Strings Considered brings you music from the solo and chamber music concerts, a mini-lesson from a pair of the technique workshops, and some exciting and newly discovered projects from David Chapman and the guys behind Seconda Prattica. You’ll have a chance to listen to lots of new music, new arrangements, and strikingly original interpretations from Rovs...
This year’s Guitar Foundation of America festival and International Concert Artist Competition was held in the lovely city of Louisville, Kentucky and hosted by the University of Louisville School of Music and Dr. Stephen Mattingly. The GFA, now close to its fortieth year in existence, presented an awe-inspiring week of concerts, lectures, classes, and of course, one of the most prestigious competitions in the world. It was a joy to meet so many people dedicated to furthering our art form, so ma...
Today’s guest Marcin Dylla is the perfect performer to hear from just a few shorts days before one of the biggest guitar competitions in the United States, not only did he win the Guitar Foundation of America's International Concert Artist Competition in 2007, but has won virtually every other major guitar competition in the world; nineteen first prizes. So not only is he an authority on competitions, but he also has an incredibly positive and original outlook on why competitions are so importan...
London-based guitar duo, Eden-Stell stopped by my place in L.A. for a coffee and a chat during their last U.S. tour. Mark Eden and Chris Stell have been playing as a guitar duo for more than two decades and today have an impressive catalog of recordings encompassing a wide range of musical styles and time periods. They are frequently invited to give concerts and perform at festivals all over the world. They are the first guitarists since Julian Bream to receive Editor’s Choice in Gramophone maga...
This episode features Brazilian music from Duo Partido. On their new EP, vocalist Alicia Ramirez and guitarist Dario Griffin bring some really fresh ideas to some Bossa nova classics you already know, alongside a few tunes from the more modern school of Brazilian music. You'll hear selections their new EP, including their excellent interpretations of music by A.C. Jobim, Sueli Costa, Guinga, and others. You'll also hear a little about the origins of Bossa nova, and about a really interesting thu...
I had a great chat over some of my almost-as-good-as-Scott-Tennant's espresso with the Grammy winning guitarist and composer Andrew York. We talked about a whole series of interesting topics, and you will have the chance to hear lots of new music from his recently released double album Yamour. Andrew shared his thoughts on playing and composing with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and a bit about the origins of his piece Sunburst, such as how it ended up on one of the landmark records of the clas...
Let me introduce you to musicologist and classical guitarist Dr. Walter Aaron Clark. Dr. Clark is the founder and director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Music at the University of California, Riverside, where he is currently on the faculty. Additionally Walter is an accomplished guitarist, holding bachelors and master’s degrees in classical guitar, his M.A. earned studying with Pepe Romero. He’s written numerous books and articles on all our favorites, most recently Tórroba and Al...
There are certainly some clear parallels between flamenco and heavy metal guitar playing: the search for an ever more blindingly virtuosic technique, the attraction to complexity, their driving rhythm and aggressive edge. A highly sought after accompanist of flamenco dance and cante, Benjamin Woods is the creator of some really great fusions in this vein. On the show, Benjamin gives some insight into the arduous task of learning flamenco guitar the right way, that being in part the willingness t...
Unlike any other guitar duo I have come across, the Andreas Kapsalis and Goran Ivanovic Guitar Duo (maybe just the AKGI Duo?) have created a truly distinct sound with their blend of steel string, eight-finger tapping, and the refinement of beauty and refinement of the classical guitar. Their compositional style effortlessly blends jazz, classical, pop, and experimental musical styles, adding a heavy dose of Balkan folklore among other rhythmically complex traditions. During their All Strings Con...
Paul O'Dette truly needs no introduction. One of the leading figures of the early music movement, guitarist, lutenist, and conductor Paul O’Dette has performed in festivals in virtually every major city in the world, he has made over 120 recordings, among those the complete solo lute works of John Dowland, he is a professor of lute and the director of early music at the Eastman school of music, and is the artistic director of the Boston Early Music Festival. It is an absolute honor to have him a...
Endeavoring to bring you something new and outside of the usual guitar spectrum, please allow me to introduce you to Latin jazz pianist Danny Green. We spent some time discussing his latest album, A Thousand Ways Home, a collection of tunes that shows Danny’s special synthesis of jazz, classical, and various Latin styles of piano playing. In talking about some of my favorites on the album, we ended up talking about Danny’s compositional process, which is fascinating blend of inspiration and reas...
