Winchester Guitar Festival 2008


The Winchester Guitar Festival will be in full swing from July the 25th to the 27th.

Anyone with a guitar who is up for a major pluck and a strum is invited.

The Festival encompasses a broad range of activities and events including:
Ensemble Coaching: Guitar Orchestra:Masterclasses:Individual Tuition: Concerts: Lectures: performance Opportunities: Finger aerobics: Techniques classes

Venue: West Downs Centre, Winchester University. Accommodation is single en-suite bedrooms. Registration opens 1pm from Friday 25th July and the event concludes 4pm Sunday 27th
For more information please visit the following web site



News from the Lute Society



1 DON’T FORGET! LUTE PLAYING DAY IN HACKNEY THIS SATURDAY, 26th APRIL

The next Lute Society Playing day, led once again by Stewart McCoy will take place in Hackney, London, on Saturday 26th April. Stewart will tailor the music to suit all abilities. Beginners are particularly welcome and special arrangements will be made for them.

The day will start at 10.30ish and formal playing will continue till 6.30, informal playing and singing will go on as late as people wish. Attendees are invited to bring as many lutes and other early plucked instruments as they can (bass or other unusual-sized lutes especially)—playing lots of different instruments is one of the pleasures of the day—a music stand, food and drink contributions to a buffet lunch, and supper if they wish to stay on in the evening. The cost will not be more than £12.

The venue is Gordon’s Gregory’s house: 18 Meynell Crescent, Hackney, London E9 7AS (tel: 020 8985 7422 e: gordon@gordongregory.co.uk).

If you need directions just ask and he will send or give them. Directions to Gordon’s house can be found at: http://www.gordongregory.co.uk/.

If you want to come, email Gordon at gordon@gordongregory.co.uk

2. OUD EVENT TOMORROW, FRIDAY
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON - SCHOOL OF ADVANCED STUDYINSTITUTE OF MUSICAL RESEARCH


MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA MUSIC FORUM
Friday April 25th 2008Room ST 274/5, Stewart House, 32 Russell Square, London WC1B (adjacent to Senate House)9.30am – 6.30pm

PROGRAMME
Abstracts of papers available at:http://music.sas.ac.uk/imr-events/imr-conferences-colloquia-performance-events/middle-east-and-central-asia-music-forum/abstracts.html#c1398

  • Registration (from 9.30am) and Welcome (9.45am)
  • Session 1 (10 - 11.45am)Tala Jarjour (University of Cambridge)Syriac Chant:

  • Problematizing a New-Old Story. Work in Progress
    Nahro Zagros (University of York)Songs for the Dead: Funeral Gatherings of the Êzdis in Armenia

  • 11.45am - tea/coffee
  • Session 2 (12.15 – 1pm) Hany El Hamzawy (Goldsmiths London)The Oud in the Era of Ethnomusicology
  • 1pm – Lunch break
  • Session 3 (2.30 - 4.15pm)Carolyn Landau (City University)Remembering and Reminiscing: Music and Meaning amongst Moroccans in London Parmis Mozafari (University of Leeds)A Historical Overview of the Condition of Women Musicians in Iran
  • 4.15 - 5.15pm tea/coffee and final discussion session

  • 5.30 - 6.30pmEvening RecitalEgyptian Oud player Hany El Hamzawi will present a range of performance styles from across the Middle East and beyond.

The Middle East and Central Asia Music forum is open to researchers, students and anyone interested in the music and culture of the region. In the spirit of fostering dialogue and interdiscplinarity, we hope that the issues discussed at the forum will be of interest to a broad audience, including musicologists, ethnomusicologists and other researchers in the arts, humanities and social sciences.

In addition, we welcome those working on other aspects of Middle Eastern and Central Asian culture broadly speaking (dance, visual arts, media, film, literature, etc.) Advance booking is requested via Valerie James at music@sas.ac.uk; a contribution to costs of £10 is requested on the door. Attendance for students and the unwaged is free.

3 OUD AND VOICE CONCERT 7th MAY

The first one is as part of a coptic easter party this saturday near Turnpike lane at Muna's Restaurant. Start 8/9pmPlease check http://www.munasrestaurant.com/ for directions and details.
The second one is a lunchtime concert on Wednesday the 7th of May at St Olave's Church, London, a small medieval church, so should be lovely.The address is

St Olave Church
8 Hart Street
London EC3R 7NB

4. GUITAR DUO CONCERT 3rd MAY

John Mills and Cobie Smit in Concert
Saturday 3rd May 2008 8pm The Point Eastleigh, Hampshire


TICKETS: £12.50 (usual concessions £10) Box Office 023 8065 2333

John Mills is regarded as one of Britain's finest concert guitarists. He graduated from the Royal College of Music and studied with three of the world's finest players: John Williams, Julian Bream and Andres Segovia. He is particularly associated with 20th century romantic works made famous by Segovia. John performed on many occasions to the great master Segovia who commented that "Mr Mill's playing has a purity of technique and musical sensitivity". It is difficult to imagine a better accolade.

Cobie Smit was born in Rotterdam and studied at the conservatory there, later going on to The Hague where she complete her studies at the Royal Conservatory of Music. Cobie and John formed a duo in the 1980's and together they have toured both nationally and internationally.

Southampton Classical Guitar Society is extremely proud that John Mills is their Honorary President. The concert, with John in duo with Cobie, promises to be a superb event.

Presented by Southampton Classical Guitar Society
http://www.scgs-guitar.org.uk/
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Taro Takeuchi early music guitar and lutenist



(Thanks to Trevor Pike for this)


Taro Takeuchi is a lutenist and guitarist with an interest in early music. He is performing at Hornimans museum on Sunday 4th May between 3and4.30pm there is no entry charge.
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/ for further information.


Find out more about Taro at the web site below

Wealden Guitar Society Performance


Well folks tonight we had a real music feast cooked up for us by the Wealden Guitar Society courtesy of head chef, Ray Love. (And he was much more restrained in his language than Gordon Ramsay!!) For those of you who missed the meeting you can download your portions by clicking the links. (The files are mp3 files - suggest that you download Quicktime or Itunes for best results)
BGS Starters

Like all good hosts, we thought we'd better provide our own starters prior to the main meal. Ray Butcher did a great job in leading the BGS members for a quick practice with a new piece in preparation for a battle of the sounds with the Enfield Society at the May Meeting. We had a very quick solo spot this evening with a medley of melodies from Len Ivell who had us 'begining the beguine' and then marching down to the Sunny Side of the street.

The next piece was a Pavan by Weiss, expertly delivered by Dave Hampton. We were now thoroughly ready for the main course which arrived promptly at 8pm!. The menu is reproduced below!

Wealden Guitar Society Music Menu


a delicious treat prepared and delivered by Tom, David, Liz and Ray

a tasty number prepared by Chris (and nothing was burnt!!)



based on the Thomas Morley recipe cooked and and presented superbly by Tom, Diana and David


prepared and served by David Liz and Ray (based on Gershwin's recipe)


a taste of South America from David, Tom, Liz and Ray

Prelude 3 (Villa Lobos) with a side dish from Sergio Assad's recipe book


prepared and served with panache from Miles Roberts




arranged by Ray Love and served by Ray, Val and Charlie

Pavan from Ravel's recipe book

A tasty little French dish prepared by David and Tom


arranged by Ray Love and served by Val and Ray




arranged, and served by Colin

prepared by Tom, Liz and Ray




A tasty dessert served by Shalom, Eileen, Val and Charlie

Needless to say it was a great evening of entertainment and special thanks goes to Ray Love and the Wealden Society for preparing such a tasty musical menu. Michelin stars all round!!


While the Wealden Society catered for our musical appetites, a special mention should go to Trevor Pike for organising and providing the actual refreshments for everyone. Thanks again Trevor!!

Meeting March 19th Update

As promised in the last newsletter, here is a recording of Tommy Page's performance of Maria-Luisa Julio Sagreras Mazurka Opus 9 Number 2.

Unfortunately we missed out on getting a recording of the Widmore ensemble. Hopefully we will have better luck with the Wealden Ensemble this Saturday.

Thanks to Stephen Pearson for the MP3 file

Amanda Cook- Guest Performer for the BGS


Make sure that you keep the diary free for October the 18th 2008, as Amanda Cook will be giving a recital for the Bromley Guitar Society on that evening.


Amanda's Bio


Amanda began her studies with Alexander Levtov before receiving a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music Junior Department as a pupil of Charles Ramirez. In 1994 Amanda became a full time BMus degree student at the college as a foundation scholar, where she continued to study with Mr Ramirez and later with Gary Ryan and Jakob Lindberg, graduating in 1998.


While at the college she was awarded several prizes including the Jack Morrison Guitar Prize, the Peter Pears Duo Prize and the Madeline Walton Guitar Prize. In the spring of ‘99, Amanda spent 2 months in New York studying with Ben Verdery with the help of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust.


Her competition successes have included 1st Prize in the 1995 Admira Young Guitarist of the Year Award, the 1997 Ivor Mairants Guitar Award and the 1998 Carol Evershed Martin Award, along with 3rd Prize in Krynica International Guitar Competition, Poland 2000.


Her concerto work includes the Aranjuez Concierto by Rodrigo in Arundel Cathedral and the Vivaldi Concerto in D with the Edinburgh Chamber Orchestra. Amanda has performed throughout England, Ireland and Scotland, including two performances at the Wigmore Hall and recitals for the Classical Guitar Festival of G.B and the Bath International Guitar Festival.


She has given concerts in New York, Sicily, Belgium, Switzerland, Hawaii, Brazil and Northern Ireland, where she played a specially commissioned piece by William Lovelady for the 1st Anniversary of the bombing in Omagh (featured on " Debut ").
For those of you wanting to learn more about this dynamic performer please visit the following sites
Unfortunately there are no You Tube snippets but I found a sound clip of her in action

Performer Spotlight: Mesut Ozgen


Welcome to the Performer Spotlight section of the blog. This is a new addition where members (and non members) get the opportunity to share articles and comments about their particular favorite Classical guitarists.

I will start the ball rolling with one of my favourite guitarists: Mesut Ozgen.

Mesut Ozgen and I both share something in common. We both developed an interest in learning Classical Guitar while pursuing our respective university studies in the early 1980's (in Mesut's case it was medicine in Turkey while in mine it was teaching in Australia) and that we are both self taught. However that's where the similarity ceases. A high octane mix of talent and genius made sure that his career as a professional guitarist roared away while mine remained firmly at the starter's block .

Since then he has performed and taught master classes throughout the US, Spain and Turkey and has been on the guitar faculty at the University of California,Santa Cruz since 1998. He is the first Guitarist to be awarded the prestigious ' Deans Prize' from the Yale School of Music. He has performed at the International Paco Pena Guitar Festival in 1989 and 1900 and has studied with composer Benjamin Verdery at Yale University, School of Music.

While I wisely completed my teaching studies, I cannot say for sure whether Mesut completed his medical studies but he has completed his Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma at Yale. He has also been very busy working on a doctoral program at Arizona State University as well as performing in master classes for notable guitarists such as John Williams, David Russell, Manuel Barrueco and Leo Brouwer. His repertoire also includes early music for the guitar, baroque guitar and lute. He has also been very busy promoting classical guitar music based on a wide variety of American, Spanish, Turkish, Greek and Argentinean folk cultures.


One of my favourite pieces is his performance of Carlo Domeniconi's Variation on an Anatolian Folk Song (based on a folk song composed by Asik Veysel. It is a particularly beautiful piece and in Mesut Ozgen's hands it becomes sublime.

Another piece he delivers at top speed is the Paraguayan inspired piece Misionera by Bustamente which has been captured in this You Tube Clip. (Its a bit out of focus but stick with it..it gets better).




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Mesut Ozgen is also keen to promote new compositions for Classical Guitar which is why I have enclosed a video of the performance of Ben Verdery's Pick and Roll by the USMC Guitar Consort which he conducts.





Further information about Mesut Ozgen can be accessed at his web site (along with further examples of his recordings. I would recommend his Troubadour CD as a must purchase!

If you have a guitarist that you would like to nominate (or better still, provide some background reading and links) please don't hesitate to respond using the comments link.