Category Archives: Classical Guitar

Guitar weekend in Benslow 11-13 October 2024

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UK guitarists! It’s here again…

Tired of practising on your own? Looking to improve your musical skills?

Join us in a guitar ensemble with a friendly group of like minded people in lovely surroundings!

More or less expertly held together by Gerald Garcia !

This year’s music will include:

one of these

Piazzolla:

Muerte del Angel
Adios Nonino
Libertango

Tony Eastwood Welsh Folk Songs

J.S.Bach Italian Concerto

and more(?) to follow

You will receive music in advance, and there will be a performance on the Sunday followed by tea…

Full board and lodging is provided on site.

For info and booking, email:

musicweekends@btinternet.com


Weekend Programme

The guitar ensemble rehearsal/tuition programme is determined by its director, but typically consists of sessions:

• After dinner on the Friday

• Saturday morning

• After tea on Saturday

• After dinner on Saturday

• Sunday morning

The period between lunch and tea on Saturday is free – you can explore the grounds, go into town, practise, play with other guitarists or singers or just rest.

Prices

On Saturday evening there will be an informal concert at which both singers and guitarists who wish to perform to the others may do so.

We aim to make no profit from these weekends so our prices for accommodation reflect the tariff of the venue. The prices for accommodation including all meals, tea and coffee will be updated soon.

Participant in a single room

Participant sharing a double or twin room

Non-participant sharing a double room

This is a special rate for a spouse or partner to accompany a guitarist or singer.

These rates do not include tuition/direction. Each guitarist is expected to pay Gerald

Bookings are to be accompanied by a deposit of at least £50 per person. This represents a commitment to pay the rest a few weeks before the weekend. If we do not accept your booking or do not provide the accommodation, then we shall return whatever you have paid.

Notes

Special requirements

If you have any special preferences for food or accommodation, then let us know when you book, and we shall do our best to satisfy them. There are some rooms suitable for people with limited mobility and the venue’s catering team will do their best to provide dishes to meet guests’ special requests if notified in advance.

(The small print here is that while we endeavour to meet special requirements, if these arise from medical conditions then we do not want to know about that and take no medical responsibility. Data protection regulations, we believe, permit us to hold the information that we need about you, but not about your health.

Gilbert Biberian’s “Haiku” played by Alison Bendy

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A new video of Gilbert Biberian’s “Haiku” played by its dedicatee, Alison Bendy.

When Alison Bendy asked me to record Gilbert Biberian’s six “Haiku”,
I jumped at the chance – here it is, two days later.

The pieces were dedicated to Alison on her birthday in March 1982 and are based on haiku by Basho, Busan and Moritake, masters of the genre.

These miniatures are similarly, masterpieces of the genre and well worth a look if you are a guitarist.

Happy New Year

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This year, I had the good fortune to bump into Christian Fergo, a very talented film maker who is also no mean guitarist.

He wanted to do an interview with me, which ended up a sprawling 30+ minutes long. Thanks for the hard work, Christian!

Here is the video he made-

and here is the complete performance of the Concerto for Four Guitars given by the Sensemaya Quartet at Iserlohn 2019

Born in Copenhagen 1980, he studied guitar with John Jacobsen, Lars Trier and Frank Bungarten and graduated from the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Lucerne Academy of Music, both academies awarding him diplomas with distinction for his recitals and soloist performances. The Lucerne Times called him an “outstanding young soloist” and wrote about him: “Christian Fergo showed a highly sensitive musicality and very detailed technique”.

Join his YouTube channel here and visit his FaceBook page here

GGG archive – Interview with Dan Williams – cuatros, koras, learning and Warthogs in the Mist

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  •  More GGG archive

Dan Williams

While out on the cliffs near West Bay last year, a voice uttered a by now familiar phrase – “Are you Gerald?”.
It was a surprise and great pleasure to see Dan Williams, whom I haven’t spoken to for around twenty years!
He happened to live and have a workshop in Bridport.

West Bay cliffs 29E77CE1-2060-4288-A1BB-020D4BF4E01C

The next day, Alison and I visited and were fascinated to see all the instruments he had been making – Venezuelan cuatros and West African Koras as well as fascinating wooden sculptures and artifacts.

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We first met when holidaying in France with his elder brother John (the guitarist!) in the 80s.

He had met Venezuelan guitarist and composerAlfonso Montes who features on John Williams’ album ‘El Diablo Suelto’ and became interested in the cuatro through that meeting.

Dan plays as well as makes his own instruments and has a background in film animation and woodwork. He learned to play from his father  Len Williams, as did his famous brother.

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Dan was about to start work in his first guitar, so I took the opportunity to ask him about his life and how it had taken so long for him to get around to making a guitar!

Will’s Way – Will McNicol in Chengdu

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Will in Chengdu Global centre Will escalates

It was a happy coincidence that I bumped into Will McNicol in Chengdu when I was on my way to my Mum’s 96th birthday.

I was met at the airport by Will, Xu Bao and Joshua Jiao and rushed to a restaurant in an emergency food dash.

Will had been touring China with his own super charged yet gentle brand of acoustic music which he played on a new crossover guitar made by Martinez. This is a nylon strung instrument with a longer neck (the neck meets the body at the 14th fret) and a slightly shallower body. Will had just played in Chengdu the night before, following on from ten or more concerts throughout China, ably assisted by Josh.

After a wonderful lunch which culminated in the smashing of a wine glass while I was on a swing (don’t ask) we were joined by Alex Wang, CEO of Martinez. The following, slightly inebriated interview(s) discussing the future of the guitar in China, connections, Will’s music, life, the universe etc followed without further breakages .

A clip from Will’s latest recording
Dragonflies, Frogs and Bumblebees

Will was voted Acoustic Guitarist of the Year by Guitarist Magazine in 2011.
Here is his piece “The Wakeup”.

Lunch with Alex, Josh, Gerald, Will, Xu Bao

Susana and the Studenten Gitaar Ensemble Nederland, the Vickers Bovey duo and the OGS!

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The Oxford Guitar Society had their annual concert with a difference in the church of St.Mary and St.Nicholas in Littlemore, Oxford yesterday, the 20th May 2018.

They were joined by the Studenten Gitaar Ensemble Nederland and their lively and enthusiastic conductor, Susana Opanski.

After some soulful playing of a Milonga and Roland Dyens’ arrangement of Alfonsina y el Mar, they did a wild and wickedly funny version of Libertango by Piazzolla.

They were then joined by Dan Bovey and Julian Vickers to play a version of Dowland’s Lachrimae with Sweelinck’s variations. What a wonderful sound!

This was followed by a standout performance of my “Lorca” concerto.

The SGEN gave it their all, complementing the wonderful virtuosity and fluidity of the soloists.

The tour

https://vickersbovey.co.uk/concerts/sgen-tour-utrecht/

Many thanks to Steve Greenslade and the OGS for making this such a memorable occasion!

We had a great time afterwards at the Tree Hotel in Iffley – it was a beautiful summer evening and the SGEN barely made it back int time to Oxford station to catch their train for their concert in London the next day.

I had a chance to chat to Susana, with whom I had a lot in common.

She believes that music connects us and that all cultures, ages and abilities have a common voice through this.

The Ensemble is made up of students and ex students of hers, some of whom are not professional musicians. They do not receive a grant and so feel free to play the repertoire they love.

Their enthusiasm and sense of belonging is infectious and evident in their performance.

Susana is convinced that music connects people and that playing an instrument plays an important role in the personal development of children and young people.

For more than 20 years Susana Opanski has been working as a guitar teacher at the Music School in Amersfoort. She also teaches at Muziek in de Wijk (Utrecht) Besides that she develops educational projects to bring children into contact with music.

In addition to being a guitarist, bassoonist and guitar teacher, Susana Opanski is also the founding conductor a of the Student Gitaar Ensemble Nederland (SGEN). Last year the ensemble released a CD thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Sean Shibe shed show

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Sean Shibe

Sean Shibe

Sean came to the shed to play a preview of his Aldeburgh concert and CD recording last year. His programme was interesting as usual, starting with Forlorn Hope by Dowland and ending with Nocturnal by Britten, with Malcolm Arnold and Walton in between.

I had the chance to talk to him about his work as a New Generation artist with BBC radio 3, his attitude to competitions, and his idea of a good programme .
This was a welcome opportunity to catch up with Sean, whom I have known since he was a 13 year old in NYGE.
I was also present at his outstanding performance in London when he won the Royal Overseas League competition, ahead of an oboist, a singer and a pianist.

Here is a link to his Youtube channel where he shares his often individual view on the world and some fine performances, and here is our interview in the shed.


 

Interview with Kenneth Kwan

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Kenneth KwanAnother person whom I have known for an age, Kenneth has been on the Hong Kong guitar scene for as long as I can remember. He is professor of guitar at Guangzhou Conservatoire and also a stand up comedian (are they the same?).
He is also an avid traveller in China and seems to know much of what goes on there.
This is an interview I held with him in one of the many coffee shops we frequent in Hong Kong, where he talks about China, teaching and life…
Find out more on his Facebook page

 

This is what he has to say about himself:

Kenneth Kwan is considered a comic’s comic’s comic, since nobody but comics may understand his jokes, and that’s when they’re drunk. He’s a musician and full-time womanizer, that is, he tries to help women become more woman by helping with chores behind the backs of their spouses, so that a woman can one day be womanizest (they don’t call him a comic’s comic’s comic for nothing).

Here’s what famous comedians have to say about Kenneth:
Seinfeld: “Kenneth who?”
Johnny Carson through a medium: “For someone who has absolutely no talents, Kenneth sure tries hard…even though nobody laughs, the world is better because of this!”

Interview: Stephen Mattingly in the shed and the pub

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Steve MattinglyI seem to have known Stephen Mattingly for years.

We first met at the GB Summer school (which Gilbert Biberian and I directed many years ago) and Stephen regularly keeps cropping up at guitar festivals.
He is a member of the Tantalus Guitar Quartet who recorded my “Blue Nose Ballads” on Debut.

At GFA 2013 Louisville, he and the Tantalus Quartet gave the first performance of my piece “Spectral Dreams” for Guitar Quartet and Guitar Orchestra. Steve was instrumental in getting me over to the USA and also provided some very fine home-brewed beer.
So it was a pleasure to have him come over to the shed and also talk about his latest projects over a pint, after a rather distressing encounter with a less than sympathetic bus driver who refused to let his luggage off (it was destined for the wrong stop only half a mile away!).

Stephen has performed as soloist on notable concert series including the International Guitar Institute, Tennessee State University, Valdosta State University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Following a concert at Carnegie Hall in 2010, the New York Times noted Stephen’s “unfazed” performance in a challenging program of 20th and 21st century works with the Grawemeyer Players. As recipient of the prestigious Theodore Presser Award, he recorded the complete guitar chamber works by Franz Schubert, which are available internationally in new critical editions through Chanterelle Verlag.

He enjoys a vibrant teaching career as Assistant Professor of Guitar at the University of Louisville, directing classical guitar studies and teaching music theory courses. A strong proponent for public music education, Stephen is Director of the University of Louisville’s Community Music Program where he fosters the development of diverse educational programs in music, instituting unique learning opportunities for music enthusiasts from all areas of society.

In addition to his performing and teaching engagements, Stephen is the Director of the University of Louisville Guitar Festival and Competition. Alongside this role, Stephen is President of the Louisville Guitar Society, which hosts a concert series and advocates for guitar education through outreach programs and civic initiatives. From 2007-10 Stephen worked for the Guitar Foundation of America as Development Director and Convention Manager.

Here he is playing a bit of Ponce and an extract of “Illusions” by Xi Fu Hang.