CLASSICAL GUITAR WEEKEND in Cleveland, Ohio

Posted on January 29th, 2007 in Classical Guitar Artists by classgui

CLASSICAL GUITAR WEEKEND
March 9 – 11, 2007
Cleveland, Ohio

March 9-11, Seventh Annual Classical Guitar Weekend, Cleveland, Ohio presented by Guitars International in cooperation with the Cleveland Institute of Music. Concerts and master classes by internationally acclaimed artists - Susana Prieto (Spain) and Alexis Muzurakis (Greece) of Duo Melis, 49th Annual Grammy Award Nominee lutenist Paul O’Dette (U.S.A.), Xuefei Yang (China) and Jason Vieaux (U.S.A.) For further information please call Guitars International at (216) 752-7502, log onto www.guitarsint.com or write us at info@guitarsint.com.

DUO MELIS RECITAL: Friday, March 9 at 8:00 PM

Location: Forest Hill Church, 3032 Monticello Blvd., Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118

Works to be performed: FALLA Three Dances, L’HOYER Sonata, Op. 31, PIAZZOLLA Otoño Porteño, RAMEAU Four Pieces, GINASTERA Danzas argentinas, ALBENIZ Mallorca, DUSAN BOGDANOVIC Sonata-Fantasía.

Admission: $20; $17 students with ID (sorry, no credit cards or refunds)
MASTER CLASS: Saturday, March 10 at 9:30 AM.  
Location: Western Reserve Historical Society, 10825 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106 across the street from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Description: CIM guitar students will perform and be coached by Duo Melis from 9:30 a.m. until 12:00 noon. Open to observers free of charge.

PAUL O’DETTE RECITAL: Saturday, March 10 at 4:00 PM.

Location: Harkness Chapel, 11200 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106 on the Case Western Reserve University campus.

Works to be performed: J.S. BACH Pièces pour la Luth á Monsieur Schouster, BMV 995, J.S. BACH Partita in E Major (transposed to F Major), BWV 1006a, WEISS Suite in C Minor (1706), J.S. BACH Sonata in G Minor, BWV 1001

Admission: Tickets $20; $17 students with ID (sorry, no credit cards or refunds)

MASTER CLASS 1: Friday, March 9 at 12:00 noon
Location: Harkness Chapel, 11200 Bellflower Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106 on the Case Western Reserve University campus.
Description: Case Western Reserve University students will perform and be coached by Mr. O’Dette from noon until 1:30pm. Open to observers free of charge.
MASTER CLASS 2: Friday, March 9 at 3:00 PM.
Location: Cleveland Institute of Music, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.
Description: CIM guitar students will perform and be coached by Mr. O’Dette from 3pm to 6pm. Open to observers free of charge.

XUEFEI YANG RECITAL: Saturday, March 10 at 8:00 PM

Location: Cleveland Institute of Music, Kulas Hall, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Works to be performed: SCARLATTI Two Sonatas, STEPHEN GOSS Blue Kite, Yellow Earth and Farewell My Concubine from “Raise the Red Lantern” (written for Xuefei Yang in 2004), ALBENIZ Granada, Asturias, & Sevilla from Suite Espanola, Op. 47, PAGANINI Grand Sonata, BARRIOS Un Sueño en la Floresta, LEO BROUWER Sonata.

Admission: $25; $20 students with ID (sorry, no credit cards or refunds)

MASTER CLASS: Sunday, March 11 at 12:00 noon
Location: Cleveland Institute of Music, Studio 113, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 4106.
Description: CIM guitar students will perform and be coached by Ms. Yang from noon until 3pm. Open to observers free of charge.

JASON VIEAUX FACULTY RECITAL: Sunday, March 11 at 4:00 PM.

Location: Cleveland Institute of Music, Kulas Hall, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106

Works to be performed: ORBON Preludio y Danza, J.S. BACH Prelude, Fugue and Allegro, BWV 998, LEO BROUWER El Decameron Negro, J.S. BACH Lute Suite No. 2, BWV 997, ALBENIZ Cuba and Asturias.

Admission: Free (no tickets required).

MASTER CLASS: Saturday, March 10 at 1:00 PM
Location: Cleveland Institute of Music, Studio 113, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Description: Non-CIM guitar students will perform and be coached by Mr. Vieaux from 1:00pm until 3:30pm. Open to observers free of charge.

Individuals who wish to perform in the Jason Vieaux master class: Please submit your name, street address, phone number, email address and an audition recording (CD or cassette) containing two contrasting works to Erik Mann, c/o the Cleveland Institute of Music, 11021 East Boulevard, Cleveland, OH 44106-1776. Information and recording must be received by Friday, February 23, 2007. For further information, contact Erik Mann at guitar@emann.net or (440) 278-0728.

Classical guitar dealers

Posted on January 23rd, 2007 in Classical Guitar Supplies by classgui

Guitars International - I bought my first decent guitar here. Armin Kelly doesn’t put on the high pressure sales pitch and will even let you play a few guitars way out of your price range just for kicks.

Jerry Roberts Guitars - Jerry is very helpful and willing to work with you to make sure you are satisfied with your purchase.

Guitar Salon International - I bought my first guitar here. They were not willing to work with me on the price at all at the time, but it was a relatively inexpensive guitar (but overpriced nonetheless).

Guitar luthier web sites

Posted on January 21st, 2007 in Classical Guitar Supplies by classgui

John Bogdanovich guitars - I have one of these myself, Thanks, John.

Robert guitars - “responsive, lush, warm and powerful.”

Luthier Tom Prisloe

Places to go on the web to find great classical guitar playing

Posted on January 19th, 2007 in Classical Guitar Artists by classgui

Jason Vieaux rocks the house at NPR’s Performance Today - Young Artist in Residence Program. Also joining Jason were violinist Soovin Kim, flutist Gary Schocker, and the Shanghai String Quartet. Program offered in real audio format. A great listen. I find myself going back time and time again. Jason plays Morel’s “Danza Brasilera” - Morel’s “Choro” - Barrios’ “Waltz No. 4″ - Bustamonte’s “Misionera” - Albeniz’s “Asturias” - Merlin’s “Suite del Recuerdo” and more. Jason also answers a listener’s question on what to do in a 30 minute practice session.

Videos from David Russell’s website

David Russell plays Barrios’ Vals no. 3

David Russell plays Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios

David Russell plays Danza Paraguaya

David Russell plays Julia Florida

Great places to buy Classical Guitar Strings

Posted on January 18th, 2007 in Classical Guitar Supplies by classgui

Just Strings - is just perfect. I buy my strings from here all the time.

Strings by mail

Strings and beyond

Strings direct

How to Select the Best Classical Guitar Strings for Your Nylon String Guitars

Index to official websites of classical guitar artists

Posted on January 18th, 2007 in Classical Guitar Artists by classgui

This is by no means exhaustive but here’s a start (feel free to add others in the comments section)-

David Russell - complete with music player, videos, interviews, discography, great tips, and more.

Jason Vieaux - includes discography, repertoire, and schedule. Hey Jason, see you in February and March! Or check out his myspace site

Roland Dyens - tour dates, lastest news, recordings and reviews. Coming to Columbus, Ohio in February 2007.

Manuel Barrueco

Carlos Perez - watch his concert schedule. If he’s going to play anywhere remotely close to you - go see him.

Ana Vidovic - Need a new webmaster?

David Leisner - check out the index to his site. Great article, “Six Golden Rules for Conquering Performance Anxiety by David Leisner.” Also, may be one of the few places on the web where you can read about focal dystonia.

Franco Platino

Judicael Perroy - got my first singing lesson from Judicael. Merci, mon ami.

Stanley Yates - great site with lots of good information for players - always the pedagogue.

Best classical guitar sheet music resources (for sale)

Posted on January 18th, 2007 in Purchase sheet music by classgui

classical guitar sheet music.net

GuitarGalleryMusic.com - I’ve ordered a number of classical guitar sheet music items from GuitarGalleryMusic.com and have always beens pleased with their service. I’ve spoken via email several times with the owner, David Gresser, and customer service is a priority with him.

Sheet music plus - I’ve ordered a few classical guitar sheet music items from Sheet Music Plus and never had any issues.

Guitar solo publications - I’ve never ordered from Guitar Solo Publications. This was probably because, at the time, they didn’t offer a means of purchasing via the internet. It appears they have added online ordering. I’ll have to give them a try.

Earfloss.com - I stumbled across Earfloss.com recently and haven’t ordered any classical guitar sheet music items from them as of yet but they do have some items for sale.

Best sites on the net for free classical guitar sheet music

Posted on January 17th, 2007 in Free sheet music by classgui

A quick note before we get started, I haven’t reviewed any of these offerings and, sometimes in life, you get what you pay for. So keep that in mind. Sometimes you’re far better off by just buying a good version of the piece you want to play.

There are a lot of sites out there offering free guitar sheet music. I’ve limited my best of list to sites actually offering music that people generally want to play.

Dirk’s Guitar Page is one of my favorites. Here you’ll find one of the biggest collections of free sheet music for classical guitar on the net. Be forewarned - don’t print it all out at once.

Jan-Olof Eriksson offers a wide range of pieces for classical guitar including those from Bach, Scarlatti, Weiss, Barrios, Malats, Albeniz and many more.

8notes.com has a few pieces for classical guitar including those from Bach, Tarrega, Granados, Satie, Carcassi, Giuliani and others.

delcamp.net claims to have almost 1000 free sheet music files in pdf format located on its forum.

Stanley Yates offers excellent free transcriptions to

Isaac Albeniz’s Preludio-Leyenda;
J. S. BACH’s Prelude from Cello Suite 3 bwv 1009;
Mauro GIULIANI’s Sonata op. 15 (first mnt.);
Enrique GRANADOS’ Orientale (Spanish Dance no. 2);
Stepan RAK’s Elegy (excerpts);
Ernest SHAND’s The Gnomes, op. 77;
Morceau’s Lyrique No. 2, op. 104;
Fernando SOR’s Sonata (op. 15b); and
Francisco TARREGA’s Recuerdos de la Alhambra.

Complete works of Fernando Sor

Baroque guitar music - collection of 49 pieces.