An all-day guitar extravaganza featuring concerts and workshops by the outstanding faculty and students from the Hartt School Guitar Department

9:30am   Registration

10-11:00am   Technique Workshop with Jaclyn Passoni: Hands on workshop covering important topics that will enhance your playing and practice routine. Bring your guitar! Appropriate for all levels and styles.

11:00am-12:00n   Spanish and Latin Rhythms with Daniel Salazar: This workshop will introduce you to fascinating strumming techniques used in Spanish and Latin guitar styles. Open to players of all styles, knowledge of basic chords recommended.

12:00n-1:00pm   Lunch

1:00-2:00pm    Repertoire for guitarists with limited practice time with Richard Provost and Christopher Ladd: Bring your guitar. Chris and Dick will discuss various musical pieces that amateurs can successfully play. In addition, they will discuss how to expand your technical and musical knowledge to be able to work on more demanding repertoire.


2:00-4:00pm   Master Class for players of all levels: Don’t miss this unique opportunity to receive one-on-one personal coaching from two outstanding performer/teachers. Professors Provost and Ladd will listen to you play and provide feedback and advise on technique, musicality, interpretation and various other topics. Sign up on arrival, limited space available on a first come first serve basis.

4:00-5:00pm   Open Ensemble Reading Session and Open Stage for all levels: Fun-filled playing session appropriate for all styles and levels, from beginner to advanced. Bring your guitar and join in! Immediately followed by open performance time; Share your love for the guitar! Perform your newest/favorite/best piece in front of a sympathetic and friendly audience. Open to players of all levels and styles.

5:15pm   Concert: Richard Provost, Christopher Ladd and students from the Hartt Guitar Department present a fascinating program of solo and ensemble music by Britten, Piazzolla, York, Villalobos and other great composers.

A spectacular Day of Spanish, Latin American and International Music
Saturday, September 10, 2011 (rain date Sept. 11)
Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, Hartford

Performers :
Joe Diaz, Cuatro virtuoso playing music of Puerto Rico
String Theorie-Eclectic Acoustic trio
Daniel Salazar Ensemble, with the Hartford Festival Orchestra

www.alturasduo.com

Hailed as playing with "...marvelous virtuosity..."The Washington Post

The Alturas Duo has been recognized as one of the most engaging ensembles performing in the chamber music world today. The only group of its kind, the Duo was formed with the idea of playing South American and classical music by bringing together the unusual combination of the viola, charango and guitar, and in doing so, creating passionate music that moves at ease between the Baroque, South American folk rhythms and new pieces written especially for the Duo.

The Duo has performed in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Bolivia, throughout the US and Puerto Rico including recitals at: Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, the Smithsonian Institute, the Music Mountain Chamber Music Series, La Guitarra California, and the 34th International Viola Congress. Always in search of new music and collaborations, the Duo has worked with artists as diverse as: charango virtuoso Ernesto Cavour, guitarist and composer Horacio Salinas; flutists James Strauss, Jessica Warren-Acosta and Sergio Pallottelli and quena virtuoso Marcelo Pena-Lobo; pianist Polly Ferman and Argentine bandoneon legend, Daniel Binelli; the Choral Arts Society of Washington D.C., Coral Cantigas, the Voce Choir of Hartford; the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and the Symphony of Southeast Texas. The Duo has held residencies at the Festival Eleazar de Carvalho in Fortaleza, Brazil and at the Hartt School of Music; and has been a featured performer on NPR. The Duo has worked closely with many composers and has premiered dozens of commissions, arrangements and transcriptions including recent works by; Javier Farias, Raimundo Penaforte, Alexander Silas Walker, Yovianna Garcia, Sergio Igor Chnee, Nolan Stolz and Ben Starr. The Duo took First Prize at the 2006 New England International Chamber Music Competition, and won the 2009 CMA / ASCAP (Chamber Music America / American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) Award for Adventurous Programming. Finally, the Duo was named a "Goodwill Ambassador" for the Chilean-American Foundation and is looking forward to working with them to help raise money for the victims of the recent earthquake in the south of Chile.

The 2011-12 concert season will see the Duo maintaining a busy schedule of concerts, master classes and lectures in the United States, Bolivia and Brazil. There will be performances and premieres with Coral Cantigas of Washington, DC, The Bella Voce Woman's Choir of Vermont, the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and performances for the Baltimore and Dallas Classical Guitar Societies and Swarthmore College among others.

The name Alturas (Spanish for heights) is derived from the poem "Alturas de Macchu Picchu" by Chilean poet, Pablo Neruda (1904-1973).

Carlos Boltes was born in Santiago, Chile where he began his musical studies by learning the charango from his brother Giovanni Vaccani, later mastering that instrument while touring extensively throughout South America as a member of the Chilean group Barrocco Andino. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the Universidad Católica de Chile and a Master's Degree from Carnegie Mellon University both in viola performance. His main teachers have been: Enrique López, Atar Arad, Larry Dutton and Steve Larson. He has been principal violist of the Orquesta de Cámara del Teatro Municipal de Santiago and the Connecticut Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and has recorded for Naxos, Brioso and CBS Records. Mr. Boltes has been a recipient of the Boston Fund Individual Artist Fellowship and an Andes Foundation Performance Grant and he is also Connecticut 2010 "Latino de Oro" award recipient, currently on the faculty of the Eleazar de Carvalho Music Festival in Fortaleza, Brazil and the Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford, in West Hartford, Connecticut.

Scott Hill, a native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada, earned an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in music from Lakehead University with Sean Mundy and a Masters degree in guitar performance and a Graduate Professional Diploma in chamber performance from the Hartt School of Music where he studied with Richard Provost. Mr. Hill has performed and lectured throughout Canada, the United States and South America as both a soloist and chamber musician and most recently premiered Thomas Schuttenhelm's "Balada" for soprano and guitar and "Pequena cancion" by Javier Farias. Mr. Hill is a Canada Council for the Arts grant recipient and has performed in master classes for some of today's finest musicians including Oscar Ghiglia, John Williams and the Miami String Quartet. Currently, Mr. Hill is on the faculty at the Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford, West Hartford, Connecticut and the Eleazar de Carvalho Festival in Fortaleza, Brazil.

www.yoviannagarcia.com

Known by her musically expressive and charismatic performances, Puerto Rican guitarist, composer, and teacher Yovianna García Alvarado is a unique, young promise in the classical guitar scene.

After participating in her grandmother’s choir as a child and attending the numerous performances her aunt and mother presented as music teachers, Yovianna began violin studies at the age of eight, at the Escuela Libre de Música Juan Morel Campos, until she discovered the guitar at age eleven through her mother. After hearing a recording of Segovia, she fell in love with the classical guitar. She enrolled in the Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos at age fourteen to study classical guitar with Santos Torres Toro and Héctor Hernández Maldonado. Later, she earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in classical guitar performance at the Music Conservatory of Puerto Rico under the tutelage of Leonardo Egúrbida. Then, she went on to earn a Master of Music degree in classical guitar performance at the Hartt School of Music (University of Hartford) under the guidance of Richard Provost. She has also taken courses and master classes with renowned artists such as Nicholas Goluses, Roland Dyens, Manuel Barrueco, Eduardo Fernández, Benjamin Verdery, Berta Rojas, Oscar Ghiglia, Angel Romero, William Kanengeiser, Nigel North, Jason Vieaux, David Starobin, and Jeremy Jouve.

Yovianna has performed for the Miami International Guitar Festival, Connecticut Guitar Society; New Music Hartford contemporary music series; Primer Festival de Guitarra Clásica in Ponce, Puerto Rico; was a soloist with the Sgt. Katherine E. Brunelle Memorial Orchestra in New Hampshire; has toured in United States, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic; and has recorded her first solo CD ‘Portrait’. She regularly performs in her native Puerto Rico and in the New England area and exercises her diverse musical skills on a weekly basis as a music minister at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Hartford, Connecticut, where she resides.

Yovianna’s awards include second place at the National Classical Guitar Competition in Puerto Rico, the Guitar Department Award from the Conservatory of Puerto Rico, the Instrumental Performance Excellence Award from the Instituto de Música Juan Morel Campos, and the Thomas Armstrong Toro Fine Arts Excellence Award.

Inspired by her family’s teaching tradition, and trained by guitar pedagogy pioneer Richard Provost, and using the Suzuki method; Yovianna currently teaches at The Hartt School Community Division of the University of Hartford; the Music and Arts Center in West Hartford, Connecticut; and at her own private guitar studio. She also teaches master classes and technique workshops for festivals, educative institutions, and guitar societies, including most recently the Connecticut Guitar Society, the Wheeler School, the Moultonborough Academy, and the Puerto Rico Music Conservatory.

Yovianna’s composing and event-organizing skills have also brought her many successes. In addition to premiering and touring her piece “Nítido” in Puerto Rico with the Alturas Duo, her other compositions have been featured in festivals including the Primer Festival de Guitarra Clásica in Ponce, Puerto Rico which Yovianna herself organized with a team from the Fundación Chiry Vassallo. She is also the Artistic Director of a concert series at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Hartford, Connecticut.

http://www.guitarfoundation.org/drupal/tour/bio

Note: Master class with Johannes Möller: Hartt School, Rm. 410, Saturday Feb. 4 from 1-3pm. Free Admission. (map).

The Swedish guitarist and composer Johannes Möller has captivated audiences throughout the world with charismatic and soulful performances. After playing his first public concerts at the age of 13, his performances now total over 500 and span Europe, Asia, South and North America. In 2010 he was awarded first prize in the GFA Concert Artist Competition, considered by many to be the most prestigious guitar competition in the world, resulting in a 50-concert tour and a recording with the Naxos label.

As a performer, Johannes’s artistry has reached well beyond the usual guitar circles. This was confirmed in 2008 when he won the Dutch Vriendenkrans Concours where he was competing against performers in all instrumental categories. As a part of this award his name has been engraved on a metal plate that can be seen in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Critics have also noted his special qualities, writing of his playing "Guitarist Johannes Möller achieved miracles with his lucid, spacious playing" (London Evening Standard).

At the age of 12 as a self-taught composer Johannes experienced an outburst of creativity that resulted in a large quantity of pieces that were performed and recorded with great critical acclaim. A selection of these works was recorded on a CD with some of the top instrumentalists in Sweden when he was 14 years old. In his later teenage years, Johannes continued composing, experimenting with various compositional styles and techniques. Doberman-Yppan has published a number of his works and his pieces are now being performed by such groups as the Eden-Stell Duo.

Johannes has earned a Bachelor’s of Music with Honors from the Royal College of Music in London where he studied guitar with Gary Ryan and Carlos Bonell and composition with William Mival. He has received a master’s degree from the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague where he studied with Zoran Dukic. He also received a scholarship from the Royal Conservatoire that allowed him to study privately with Pavel Steidl in the Czech Republic as well as composition lessons with Dusan Bogdanovic in the USA. He completed a second Masters degree at the Conservatoire in Amsterdam where he studied guitar with Lex Eisenhardt and composition with Richard Ayers.

Johannes plays Gregory Byers guitars fitted with D’Addario strings.

Now in its eighth year, Romance de la Guitarra has become a Valentine’s tradition for hundreds of music lovers. Order your tickets now, a sellout is expected!

Experience the exhilarating rhythms and beautiful melodies of Spain and Latin America at Romance de la Guitarra, a magical Valentine’s Concert. Internationally acclaimed guitarist Daniel Salazar will be joined by his ensemble of international musicians and dancers including international champion Michèlle Evans in a spectacular program of music and dance. Daniel Salazar will also be joined by special guests: vocalist Jose Paulo, violinist Carin Wiesner and guitarist Lorena Garay.

This special event will include romantic and inspiring guitar selections, and will feature original music from Daniel Salazar’s highly popular repertoire combining elements of Flamenco, Latin and world rhythms, all with a classic Spanish guitar influence. Highlights of the program include dazzling Latin and Tango segments with renowned international dancers.

The concert will also include beautifully crafted arrangements featuring the dramatic singing of Brazilian vocalist Jose Paulo. Additionally, Daniel will be performing an exhilarating selection including Tango and Milonga from Argentina as wellas Latin American selections from Venezuela, Colombia and Puerto Rico featuring authentic instruments such as the Puerto Rican cuatro, the charango and zampoña from Chile, plus an array of Latin percussion.

This popular event will also feature The Daniel Salazar Ensemble, an outstanding group of internationally renowned musicians: bassist extraordinaire Genevieve Rose, flamenco-fusion guitarist Daniel Salazar III, flautist Gonzalo Cortes from Chile, Esteban Arrufat from Puerto Rico playing Latin Percussion, Roberto Clavijo from Chile playing charango (Latin American string instrument), zampoña (pan flute) and percussion, and Andre Balazs and Abraham Sanchez on keyboards.

Daniel Salazar’s style fuses the traditional Spanish guitar with contemporary and world music sounds as well as classical elegance. Known to Connecticut audiences for his highly popular Guitar Under the Stars concerts, this renowned musician has appeared in many prestigious international venues throughout the U.S., Latin America and Europe. Daniel has held the distinguished title of United States Artistic Ambassador, and currently serves as Artistic Director of the Connecticut Guitar Society. For additional information, log on to www.danielsalazar.com.

Artist Information:

Michèle Evans has won every major competition of Theatrical Ballroom in the United States and abroad with her long-time partner David Rosinski, including: the 1985 and 1986 United States Championship, 1986 World Invitational in Blackpool, England, the Silver Medal at the 1995 United States Championship and second place in the 1995 World Invitational.

She has made several television appearances; among them, CPTV’s Championship Ballroom Dancing, Star Search, a special presentation at Walt Disney World for Telemundo and at Madison Square Garden for ESPN.

She was featured with her partner, David Rosinski in the New York Times in 1989 and again, in the spring of 2001 when her work with Hartford Youth Dance Initiative was part of an article on Ballroom Dancing for youth.

Michèle has been teaching in Connecticut since 1981. She was a faculty member of the Hartford Ballet School, and she also taught at the Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven, Fred Astaire Studio, and the U.S. Dance Club. She taught young children as well as senior citizens at Community Centers in Rocky Hill, Bloomfield, Windsor, South Windsor and West Hartford. From the Masonic Hall in West Hartford, she taught for many years and developed a unique method for teaching ballroom dancing which attracted an ever increasing student body. Michèle finally moved into her own space in Hartford in June 2009.