NU series celebrates classical guitar
By DOROTHY ANDRIES Contributor January 31, 2012 8:20PM
Two-time Grammy nominee Anoushka Shankar and guests will perform March 28.| Photo by Harper Smith/Deutsche Grammophon
Segovia Classical Guitar Series
Northwestern University Henry Leigh Bienen School of Music and the Chicago Classical Guitar Society, Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, or Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston
Feb. 4-April 14. All concerts take place at 7:30 p.m.
Feb. 4: Irina Kulikova plays works by Bach, Mertz and Barrios in Lutkin Hall. $20/$10 for students; March 3: Johannes Moller’s Lutkin Hall program includes music by Albeniz, Barrios and Gougeon. $20/$10 for students. March 4: Johannes Moller will present a master class at 1 p.m. with Bienen School student guitarists in the rehearsal room of Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. Admission is free. March 28: Two-time Grammy nominee Anoushka Shankar and guests will perform a program in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall titled “Traveler.” $26/$10 for students. March 31: Guitarist Sharon Isbin will share the stage with Brazilian percussionist Thiago de Mello at Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. $26/$10 for students. April 14: Eduardo Fernandez’s program in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall will conclude the 2012 Segovia series. $24/$10 for students.
Subscription prices for the five-concert series are $100; $45 for students.
Call (847) 467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.org
Article Extras
Updated: February 3, 2012 9:48AM
An international array of guitar players will star in Northwestern University’s 2012 Segovia Classical Guitar Series, the 19th annual set of programs running periodically through winter and spring on the university’s Evanston campus.
Guitarists include including Irina Kulikova from Russia, Johannes Moller from Sweden, British/Indian sitarist Anoushka Shankar, multi-Grammy Award-winning American Sharon Isbin and Eduardo Fernandez of Uruguay.
“This year Sharon Isbin is collaborating with a Brazilian percussionist,” said Richard Van Kleeck, director of concert activities for the Bienen School of Music. “Anoushka is the daughter of Ravi Shankar and her new recording ‘Traveler’ is exploring links between flamenco guitar and the music of India.
“It’s the most interesting and international that Northwestern has ever offered,” he said, adding that all the artists on the series have won major competitions.
The series, presented by Northwestern’s Bienen School of Music and the Chicago Classical Guitar Society, will use NU’s 400-seat Lutkin Hall at at 700 University Place and the nearly 1,000-seat Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, 50 Arts Circle Drive, both in Evanston. All programs begin at 7:30 p.m.
Guitar stars
— Russia’s Kulikova launches the series Saturday, Feb. 4. She has won major guitar competitions in Europe and has two highly praised albums on Naxos. Her program in Lutkin includes music by Bach, Mertz and Barrios. “She is one of our up and coming guitar artists,” Van Kleeck declared.
— Sweden’s Moller will play Saturday, March 3, in Lutkin, and his music includes some of his own work, as well as pieces by Albeniz, Barrios and Gougeon. He is the winner of the 2010 Guitar Foundation of America’s International Concert Arts Competition. He also will present a masterclass for NU’s student guitarists at 1 p.m. Sunday March 4 in Pick-Staiger’s rehearsal room. Admission is free.
— Shankar and her guests will play Wednesday, March 28, in Pick-Staiger. She is a two-time Grammy nominee, and for her “Travelers” recording on Deutsche Grammophone, she wrote works combining traditional sitar, table and bansuri flute with flamenco guitar, voice and percussion.
— Isbin will perform Saturday, March 31, in Pick-Staiger Concert Hall. One of the best known American guitarists, she will collaborate with Thiago de Mello from Brazil in excerpts from her album “Journey to the Amazon.” She has appeared with more than 160 orchestras in Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Kennedy Center in D.C., as well as at Pick-Staiger with the Chicago Philharmonic, then known as Symphony II. Among her honors are two Grammy awards and she has commissioned work from John Corigliano, Christopher Rouse, Joan Tower and others.
— Uruguay’s Fernandez will play Saturday, April 14, in Pick-Staiger. The award-winning musician has made 18 albums for Decca, including some of the first recordings of classical guitar masterworks. He is also an educator, composer, author and researcher.
“South American music is incredibly rich,” said Van Kleeck, in reference to the series’ final performance, “and it is under-appreciated. It’s so easy to fall into the Western European trap, as if there was nothing else out there. I think Fernandez and the other performers in this series will change some of that.”
Van Kleeck has been director of concert activities at Northwestern for a little more than 10 years. In choosing the artists he collaborated with Anne Waller, senior lecturer in guitar at NU and a member of the Waller and Maxwell Guitar Duo.
“The Bienen School of Music is so hyperactive that it is not easy finding open dates here and connecting with artists who are touring,” Van Kleeck admitted, “but our Segovia series has been very well received over the years, and I know it will be this year too.”
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