Festival 21
April 10, 2010
New Music from America

The Boston Classical Guitar Society is proud to present the 2010 Festival 21, a festival of 21st century music to show off all that is new in the world of classical guitar. This year’s edition features music of America with composer/performers Gyan Riley, Jose Lezcano and Andrew McKenna Lee; the ChromaDuo; Jose Lezcano Trio; the Boston Community Guitar Orchestra; Members Concert; class on improvisation and more. Made possible with a major grant from Augustine Foundation and funded in part by a grant from the MetLife Creative Connections program of Meet the Composer, Inc. and the New England Foundation for the Arts with additional support from the six New England state arts agencies and the National Endowment for the Arts; with thanks to D'Addario Musical Foundation and La Bella.

Schedule
Gordon Chapel, Old South Church, 645 Boylston Ave., Boston MA

• 10:00am Rehearsal of Boston Community Guitar Orchestra
• 11:00am Andrew McKenna Lee, lecture/demo on "Five Refractions of a Prelude by Bach"
• 1:00pm Improvisation with Gyan Riley
• 2:00pm Members Concert: Scott Borg, Back Bay Trio, Jerald Harscher, others
• 3:00pm New American Music: guitar and winds; the Jose Lezcano Trio
• 4:00pm Concert with the ChromaDuo

First Lutheran Church, 299 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA

• 8:00pm Concert by Gyan Riley and the Boston Community Guitar Orchestra

Tickets
Festival Pass: $65 general admission; $50 seniors; $10 discount for BCGS and Church members; Special Student price $35; Gyan Riley $15-25.Tickets available online or call (818) 640-7047, same price either way. Contact the BCGS if you wish to bring a group; tickets for individual day events $8-$12 at the door.

Gyan Riley will also give a concert on April 9, 2010, 7:30pm at the Recital Hall, Concord Community Music School, 23 Wall St. Concord NH 603-228-1196; and a master class for students of David Patterson free to the public on April 11 from 12-3:00pm at the Longy School, One Follen St, Cambridge MA, co-sponsored by the Longy String Department and a grant from the D'Addario Musical Foundation.

For bios, pictures, programs, audio, video and more, read Festival 21 Blog or see more below.

Individual concert tickets or Festival Pass are available online at www.itsmyseat.com, or send check to BCGS, P.O. Box 470665, Brookline, MA 02447 with your email to receive confirmation. Checks must be received five days prior to festival. Call (603) 588 6121 for more information.

Gyan Riley
Website: www.gyanriley.com/
"Mind blowing chops . . ." - Acoustic Guitar, Jan. 2003
"Hats off, gentlemen. A genius." - Guitarra Magazine

Gyan Riley is a classical guitarist and composer from Northern California. While studying as the first full‐scholarship guitar student at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, he received a recording contract for his debut CD of original works, Food for the Bearded, released in 2002 on New Albion Records. He has since expanded his career as a composer and instrumentalist, receiving commissions from the Carnegie Hall Corporation, the New York Guitar Festival, the Paul Dresher Ensemble and the Elaine Kaufman Cultural Center. Riley has performed in ten European countries and across the U.S., both as a soloist and in ensemble with various artists such as Zakir Hussain, Michael Manring, Dawn Upshaw, the San Francisco Symphony, the Falla Guitar Trio, the World Guitar Ensemble and his father, the composer/pianist/vocalist Terry Riley. Last season he appeared at Carnegie Hall and gave a ten-concert tour of Ireland. Among the highlights of his 2009/10 season, this past fall he appeared at Bard College and Le Poisson Rouge in New York, and this winter he is premiering two new solo works at the New York Guitar Festival and a new quartet for the 15th Other Minds Music Festival in San Francisco. As a teacher, Riley has served on the faculties at Humboldt State University, Cal State University East Bay, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

ChromaDuo
Website: ChromaDuo

A dedicated new voice in the contemporary music world, ChromaDuo is vigorously developing and presenting some of today's most evocative, lyrical, and exhilarating music. With two classical guitars, Tracy Anne Smith and Rob MacDonald unveil refreshing and innovative programs of new works by some of the most exciting composers of our time. ChromaDuo has commissioned works from the incomparable Parisian Roland Dyens, irreverent British powerhouse Stephen Goss, emerging major American talent Christopher William Pierce, and CBC Award-winning Canadian composer Andrew Staniland, and they continue their search for pioneering new voices to expand and enrich the repertoire for two guitars. Alongside these creations, their concert programs feature standout works from the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Jose Lezcano Trio
Website: www.joselezcano.com
My Space
Jose Lezcano, guitar
Paul Schliffer, flute
Matthew Shubin, bassoon

"Un guitarrista magnifico" - Leo Brouwer

Review of "Latin Landscapes"
"Before I proceed with any details, let me just say that this is one of the most beautiful guitar recordings I have ever heard. Everything about it works. The players are superb and joyous...The music choices are first-rate. What's not to love?
-- John Bent, New Millenium Guitar, 5/25/09 read more

Andrew McKenna Lee
Website: www.andrewmckennalee.com

"The inventive and exciting guitarist/composer Andrew McKenna Lee... is an astoundingly virtuosic guitar player... and far more importantly, he is a thoughtful and original composer, one who is continually finding new ways to work the guitar's rougher, more sensual textures into classical frameworks... A singular modern voice for an instrument sorely in need of one."
–Jayson Greene, eMusic.com

Scott Borg
Director, BCGS Community Guitar Orchestra
Website: www.scottborgguitar.com

Praised as having “enormous facility on the guitar, a fluent technique, who plays with total confidence and professional expertise, panache and artful spontaneity,” Australian classical guitarist Scott Borg performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. Read more

Read a Brief History of Festival 21.

See previous year's programs at BCGS History.