Classical Light and Steel-String Heat Brighten Early Winter at Sundin Music Hall
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A Publication of the Minnesota Guitar Society • P.O. Box 14986 • Minneapolis, MN 55414 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2011 VOL. 27 NO. 6 Classical Light and Steel-String Heat Brighten Early Winter at Sundin Music Hall Duo Melis Saturday, Nov. 5th Acoustic Guitarathon Friday, Dec. 2nd see articles on pages 2 and 3 Also in this issue: Local Artists Series concert by Joe Cruz; Guillermo Etienne meets Andrés Segovia; News and Notes. Sundin Music Hall Concert Series e are delighted that our November Concert in Rochester Minnesota artists are guitarists Susana Prieto Guitar Society from Spain and Alexis Muzurakis Fri. Nov. 4th, 7 pm Wfrom Greece, who as Duo Melis have enchanted Hill Theatre audiences around the world for the past 12 years. Rochester Community and Technical College BOARD OFFICERS: Their concerts for us, in Rochester on Friday Nov. 851 30th Ave SE, Rochester 4th and at Sundin Hall on Saturday Nov. 5th, will PRESIDENT Visit <www.rctc.edu> for map, info be their first appearances in Minnesota. They will Joe Haus Free admission. be playing a wonderful program featuring their VICE-PRESIDENT own arrangements. What better way to shake off Joanne Backer the chill of early winter than an evening of great the Megaron in Athens, and the Merkin Concert ARTISTIC DIRECTOR classical guitar? See sidebar for details on their Hall in New York. They have been invited to play concerts and give masterclasses at interna- Joe Hagedorn concert in Rochester, or plan to join us on the 5th in St. Paul. As always, call 612-677-1151 to reserve tional guitar festivals in Europe and America. TREASURER your Sundin Music Hall ticket(s). They have won numerous prizes, both indi- Gigi Voegeli vidually and together. In 1999, as a duo, they Bios won first prize at the International Guitar Duo MANAGING DIRECTOR Spanish guitarist Susana Prieto and Greek Competition of Frechen (Germany). The next Paul Hintz guitarist Alexis Muzurakis made their debut year they won the prestigious Guitar Duo SECRETARY as Duo Melis in 1999 at the International Guitar Competition of Montelimar (France) as well as Festival of Volos (Greece). Since then they have the 21st International Guitar Duo Competition Position Open performed in such prestigious halls as the “Mauro Giuliani” (Italy). In 2001 they captured Philharmonie in Berlin, the Concertgebouw in the Duo/Ensemble prize at the Chamber Music Amsterdam, the Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow, Competition of Leipzig (Germany) and the same year were the winners at the International BOARD MEMBERS: Program Guitar Duo Competition of Paris (France). In Kristian Anderson Manuel De Falla (1876–1946) 2003 they recorded their first CD after win- Christopher Becknell Danza Española No. 2 from “La Vida Breve”* ning the recording prize “Citta di Verona” at Mark Bussey Danza de los Vecinos and Danza de la the International Chamber Music Competition James Flegel Molinera from “El Sombrero de Tres Picos”* “Gaetano Zinetti” (Italy). In 2005 they success- fully auditioned for the Yehudi Menuhin Society Steve Kakos Enrique Granados (1867–1916) Valses Poéticos* program “Live Music Now.” Duo Melis has col- Christopher Olson laborated with international orchestras like the Brent Weaver Nicolai Kapustin (b. 1937) Berliner Symphoniker, the Neubrandenburger Toccatina* Philharmonie, the Bayerische Kammer- TECHNOLOGY GURU Intermission philharmonie, the Radio Orchestra of Bucharest, Jim Campbell Claude-Bénigne Balbastre (1727–99) and the National Orchestra of Thessaloniki La de Caze* conducted by Leo Brouwer. Their wide reper- La D’Héricourt* toire spans from Baroque-era music to the music La Suzanne* of Astor Piazzolla and Alberto Ginastera, and Newsletter Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895–1968) includes concertos for two guitars and orchestra EDITOR Sonatina Canonica Op. 196 by Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco, and Vivaldi Paul Hintz Mosso, grazziozo e leggero as well as a newly composed concerto by Marek Tempo de Siciliane Pasieczny that is dedicated to Duo Melis. Their PRODUCTION Fandango en Rondeau performances in the US include the Guitar i draw the line, inc. Alberto Ginastera (1916–83) Foundation of America’s Annual Convention, Graphic Resources Danzas argentinas* and recitals in cities across the country including I. Danza del viejo boyero Chicago, St. Louis, Houston, and Detroit. They DISTRIBUTION II. Danza de la moza dolosa have appeared twice for both OMNI Concerts Chris Becknell III. Danza del gaucho matrero in San Francisco and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Weekend. They were featured artists at James Falbo *Transcriptions made by Alexis Muzurakis the Bethlehem Guitar Festival in Pennsylvania. Chris Moody and Susana Prieto In Europe they have presented recitals in Ben Woolman Italy, Greece, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Rumania, Holland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Web Site Production Norway, Sweden, and France. Since 2006, both Amy Lytton As D’Addario Classical Artists, Duo Melis members of the duo, Susana Prieto and Alexis performs exclusively on D’Addario strings. Muzurakis, have taught at the Conservatoire National de Strasbourg in France. 2 guitarist Sundin Music Hall Concert Series ast season’s Acoustic Guitarathon was a success twice over. Jon Finley Originally scheduled for last December, that month’s bliz- Composer and guitarist Jon Finley, zard forced the first Sundin Hall concert rescheduling in recently named 3rd place winner in the Lour memory. Fortunately, all those artists were willing and able Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar Competition, to perform a month later and the show was such a huge hit that, was born in 1988. He began playing gui- well, we had to do it again. MGS member Ben Woolman (himself a tar eight years ago, following experience leading light of the steel-string guitar community) has put togeth- studying piano and violin. Jon plays a er another exciting line-up of names familiar and new, with a style called progressive fingerstyle, which generous sampling of the many approaches to instrumental, steel- means his music is less roots-based, like folk or blues, and more string guitar artistry to be heard in our area. A guaranteed way to like modern player-composers such as Michael Hedges and Don fight off the early winter chills, this year’s Acoustic Guitarathon Ross. Jon’s songs include a variety of techniques involving har- promises hot licks and more. Join us on Friday, December 2nd at 8 monics, tapping, and percussion, all of which he uses to enhance pm in Sundin Music Hall! To warm up, let’s hear a few words from the independent melody and bass lines throughout his music. Jon and about the participating players. studied music at both DePaul Conservatory and the University of Mike Cramer Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He has studied under classical guitarist Rene Izquierdo, fingerstyle pioneer Pino Forastiere, and jazz gui- Mike Cramer is a stylistically versatile tarist Larry Coryell. multi-instrumentalist whose performing career began at the age of 10. Acoustic blues Steve Kaul guitar first captured Cramer’s attention at the Steve infuses his country blues-based age of 9. He was fortunate to grow up in the songwriting with Indian, Hawaiian, Celtic, Quad-Cities area between Iowa and Illinois, and Middle Eastern flavors. Learning from home to the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival. some of the best fingerstyle players around Thanks to this festival, Cramer had the opportunity to play with such as Woody Mann, John Renbourne and learn from many visiting artists such as Roy Book Binder, and Phil Heywood, Steve pieced together Steve James, Mary Flower, Pat Donohue, Michael “Hawkeye” his own strange vocabulary. His interest Herman, and T. J. Wheeler. In high school Cramer’s interest in in music from around the world led him jazz was piqued and by his senior year he was gigging weekly in to study with guitar gurus Debashish local jazz groups. This led to further studies in jazz guitar at the Bhattacharya and Keola Beamer and into University of Northern Iowa where he completed his BA in music. collaborations with local Carnatic artist Nirmala Rajasekar. Steve During his years at UNI, he began his private teaching studio now teaches some of these fingerstyle techniques and open tun- and after graduating in 2000 he was offered a position as adjunct ing tips in workshops and continues to collaborate both onstage instructor of guitar at Grinnell College—a position he held for and in the studio with musicians from diverse backgrounds. three years. During this time he became interested in flatpicking Steve’s band, The Brass Kings, is a “metal power trio” consist- guitar and bluegrass music, and purchased his first mandolin. ing of finger-picked resonator guitar, washtub bass and wash- In 2003, Cramer relocated to the Twin Cities. After finding his board. It’s an unlikely combination of elements that somehow way into the local jazz scene he soon discovered the wonderful seems to work! They are currently in the studio working on their acoustic music community in the metro area, specifically the fourth release. To date Steve has released six CDs of original flatpicking community. Cramer has performed with a variety of music—one with The New Grass Heads, three with The Brass acoustic and bluegrass ensembles on guitar and mandolin. He has Kings, and two solo CDs. He has worked as a supporting act for competed in the National Flatpicking Contest, held in Winfield, David Lindley, Beausoleil, Jimmy LaFave, Tom Russell, Trampled Kansas, and the Minnesota State Fair Flatpicking Contest, where By Turtles, Hackensaw Boys, Pert Near Sandstone, Blueground he placed third this past September. In the last year Cramer has Undergrass, Greensky Bluegrass, The Crooked Jades, Rani Arbo shared the stage with National Flatpicking Champions Steve & Daisy Mayhem, Boiled In Lead, Bad Brains, The Wayword Sons, Kaufman and Tyler Grant. Hillstomp and many more. Cramer is also in demand instructor. He co-founded the private Steve has performed at the Newport Guitar Festival (in Rhode music school All 12 Notes, where he gives private lessons on gui- Island and Florida), Healdsburg Guitar Festival (in California) tar, mandolin, and electric.