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Award-winning guitarists to perform classical music at Bienen

October 7, 2016 | By Kayla Stoner
  • Five-part series runs November 2016 to May 2017
  • Guitar Foundation of America prizewinner Thibaut Garcia among performers
  • Concerts feature pieces by Debussy, Bach, Weiss and more

EVANSTON - World-renowned guitarists will bring fresh perspective to timeless classics with the Segovia Classical Guitar Series, presented by Northwestern University’s Henry and Leigh Bienen School of Music and the Chicago Classical Guitar Society.

The upcoming series will feature concerts by Marcin Dylla; SoloDuo’s Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli; Thibaut Garcia; Raphaella Smits and Hopkinson Smith.

See the full schedule below.

All events start at 7:30 p.m. in the Mary B. Galvin Recital Hall, located in the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center for the Musical Arts, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston.

Tickets are $30 for the general public and $10 for students with a valid ID. Subscribers to the series save up to 30 percent off the price of single tickets and enjoy exclusive benefits.

For more information, call the Bienen School of Music Concert Management Office at 847-491-5441 or visit the Bienen concerts website. To order tickets, call the Bienen School Ticket Office at 847-467-4000 or visit the Bienen concerts website.

  • Saturday, Nov. 5 – Polish guitarist Marcin Dylla performs Mauro Giuliani’s Sonata in C Major, Op. 15; Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Five Preludes; Roberto Sierra’s Sonata para Guitarra; Manuel Maria Ponce’s Theme, Variations and Fugue on “Folia de España” and Benjamin Britten’s Nocturnal, Op. 70. Dylla has won 19 first prizes at prestigious international music competitions, including the gold medal at the 2007 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition in Los Angeles. His Naxos CD recording and live recital video for Mel Bay publications reached the Naxos “Top 10 Best-Selling Albums” in September 2008.

  • Saturday, Feb. 18 – SoloDuo guitarists Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli perform Mauro Giuliani's transcription of the Sinfonia from Vincenzo Bellini’s "Il pirate;" Claude Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque; J.S. Bach’s French Suite No. 5 (BWV 816); and Astor Piazzolla’s Tango Suite. Mela and Micheli have performed throughout Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada and Latin America. In addition to classical, romantic and modern repertoire, Matteo and Lorenzo have extensively explored Italian music from the 17th and 18th centuries on original instruments. The duo has a prolific recording career, ranging from the music of Astor Piazzolla and Isaac Albéniz to Bach and Scarlatti.

  • Saturday, March 11 – At just 21 years old, French guitarist Thibaut Garcia has already won first prizes at numerous international competitions, including Germany’s Ana Amalia, Romania’s Terra Siculorum and Spain’s José Tomás, Valle de Egüés and IV Sevilla International Guitar Competitions. This fall he begins a 50-concert tour of the United States and Canada. He also will be releasing recordings on the Naxos and GHA labels and for a Mel Bay publication. 

  • Friday, April 7 – Belgian guitarist Raphaella Smits performs Manuel Maria Ponce’s Suite in A Minor, an homage to S.L. Weiss; Silvius Leopold Weiss’s Tombeau in memory of M. Comte De Logy; Mauro Giuliani’s “Rossiniana” No. 1, Op. 119; Federico Mompou’s Suite Compostelana; Ariel Ramirez’s “Alfonsina y el mar” and Augustin Barrios Mangore’s “Leyenda Guarani.” In 1986, Smits was the first woman to win first prize at Spain’s Certamen Internacional de Guitarra Francisco Tárrega. In addition to performing concerts on nearly every continent, Smits has made 17 critically acclaimed recordings for Accent Records. She is currently the chair of Belgium’s Lemmens Institute and regularly gives master classes throughout Europe, North America, South America and Japan.

  • Friday, May 19 – Lutenist Hopkinson Smith, concluding the series, performs Elizabethan lute music from England’s Golden Age and Anthony Holborne’s “Mad Dog,” as well as lute music by English composer John Dowland. Smith also gives a lecture on interpretation and technique. Since the 1980s, Smith has focused on solo music for early plucked instruments, including the vihuela, Renaissance lute, Renaissance guitar, Baroque guitar and the Baroque lute. Smith gives concerts and master classes throughout Europe and North and South America and currently teaches at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland.

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