Scott Borg at The Roger Smith Hotel by rogersmitharts

Scott Borg performs “The Prince’s Toys” written in 1980 by Russian composer Nikita Koshkin (b. 1956). The piece illustrates in music the story of a prince who abuses his toys, which includes a mechanical monkey, a doll with blinking eyes and a group of soldiers. They eventually rebel and in turn they mistreat the prince, until he tries to escape in his toy coach. They pursue him, eventually catching him and turn him into a toy too, or do they…? Read full review by Andy Daly here.

On Scott Borg:
Praised by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin as a guitarist with “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. He has been a featured artist at major concert halls such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and New York’s Apollo Theatre with rock legend Carlos Alomar. As a winner of Artists International, he made his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall where New York Concert Review described his performance as “well balanced, gracefully presented, and expertly played”. Previous engagements have included performances and masterclasses at the Merida International Guitar Festival in Yucatan, Mexico, ICPNA International Guitar Festival in Lima Peru, Shell Darwin International Festival Australia, the 92nd Street Y, New York City Classical Guitar Society and Sydney Classical Guitar Society.

On The Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series:
The Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series, as the name implies, takes place on the second Sunday of every month in the spectacular and intimate Penthouse on the sixteenth floor of the hotel. Co-curated by composer and musician Frank Wallace and musician and president of the New York City Classical Guitar Society John Olson, the SSCCS series presents musicians performing in styles ranging from the Segovia Tradition to the rock inspired, from flamenco to modern art song.

The Roger Smith is a hub for social media in #NYC. People. Art. Food. Wine. For 10% off our best available rooms rate: bit.ly/RSrooms

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Praised as a guitarist with “enormous facility on the guitar, a fluent technique, who plays with total confidence and professional expertise, panache and artful spontaneity”, by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, Australian classical guitarist Scott Borg performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, he has been a featured artist at major concert halls such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and New York’s Apollo Theatre with rock legend Carlos Alomar. As a winner of Artists International, he made his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall where New York Concert Review described his performance as “well balanced, gracefully presented, and expertly played”. Previous engagements have included performances and masterclasses at the Merida International Guitar Festival in Yucatan, Mexico, ICPNA International Guitar Festival in Lima Peru, Shell Darwin International Festival Australia, the 92nd Street Y, New York City Classical Guitar Society and Sydney Classical Guitar Society. www.scottborgguitar.com

The Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concerts Series As the name implies, this series takes place on the second Sunday of every month in the spectacular and intimate Penthouse on the sixteenth floor of the hotel. Co-curated by composer and musician Frank Wallace and musician and president of the New York City Classical Guitar Society John Olson, the SSCCS series presents musicians performing in styles ranging from the Segovia Tradition to the rock inspired, from flamenco to modern art song.

The Roger Smith is a hub for social media in #NYC. People. Art. Food. Wine. For 10% off our best available rooms rate: bit.ly/RSrooms

twitter: twitter.com/rshotel
fb: facebook.com/rogersmithhotel
blog: bit.ly/RSlife
web: rogersmith.com/

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Roger Smith Arts and The New York Classical Guitar Society

Present John Lehmann-Haupt

June 12th, 2011 4pm

John Lehmann-Haupt, a New York based guitarist, has been playing since he was five years old. Known equally for his arrangements of popular and traditional songs, as for his classical interpretations, he has performed throughout the Northeast and in the homes of such prominent New Yorkers as Tom Brokaw, Madeleine Albright, and Donald Trump. His twelve year engagement at Windows on the World (atop the World Trade Center) was cited for musical excellence by The New York Times.

Information:
Where: The Solarium at The Roger Smith Hotel
501 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, 47th and Lexington (Map)
How: Subway: E, 6, V to 53rd and Lexington or 4, 5, 6, 7 to Grand Central
Price: $15 includes Wine and Cheese (pay at door, cash only)
Reservations: 212.339.2092 or rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

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October 10th 2010, 4pm

Tickets: $15, includes wine and cheese

Reservations: 212.339.2092 or rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Irene Gómez graduated with the gold medal in guitar and chamber music at the Conservatory Claude Debussy in Saint Germain en Laye, France, with maestro Javier Quevedo. She was the first guitarist to graduate from the National University in Bogotá with maestro Ramiro Isaza. Gómez has released four albums with contrasting repertoires that have been highly acclaimed. Irene has toured extensively in France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, The United States, and Colombia. She has both taught and coordinated the Guitar Program at the National University in Bogotá, and in the fall of 2010 will be relocating to New York to study at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin.

Concerts take place in The Solarium at The Roger Smith Hotel
501 Lexington Ave, at 47th Street, New York NY 10017 (map)
Cross Street: 47th Street and Lexington Avenue
Subway: E, 6, V to 53rd and Lexington or 4, 5, 6, 7 to Grand Central
Tickets: $15 includes cheese and wine (cash only, paid at door)
Reservations: Please contact Danika Druttman on 212.339.2092 or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

Click HERE for information about the series

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501 Lexington Ave, at 47th Street, New York NY 10017 (map)

Cross Street: 47th Street and Lexington Avenue
Subway: E, 6, V to 53rd and Lexington or 4, 5, 6, 7 to Grand Central
Tickets: $15 includes cheese and wine (cash only, paid at door)
Reservations: Please contact Danika Druttman on 212.339.2092 or email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

Schedule:

September 12^th 2010, 4pm: Simon Powis

A passionate and expressive style coupled with a formidable technique has garnered attention for Simon Powis as a talented soloist, chamber musician and innovator. Growing up in Sydney, Australia, Powis began his studies at the age of five on the cornet. Inspired by his brother’s musical pursuits he took up the guitar at age eleven and began an enduring obsession that would result in performances throughout Europe, Australia and the Americas.

October 10th 2010, 4pm: Irene Gómez

Born in Bogotá, Colombia, Irene Gómez graduated with the gold medal in guitar and chamber music at the Conservatory Claude Debussy in Saint Germain en Laye, France, with maestro Javier Quevedo. She was the first guitarist to graduate from the National University in Bogotá with maestro Ramiro Isaza. Gómez has released four albums with contrasting repertoires that have been highly acclaimed. Irene has toured extensively in France, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, The United States, and Colombia. She has both taught and coordinated the Guitar Program at the National University in Bogotá, and in the fall of 2010 will be relocating to New York to study at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin.

November 14th 2010, 4pm: Michael Nicolella

With a repertoire spanning from J.S. Bach to Jimi Hendrix, Michael Nicolella is recognized as one of America’s most innovative classical guitar virtuosos. He has received wide critical acclaim for his performances, recordings and compositions. As a concert artist, Michael has performed throughout North America and Europe as solo recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestra. Nicolella’s most recent album, Shard, was described in Frets magazine as “an exciting textbook on how to honor classical tradition and kick it in the ass at the same time”.

January 9th 2011, 4pm: The Back Bay Guitar Trio

“The Back Bay Guitar Trio can conjure a sweet choir of angels or rip into the strings with the percussive fervor of a jazz drummer.” The Boston Globe

The Trio formed in 2002 and has performed throughout New England from Dartmouth College and Longy School of Music to Berklee College and The House of Blues.  . The BBGT have also been featured artists at the world renowned Boston Hatch Shell, the Boston Classical Guitar Society concert series, and have opened for guitarist Al Dimeola at the Lebanon (NH) Opera House.

February 13th 2011, 4pm: Tracy Anne Smith

Called “a great musician…full of feeling and colors,” by composer Jacques Hétu, Tracy Anne Smith is garnering increasing praise for her expressive performances, rich tonal palette and musical control. Cuban guitarist/composer Leo Brouwer praised her “polyphonic hands” and “tremendous sound” while American virtuoso Benjamin Verdery commended her “ability to express the emotion of a work to its core.” Even 80’s icon Sinbad offered, “I don’t know what she’s doing — but I know it’s deep.”

March 13th 2011, 4pm: Isaac Bustos

Classical Guitarist Isaac Bustos enjoys an extensive performing career that has taken him to Canada, Central America, Europe and all over The United States.  Bustos has gained critical acclaim and is recognized as one of the top guitarists of his generation.  He has made radio and television appearances and has been invited to perform in some of the most prestigious festivals: Guitar Foundation of America Annual Convention, Portland Guitar Festival, Southwest Guitar Festival, Brownsville Guitar Festival and the Classical Minds Festival.  Bustos has appeared as a soloist with the Orchestra of New Spain, The Baytown Symphony Orchestra, The Nicaraguan National Symphony Orchestra and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Maestro JoAnn Falletta.

April 10th 2011, 4pm: Nicolas Ciraldo

Praised as “an exceptionally musical and accomplished guitarist,” Nicholas Ciraldo is a leader among his generation of American classical guitarists. He has won awards and reached high levels at several prestigious solo competitions, including the Tredrez-Locquemau International Guitar Competition (France), twice at the MTNA Guitar Competition (USA), the Gaetano Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition (Italy), the GFA Solo Guitar Competition (USA), and the Portland International Guitar Competition (USA). Ciraldo has enjoyed numerous solo, chamber, and concerto performances throughout the United States, South America, and Europe, from Boston’s Jordan Hall to Berlin’s Berliner Dom to Brazil’s Teatro José Maria Santos.

May 8th 2011, 4pm: Lynn McGrath

While studying Spanish as a foreign exchange student in Mexico, Lynn McGrath bought a guitar on a whim and asked a visiting professor (Alfredo Sanchez) for lessons, never imagining that years later she would be invited back as a professional musician. Since then, Lynn received her Master and Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from USC and has studied with some of today’s most prominent guitarists including William Kanengiser and Pepe Romero.  She has performed in many international festivals including the XIX Festival Internacional de Guitarra (Lima, Peru), the Guitar on the Mediterranean Festival (Italy), the Nikšić Festival (Montenegro), the III Muestra de Guitarra Ajijic (Mexico) and the 2009 GFA Convention. In her unique rendition of Platero y yo by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, she has astounded audiences and received critical acclaim by performing the role of guitarist and narrator simultaneously. She serves as the Tour Director for the GFA and presently lives and teaches in Albuquerque, NM.

June 12th 2011, 4pm: John Lehmann-Haupt

John Lehmann-Haupt, a New York based guitarist, has been playing since he was five years old. Known equally for his arrangements of popular and traditional songs, as for his classical interpretations, he has performed throughout the Northeast and in the homes of such prominent New Yorkers as Tom Brokaw, Madeleine Albright, and Donald Trump. His twelve year engagement at Windows on the World (atop the World Trade Center) was cited for musical excellence by The New York Times.

July 10th 2011, 4pm: Scott Borg

Praised as a guitarist with “enormous facility on the guitar, a fluent technique, who plays with total confidence and professional expertise, panache and artful spontaneity”, by Grammy Award-winning guitarist Sharon Isbin, Australian classical guitarist Scott Borg performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, he has been a featured artist at major concert halls such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and New York’s Apollo Theatre with rock legend Carlos Alomar. As a winner of Artists International, he made his Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall where New York Concert Review described his performance as “well balanced, gracefully presented, and expertly played”. Previous engagements have included performances and masterclasses at the Merida International Guitar Festival in Yucatan, Mexico, ICPNA International Guitar Festival in Lima Peru, Shell Darwin International Festival Australia, the 92nd Street Y, New York City Classical Guitar Society and Sydney Classical Guitar Society.

for more information: 

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In the field of guitar performance Dieter is deeply committed to the diffusion of new music, specially of Latin America, having recently performed works by Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez and Mario Davidovsky.

co-presented by the NYCCGS and Roger Smith Arts

The Solarium, 16th floor at The Roger Smith Hotel
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese
pay at the door, cash only

For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com
or call 212.339.2092

LISTINGS INFORMATION:
Dieter Hennings plays The Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert
Roger Smith Arts & The New York City Classical Guitar Society
The Solarium at The Roger Smith Hotel
501 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10017, 47th and Lexington
Subway: E, 6, V to 53rd and Lexington or 4, 5, 6, 7 to Grand Central
June 13th, 2010 at 4pm
$15 includes wine and cheese
212-339-2092
http://secondsundays.tumblr.com

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Recognized as one of the leading guitarists and guitar composers of the 21st century, Brad Richter has reinvigorated the guitar repertoire with a freshness and unaffectedness that transcends preconceived genres.

Brad began to compose music and teach himself to play guitar age 12. By 18, having had no formal musical training, he was awarded the Presidential Scholarship to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago where he began performing, composing, and eventually teaching professionally. After completing his undergraduate degrees in performance and composition, Brad accepted a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with guitarist Carlos Bonell. He became the first guitarist in the college’s history to win the coveted Thomas Morherr Prize, and went on to win the Royal College of Music guitar competition before completing his Master’s degree and returning to the US to continue his concert career.

Throughout North America and Europe, Brad has performed as a soloist, with renowned chamber ensembles and in duos with artists such as Grammy winning cellist, David Finckel of the Emerson String Quartet. His performances and compositions are frequently heard on NPR and PBS stations around the United States and he has also written and performed the score for the Emmy award winning PBS television series, The Desert Speaks.

While at home in Tucson, Arizona, Brad teaches music at the University of Arizona and is the Artistic Director of Lead Guitar!, a not-for-profit he co-founded in 2006 which establishes guitar programs in schools around the country with large populations of at-risk-youth. He also enjoys hiking, running, biking and playing his guitar in the mountains and deserts that surround Tucson. The rugged beauty of the American southwest continues to be a source of inspiration for much his music.

“Richter’s compositions carry the audience away into a world of magical sounds. He captures typical American themes and transforms them into imaginative original music. His cultivated playing is as highly developed as the intelligent sound language of his compositions which move the listener with its emotional depths.”

(Concertino 1/2004)

co-presented by the NYCCGS and Roger Smith Arts

The Solarium, 16th floor at The Roger Smith Hotel

Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese

pay at the door, cash only

For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

or call 212.339.2092.

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Pia Gazarek-Offermann has been playing the violin since the age of four. Her music education was at the Spezialschule für Musik in Wernigerode. She then studied classical guitar with Prof. Thomas Offermann and Jens Wagner at several music schools in Berlin, Weimar and Bremen. In addition to her guitar studies she was a member of the internationally renowned Youth Radio Choir of Wernigerode and the international prize-winning Vocal Consort Weimar. Her musical and artistic formation has continued to include Masterclasses with Roberto Aussel, David Russell and Hopkinson Smith and many others. In 1994 she was a prize-winner at the International Classical Guitar Competition in Cracow, Poland.

Pia Gazarek-Offermann has given concerts in several European countries as well as in Asia and North America. She currently teaches in Berlin and is active as a jurist and teacher at several international competitions and festivals.

“…Exceedingly demanding, the music shone scrupulously on key and was full of such splendid finesse that the audience didn’t know whether it was coming or going… With hard glissandi and rapid runs Pia Gazarek-Offermann seemed to want to beat the truth out of her guitar…she conjured a cornucopia of atmospheric pictures – intoxicating…” – Bonner Rundschau

co-presented by the NYCCGS and rogersmitharts

The Penthouse, 16th floor

The Roger Smith Hotel

Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese

pay at the door, cash only

For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com

or call 212.339.2092.

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Daniel Acsadi is the Director of the Boston Classical Guitar Society and is finishing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at New England Conservatory with Eliot Fisk. Through his acclaimed performances, arrangements, and teaching, Dan is a passionate advocate for both the guitar and the music of his native Hungary. Dan’s arrangements encompass art and folk music of the 18th through 21st centuries, innovatively expanding the guitar’s repertoire. He is firmly committed to the guitar as a versatile chamber music instrument, performing regularly with voice, viola, violin, flute string quartet, and guitar ensemble. Beginning his musical studies at age six, Dan earned his M.M. from New England Conservatory (NEC) and B.A. from Cornell University, where he double majored in music and economics. Dan has previously studied with Pablo Cohen and John Hall, and has performed in the masterclasses of Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Eduardo Fernandez, and Adam Holzman. Dan maintains a large and diverse teaching studio in the Boston area.

co-presented by the NYCCGS and RogerSmithArts

The Solarium, 16th Floor
The Roger Smith Hotel
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese
Pay at the door, cash only

For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or call 212.339.2092

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Born in Paris in 1985, Thomas Viloteau began his musical education at age twelve in Port St. Louis (France). In 1998, he entered the Escuela de Música Juan Pedro Carrero in Barcelona, Spain, where he studied with Maité Rubio, as well as participating in numerous masterclasses with Alvaro Pierri. Two years later, he entered the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Barcelona where he studied with Joan Furio. In 2001, Thomas received a Fondation Zigmund Zaleski scholarship to study under the direction of maestro Alberto Ponce at the Ecole Normale in Paris, where he graduated with a Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste in 2004. Entering the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris that same year, Thomas studied in Roland Dyens’ class while also working with Judicaël Perroy.

Thomas Viloteau has been placed first in several competitions, including the Salou Guitar Competition (Spain), the Segovia International Competition in Linares (Spain) and the Ville d’Antony International Competition in Paris. As the winner of the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, in September of 2007 he embarked on a seven month concert tour in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, playing over fifty concerts and teaching several masterclasses. In 2009, he was awarded a scholarship by the Milton Salkind Scholarship Fund to study under the guidance of professor Marc Teicholz at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where he graduated with a Professional Studies Diploma. He was the first guitarist selected by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music to play at the Kennedy Center as part of the Conservatory Project.

Thomas Viloteau plays a guitar by the Australian luthier Greg Smallman and is endorsed by Savarez strings.

co-presented by the NYCCGS and RogerSmithArts

The Penthouse, 16th floor
The Roger Smith Hotel
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese
pay at the door, cash only

Valentine’s Special
$35 per person
Brunch and Guitar Concert ticket
(Brunch 11-4pm includes a Mimosa or glass of wine, amuse bouche, main course and dessert
please bring your brunch receipt up to the concert to receive your concert ticket)

For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or cal 212.339.2092!

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