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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As the chosen guitarist for Televisión Española’s centennial celebration of Francisco Tárrega,Mattias Jacobsson has emerged as one of the up-and-coming guitarists on the international stage today. The program “Es Música” will be broadcast bi-weekly throughout 2009.

Engagements include concerto appearances in The United States and Sweden, live performances at WQXR Radio and performances with guitarist Sharon Isbin at the Aspen Music Festival where they performed music by Howard Shore from Martin Scorsese’s movie The Departed, which was later broadcast on NPR’s Performance Today to an audience of 1.1 million. In June, 2008, Mr. Jacobsson was featured in the BBC documentary series “Imagine” about Oliver Sacks; in August, 2008, he replaced Angel Romero in both Concierto de Aranjuez andFantasia para un Gentilhombre by Rodrigo; and in March, 2009, he made his debut with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra.

At the age of 17, Mr. Jacobsson made his recital debut at the Stockholm International Guitar Festival on very short notice, immediately followed by a tour of Estonia, along with his first recording album containing music by Bach, Poulenc, Mertz, Lauro, Albéniz, Sor and Tárrega. Since then, he has performed with principal members of Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra, and The Royal Danish Opera, and has been broadcast on BBC, TVE, WQXR, NPR and SRP2, the Swedish classical radio. He has also made recital and chamber music appearances in major Swedish venues as well as Alice Tully Hall, New York.

Born in Sweden in November, 1984, Mattias Jacobsson began studying the guitar with Erik Möllerström and Bo Hansson. He continued his studies at the Malmö Academy of Music with Göran Söllscher and Gunnar Spjuth and at The Juilliard School with Sharon Isbin.

Mr. Jacobsson plays exclusively on guitars by Thomas Fredholm.

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Concerts begin at 4:00 PM and take place in the penthouse recital space of the Roger Smith Hotel, located at 501 Lexington Ave. at East 47th St. (see map).

Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese.
For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or call (212) 333-2092.

September 13 – Valerie Hartzell
October 11 – Max Zuckerman
November 8 – Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz
December 13 – Anthony Bez
January 10 – Gabriel Bianco
February 14 – Thomas Viloteau
March 14 – Daniel Acsadi
April 11 – Pia Gazarek-Offermann
May 9 – Brad Richter
June 13 – Dieter Hennings
July 11 – Atanas Ourkouzounov

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“…there could be no better introduction to the Latin American classical guitar.”

Micaela Kramer, Classical Guitar Magazine

I met Alberto J. Rodríguez-Ortiz earlier this month at a new music festival in Mexico.  He’s a fabuous human being as well as guitarist and composer.  So I’m thrilled to announce he will play for Second Sundays Classical Guitar Series at the Roger Smith Hotel at 4pm on November 8; 501 Lexington Ave (tickets $15 at the door, to reserve call 212-339-2092).  Alberto is among the most active contemporary interpreters and composers of the new generation of Puerto Rican musicians.

Among various international festivals Rodríguez-Ortiz has participated are the Festival Pa´Lo escrito (Mexico City, 2009, 2008), Festival Casals (Puerto Rico, 2008), Fiesta Iberoamericana de las Artes (Puerto Rico, 2007), Festival de Música Contemporánea and Foro de Compositores del Caribe (La Habana, Cuba, 2006 and 2004); International Guitar Festival of Puerto Rico (2000), El Salvador’s International Festival of Contemporary Music (2000); María Escalón de Núñez’s Guitar Festival (El Salvador 2000), Second Twentieth Century Music Festival (San Juan, Puerto Rico 1999). That same year he opened the concert series “Caras Nuevas”, sponsored by FAMA.  In 1997, he was invited as composer in residence at The Rome Festival.  Rodríguez-Ortiz has also performed in cities such as London, Porto, Paris, Vienna, Morelia, Orlando, Miami and New York.  In this last city, he made his debut in 1997 as part of the series “Música de Cámara, Inc.” He has performed extensively with the guitar trio “Matices”, ensemble that received the first prize at Puerto Rico’s Chamber Music Festival in 1994 with his composition “Invocando a Yúcahu”.  He has been soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra of El Salvador and the Symphony Orchestra of Bayamón.

His program is fascinating!

- Frank Wallace, Artistic Director of Second Sunday’s Classical Guitar Series

Sólo entre Bach y yo

Sonata no. 2*           Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz
Intro (Íntimo-Allegro)
Canción nocturna
Allegro violento

Partita II para violín BWV 1004           Johann Sebastian Bach  (1685-1750)
Allemanda                                                  arr. Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz
Corrente
Sarabanda
Giga
Ciaccona

Intermedio

Preludio, Fuga y Allegro  BWV 998          Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Sonata no. 3 “Homenaje a la Sonora Ponceña y a Bach”*                  Alberto Rodríguez Ortiz
Adagio rítmico “Preludio en candela”
Scherzo (Presto) “Canción en gavota”
Aire y fuga…al fogón

* NYC premier

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Co-sponsored by the New York City Classical Guitar Society and RogerSmithArts.
Tickets $15, includes wine and cheese.
For reservations, email rogersmitharts@rogersmith.com or call (212) 339-2092.

Valerie Hartzell began her classical guitar studies on a half-size Ramirez at the age of three. At the age of six, she studied with maestro Alexandre Lagoya at the Académie Internationale d’Eté in Nice, France. She has participated in master classes with several internationally acclaimed artists, including Ako Ito, Castellani-Andriaccio Duo, David Russell, and Elena Papandreou. In 1991, Ms. Hartzell made her debut performing Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Concerto for guitar and orchestra” with the New Philharmonic Orchestra of Irving, Texas. She made her international debut in San Mamete, Italy at the Festival del Piccolo Mondo in August 1994. She has performed in Europe, Canada, the U.S. and has appeared on television in Nice, FR. From September 29-October 5, 2002 she toured the Carolinas which promoted her first cd, Fuoco!

She has performed in many festivals, including the ‘Close Encounters’ Voice and Guitar Festival at University of Houston (where she performed and co-directed the festival along the side of Katherine Ciesinski), the Eastfield College Guitar Festival and Competition in Mesquite, the first Classical Guitar Weekend Workshop at The Music Conservatory of Texas in Frisco, the Tennessee Festival at Middle Tennessee State University, the ECU Competition and Festival in Greenville, NC and the MANC Guitar Competition and Festival in Greensboro, NC. She has won 1st prizes at the 10th International Guitar Competition “Simone Salmaso” in Viareggio, Italy and at the Concours de Guitare Classique Heitor Villa-Lobos in Nice, France among other prizes. At the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Ms. Hartzell was awarded the highest undergraduate scholarship for the classical guitar and studied with Manuel Barrueco earning her Bachelor’s Degree in 1997. She was awarded a Graduate Teaching Fellowship at Radford University with Robert Trent and was placed as Adjunct Faculty while studying for her Master’s Degree in Music. She received her performance degree in May of 1999 and currently, she is a Professional Teacher at Moores School of Music, University of Houston and is Adjunct Faculty at the Houston Community College. She also accompanies many vocal students at both Moores School of Music, University of Houston and at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University.

She keeps an active solo career and works in a professional duo with soprano Sandra Johnson, as Duo Athena and frequently is a judge at international competitions throughout the United States (St. Joseph International Competition, Texas Guitar Competition, East Carolina University International Competition, the Eastfield Guitar Competition, the ‘Classical Minds’ Guitar Competition, and the MANC Guitar Competition). Many of her private students have placed and won national and international competitions. Also, her private students have been accepted on scholarship to Schwob School of Music (University of Columbus), San Francisco Conservatory, University of North Texas in Denton, University of Texas at San Antonio, and Texas State University at San Marcos.

Valerie Hartzell is the creator and Director of the “Classical Minds” Guitar Festival and Competition at Moores School of Music, University of Houston and is the director of the Greater Houston Guitar Guild.

For more information, visit our website at nyccgs.org . I look forward to seeing you at these events!

John Olson, President

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