The MusicFest was a great start to what I’d love to see turning into an annual summer guitar festival. This year there were at least five classical guitar concerts in the span of a few days (Sunday throu Tuesday) featuring the Oberon trio from Calgary, Celso Machado, Ed Henderson,  Daniel Bolshoy with Ariel Barnes (cello), Daniel Bolshoy with the Borealis string quartet and Duo Brazil from Ottawa, featuring Andrew Mah on guitar and soprano Donna Brown.

Guitar day got off to a great start with an original and entertaining program from the Oberon trio, featuring music by living guitar composers. The music of William Beauvais was a particular delight, with the Calypso inspired by a Dowland Fantasy and other moment of whimsy. The perfect acoustics of Pyatt hall at the newly built VSO School of music were enhanced by a slide projection to illustrate moods in the music the trio played.

Ed Henderson and Celso Machado heated things up with a Latin jazz concert at 1 pm. Ed is a master of the acoustic guitar, having played in numerous bands in an amazing range of styles. He connected beautifully with the amazingly versatile Celso Machado who can make music happen with any instrument, or with no instrument at all, and is an absolute magician on the guitar. The audience loved them and they finished with a great duo version of One Note Samba by Jobim, which brought the house down.

The day ended with the 3 pm concert of Cellist Ariel Barnes and guitarist Daniel Bolshoy (who also created the guitar day event for MusicFest Vancouver). This concert, called Brasileiras, was sold out well in advance of the concert and had a long waiting list of people who were hoping to get in in lieu of any last minute no-shows… Maybe someone else can describe the actual concert… Clive Langley was there, as were a few other eloquent society members.
The success of the Brasileiras has lead to a concert reprise on September 23 at Christ Church Cathedral, another chance to hear Daniel Bolshoy and Ari Barnes in case you are one of the people who didn’t get in to hear them at guitar day. Please see the MusicFest Vancouver website for details.

Guitar day was just the start of the guitar participation at MusicFest, on Monday morning, following the Sunday afternoon cello and guitar duo concert, Daniel put together a quintet concert with the Borealis string quartet. This concert took place in the much larger Christ church cathedral which was promptly filled to capacity despite the concert taking place on a Monday morning at 10am! Many Vancouverites made the right choice to skip work and come hear the Castelnuovo-Tedesco quintet, a masterpiece of chamber music with guitar, dedicated to Segovia. Also on the program, the fun 100 Greatest Dance Hits by Aaron Jay Kernis, which featured the musicians using their instruments as drums, as well as vocal percussion (hip-hop style) and a most where sand blocks, bongos and a triangle replaced the string instruments while the guitar was wailing away on a Latin groove… Although this was new music, the audience loved this piece and its many melodious moments, but of course no quintets concert would be complete without Boccherini’s famous Fandango, which was played at the end, castanets included!

And finally Duo Brazil played on Tuesday afternoon. Sadly I was already in Calgary, teaching and playing at GuitarFestWest so someone else would have to comment on this concert.

For information on the upcoming MusicFest reprise concert which takes place Sept. 23 please visit: www.musicfestvancouver.ca

Foggy camera eye

The College of Charleston is located on both side of St. Phillip Street, one side modern, one historical.

Our busy schedule spanned from 9am workshops and lectures to late-night concerts daily – it wasn’t always easy to wake up the next day!

Workshops

Technique workshops led by Dale Kavanagh, Marco Tamayo, Odair Assad and others, gathered about 20 to 30 guitarists of all levels, hungry for new exercises and practice methods. Dale introduced basic right and left hand exercises for building strength and coordination development: hammer-on slurs, arpeggios, stretches. Marco Tamayo discussed the 8 natural hand movements used in guitar playing and stressed that everyone can play without tension as long as they are aware of the naturalness of these movements.

Technique workshops with Dale Kavanagh (left) and Marco Tamayo (right)

Masterclasses

We were lucky to have attended Roland Dyens’ and Sergio Assad’s masterclasses. Both maestros put an accent on musical playing: melody leading, sound quality, art of expanding and contracting time as the phrase unwinds etc. Pieces performed in masterclass were from intermediate to highly advanced levels.

Roland Dyens with Woo Tak Kim

One of the YIC participants performed Dyens’ Hommage a Villa-Lobos, a piece requiring impeccable technique and boldness to perform tricks such as retuning a string during playing with the risk of it remaining out of tune for the rest of the piece. “What kind of crazy person wrote such a thing?!” – Dyens turned to the audience with a disturbed face. – “I don’t know, I don’t know…” After the next student had played a Bach gigue, we spent some time voting which note sounds better, F or F-sharp, in the ambiguous spot where both are possible. If you ever have the opportunity to play in his masterclass, do!

I only caught the final student at the Sergio Assad masterclass, who was playing the Jose sonata, 2^nd movement. Assad talked about the form, switching moods and being aware of these changes at all times, i.e. always with the “big picture” in mind.

Lectures

A morning coffee substitute on June 28^th, there was a refreshing video lecture by Brian Jeffery on Sor’s Spanish songs, followed by vibrant live soprano and tenor performances. On the same day, Victoria’s own Alexander Dunn gave a lecture on “Beethoven Songs with Guitar” which consisted of an excellent visual presentation and live performances of the songs with a local tenor. Enjoyed very much was the thick, dark sound of the guitar blended with tender vocal lines. Top quality – no surprise there!

Yoga for guitarists (image taken from GFA WordPress blog)

Yoga for guitarists – a great torture device for those not enough tortured. Helene Rottenberg demonstrated various stretches for fingers, wrists, necks, backs and shoulders. Every now and then a pitiful moan would fill the room – the sound of someone unable to get out of the “downward facing cow”. Jokes aside, stretching works.

Concerts 

Sottile Theatre where the concerts and finals were held

There was no lack of listening material – solo and duo concerts were presented daily at 4pm and later at 8pm. Among attended and greatly enjoyed were performances by Dale Kavanagh, Bandini/Chiachiaretta duo, Roland Dyens, Assad brothers, and Marco Tamayo.

Roland Dyens playing an encore with Gaelle Solal (left); Marco Tamayo (right)

Bandini (guitar) and Chiachiaretta (bandoneon), italianos veros, sent quite an energy whirlpool into the hall with their tango melodies. Extremely sensitive and engaging playing. Something like…

For those with a starving intellect, who have seen and heard it all, plenty of new music was available from off the concert stage. Additional details on those concerts is available on the GFA website.

The omnipresent Roland Dyens would appear unexpectedly behind our backs joking and giving out generous hugs to all creatures big and small. At the concert, a true snake charmer, he would put the audience into complete silence with his utterly delicate yet colourful sound, full of loving emotion and warmth towards all and everything, projecting something all of us dream about – the ultimate, multi-dimensional freedom on the guitar.

Roland Dyens giving a soulful hug to Galina

Roland Dyens in concert

Vendor expo

The vendor expo presented a bouquet of music publishers (including Matanya Ophee and Mel Bay), guitar accessories vendors (such as StringsByMail and Oasis), multiple CD recordings, and luthiers (Kenny Hill, Jean Rompre, Steven Walter, Wood Ring Guitars, and others). We got to take home free strings!

Competitions

Both the youth and adult competitions confirmed once again that the level of playing is only climbing up each year. Most of the kids-finalists are previous winners of multiple competitions as well as experienced performers, including performing with symphony orchestras. The Junior division (under 14) 1^st prize was taken by Kevin Loh (Singapore), and the Senior division 1^st prize by Huaicong Mu (China). Both played with great technical mastery and musical sensitivity, even surpassing some of the adult competitors!

Clash of the titans in the final round involved everyone performing a mandatory piece, Andrew York’s How Funky Are You this time, and a free choice program. You really had to soundpaint in York’s piece which was extremely easy to play flat and gray. First prize was taken home by the Russian performer Rovshan Mamedkuliev. Celil Kaya (Turkey) came in 2^nd, Silviu Ciulei (Romania/USA) 3^rd, and Ivan Sanchez Flores (Mexico) 4^th. Here they are!

GFA 2012 Finalists

Encounters

Ulyana Machneva

We happened to meet a local Charleston guitarist and composer, Ulyana Machneva, who was also taking part in the Adult competition. Originally from the Ukraine, Ulyana has performed and composed since an early age. Blessed by one of the most prominent Soviet (and now Russian) composers Nikita Koshkin, Ulyana has since created an abundant repertoire of guitar works, for solo and ensemble performance, for all ages and levels. She is currently teaching at the Charleston Academy of Music as well as continuing her guitar studies with Marc Regnier at the College of Charleston.

Food

Apart from the soul and intellectual food consumed non-stop, we enjoyed the Caviar&Bananas café on George St. as well as Asian cuisine on King St. Ashamed to admit, it didn’t get to trying ice-cream.

Verdict

The convention felt much like a long-awaited family gathering which, according to Martha Masters, signifies ‘mission accomplished’ for this year.

Thoughts

Watching the masters and competitors on stage, I was convinced once again of two things.

1. For some, playing guitar is like performing a surgery: one wrong move, and the patient is dead. You pronounce him dead and yet continue on with the surgery.

2. For others, playing guitar is like telling a story or painting a picture that’s been forming in the mind for years – in which case, stopping for breath or putting an accidental stroke in won’t hinder the forward motion of the plot or minimize richness of the colours.

It has probably been written and said before.

Some more pictures of the beautiful Charleston.

More information on the GFA 2012 Convention and Competition is available through the GFA WordPress Blog