2007-03-01 - Building a Community: Open Mics and Recitals

The First Open Mics

One of the first things the newly incorporated society did was to start to build a community of guitarists. VCGS organized open mic’s at such venues as Hodson Manor, The Wired Monk, Our Town Cafe and Cafe Deux Soleil. The society organized semi-annual public concerts where VCGS members were invited to perform. Here’s the invitation for the very first event:

The First Recitals

The early recitals featured professional guitarists from Vancouver, Victoria, Seattle, Kelowna, and Toronto who performed for very small fees in venues like Hodson Manor and various small churches. The very first recital was held July 13th at Hodson Manor (see the ticket below!) and performed by a recently graduated Michael Kolk, a local guitar prodigy, competition award winner and former student of Robert Jordan at the Vancouver Academy of Music. A prolific recording artist and collaborator, Michael Kolk is now considered one of the very best guitarists in Canada and regularly performs on the VCGS concert stage and in our festivals as well as with the Vancouver and Toronto Symphony Orchestras. Michael is also the director of our VCGS Guitar Ensemble. And here is 18 year old video from that first performance Invocacion y danza - Joaquin Rodrigo - Michael Kolk