Music Department Announces Guitar Festival
PLATTSBURGH, NY (November 5, 2007) - SUNY Plattsburgh's Department of Music and the College Student Association are proud to announce a two-day guitar festival. Free and open to the public, all events will take place Nov. 16 and 17 in Krinovitz Recital Hall at Hawkins Hall on the corner of Cornelia and Beekman Streets.
This year's guitar festival will feature the talents of four artists: Ted Mann, composer, performer and instructor at Keene State College in New Hampshire; Dr. William Pfaff, composer, festival organizer, and assistant professor of music at SUNY Plattsburgh; Michael Fratino, Montreal-based guitarist, guitar instructor and director of the guitar ensemble at SUNY Plattsburgh; and Dr. Whitman Brown, composer and guitarist in charge of the composition and theory program at the Walnut Hill School, a private performing arts high school located outside Boston, Mass.
Friday, Nov. 16 at 2 p.m.
Lecture/Demonstration: Introduction to the Lute and the Vihuela.
Mann will lecture and perform music composed for lute and vihuela, 16th century ancestors
of the modern guitar. He will discuss the musical and social context of the era, provide
an introduction to the musical notation, and perform several selections. A question
and answer period will follow.
Friday, Nov. 16 at 3 p.m.
Workshop: Composing for Guitar
Pfaff, Mann, Fratino and Brown invite students of all ages and abilities to bring
their guitars and their questions to a special composition workshop. Young students
are encouraged to participate.
"We look forward to working with the players individually and in small groups to explore the possibilities of composition for guitar," explains Pfaff, who began his musical journey when he was given a guitar as a kid. This eventually led him to formal studies in composition - a familiar story to many musicians and composers.
Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m.
Concert: Guitar Festival Concert
The two-day festival culminates on Saturday with the Guitar Festival Concert designed
to showcase the guitar in a variety of musical styles from classical to contemporary.
Mann will perform compositions from the 1500's on the vihuela and lute. He will also
premiere a new work for electric guitar and computer-synthesized sounds. Pfaff will
premiere his new composition for solo electric guitar. Dedicated to his father, "Reading
the Water" suggests the intricate relationship between a fisherman and the sea. In
addition, Brown will premiere a new composition on the electric guitar. Together,
Pfaff and Brown will perform freely improvised works as "Trapeze," the electric guitar
duo they co-founded in 1994. Michael Fratino, will perform a series of representative
works from the traditional and contemporary solo guitar repertoire on the acoustic,
or classical, guitar.
"Our collective experience includes playing folk, rock, jazz, blues, and classical music - acoustic and electric guitars," says Brown. "We hope to have some fun on Saturday, coming together as fellow guitarists and exploring the different musical styles."
Seating is limited. Please arrive early.
For more information please contact Dr. Pfaff at [email protected] or call the SUNY Plattsburgh Department of Music at 518-564-2180.
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