U.S. Classic Guitar Announces the Grand Finale of the 2019-2020 International Guitar Concert Series!

U.S. Classic Guitar President William Jenks is excited to announce the grand finale of the 2019-2020 Portland, Los Angeles, and Hawaii International Guitar Series sponsored by the Augustine Foundation, Guitar Salon International, Darren Hippner Guitars, All Classical 89.9 FM, Willamette Week, and Hawaii Public Radio. 

Because of the current covid-19 pandemic situation, the board of U.S. Classic Guitar has made the decision to finish out the 2019-2020 Portland, Los Angeles, and Hawaii International Guitar Series virtually online through Zoom bringing you the finest in sound and video quality right to your living room. Not only is this going to be the safest option for everyone, U.S. Classic Guitar believes it will also be a lot of fun and a great way for us all to connect during this difficult time. Zoom is quite easy to use and it has a lot of great features such as the ability for the audience to interact with the performers after the concert or ask a question during a master class.  

First, on Saturday, August 29 at 1 PM PST will be a virtual master class for Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux followed by a solo concert on Sunday, August 30 at 4 PM PST from his home in Cleveland. If you got the pleasure in seeing him perform in Portland back in October of 2019, you won’t want to miss this because he will be playing an entirely new program including works by Bach, Albeniz, Ponce, several of his own new compositions, and more. Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today’s classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is the guitarist that goes beyond the classical. His most recent solo album, Play, won the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo. In 2011, he co-founded the guitar department at the Curtis Institute of Music, and in 2015 was invited to inaugurate the guitar program at the Eastern Music Festival. Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. He has received a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, and first prize in the Guitar Foundation of America International Guitar Competition. 

Next, on Saturday, October 3 at 1 PM PST will be a virtual master class for legendary guitarist Eliot Fisk followed by a concert on Sunday, October 4 at 4 PM PST (these are rescheduled dates due to the Oregon wildfires) from his home in Boston where he will perform solos and duets with his lovely wife Zaira Meneses presenting a different program than their recent highly acclaimed recital performed at the online Gfest. Eliot Fisk is known worldwide as a charismatic performer famed for his adventurous and virtuosic repertoire. After nearly 50 years before the public he remains as his mentor Andres Segovia once wrote, “at the top line of our artistic world.” Eliot Fisk was the last direct pupil of Andres Segovia and also studied interpretation with the legendary harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University, from which he graduated “summa cum laude” in 1976, and where, directly following his own graduation in 1977, he founded the guitar department at the Yale School of Music. Zaira Meneses is hailed by the New York Times as:  “a captivating edge full of colors and feelings” and is recognized as the first female Mexican classical guitarist with a successful career as a soloist, teacher, and director in the USA. She was also the first female guitarist to record a new 45-minute album of J.S. BACH compositions where she includes her own guitar transcription of the well-known Partita No.2 in D minor.

The final concert of the series will be presented to you aloha style from Hawaii on Sunday, October 18 at 4 PM  (this is also a rescheduled date due to the Oregon wildfires) where U.S. Classic Guitar President William Jenks will perform with Hawaii based guitarist Ian O’Sullivan. William Jenks is a rare talent from a new generation of classical guitarists and has had an extensive performance career touring across Europe, Latin America, and the United States. Ian O’Sullivan is a classically-trained guitarist and composer from the North Shore of O’ahu. Well-versed in Hawaiian music and the ‘ukulele, in addition to the Western classical repertoire, Ian has performed with guitar luminaries such as Benjamin Verdery, Andrew York, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Scott Tennant and Martha Masters just to name a few. He has performed internationally as well as throughout the United States including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.  In 2013 Ian released his first solo album “Born and Raised,” featuring his original compositions alongside music of fellow Hawaii composers. In 2016 he released his second album “Songs for the North Shore”- a set of original compositions written for specific places and stories from the North Shore of O‘ahu.