Release date: Feb. 1, 2005

2005 Emory Guitar Fest is First for Schwartz Center

Contact:
Sally Corbett: 404-727-6678, sally.corbett@emory.edu
Deb Hammacher: 404-727-0644, deb.hammacher@emory.edu

The 2005 Emory Guitar Fest, presented March 6 through April 28, offers 10 richly varied events, including solo classical guitar, guitar paired with flute, gypsy music on guitar and violin, and jazz guitar. The festival's major visiting artists and performers are 2005 Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence Eliot Fisk, Mundell Lowe, and Sergio and Odair Assad with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg.

Among the festival's six free events are lecture/demonstrations and master classes by Fisk, Lowe and the Assads with Salerno-Sonnenberg. Festival events will be presented in Emerson Concert Hall of the Schwartz Center (1700 N. Decatur Rd.) and the reception hall of the Michael C. Carlos Museum (571 S. Kilgo Circle, Emory). For tickets or more information, call 404-727-5050 or visit www.arts.emory.edu.

Internationally celebrated classical guitarist Fisk launches the festival March 6 with a solo performance. Audiences have four more occasions to experience Fisk's dazzling technique, including two performances with former Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence the Vega String Quartet. On March 24 the Assad brothers take the stage for a dynamic program of folk and gypsy music with violinist Salerno-Sonnenberg. On April 19 legendary jazz guitarist Mundell Lowe performs with the Emory Jazz Ensembles and their director, Gary Motley. Classical guitarist Brian Luckett teams up with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra flutist Carl David Hall for an Emory music faculty recital April 8. Rounding out the series is an April 28 concert by the Emory Guitar Ensemble, directed by Luckett.

"I think this event will provide a bountiful spring for all area guitarists, professionals, amateurs and aficionados alike," says Luckett.

ELIOT FISK
Fisk, hailed by fans and critics as a charismatic virtuoso, has brought an entirely new dimension to classical guitar performance. Voted "Best Classical Guitarist of 1995" in the annual Guitar Player Magazine readers' poll, he is known for his imaginative and innovative approach. The last direct disciple of Andres Segovia, he combines the great romantic tradition with the best of modern music. Through numerous works written for him by leading contemporary composers, Fisk has created a fresh style all his own while continuing his lifelong love affair with Western art music, as reflected in his many transcriptions of such great composers as Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, Mendelssohn, Granados and Albeniz. Fisk's appearances during the festival include:

• Solo concert. Sunday, March 6 at 4 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall (Tickets: $20; discount groups $15; free for all students with I.D.)
• Perspectives on Performance (lecture/demonstration). Thursday, March 10 at 2:30 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free
• Concert with the Vega String Quartet. Friday, March 11 at noon, Michael C. Carlos Museum reception hall, free
• Solo concert. Saturday, March 12 at 4 p.m., Michael C. Carlos Museum reception hall (Tickets: $4)
• Concert with the Vega String Quartet. Sunday, March 13 at 4 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall (Tickets: $20; discount groups $15; free for all students with I.D.)

NADJA SALERNO-SONNENBERG AND THE ASSADS
Salerno-Sonnenberg, one of the most original and daring talents of the concert stage, and Sergio and Odair Assad, today's preeminent guitar duo, will join forces for the Atlanta premiere of their highly acclaimed program of gypsy and folk music. Their wide interpretation of the genre from gypsy jazz to flamenco rhythms offers music from Turkey, Hungary, Spain, Russia, Macedonia and beyond. Seattle Post-Intelligencer critic Philippa Kiraly calls it "an exquisite evening of strings" (2001).

Salerno-Sonnenberg's career began in 1981 when she won the Walter W. Naumburg International Violin Competition. She went on to win the 1983 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 1988 Ovations Debut Recording Artist of the Year and the 1999 Avery Fisher Prize. Her three U.S. tours with the Assads have revealed a special chemistry, amusing interplay and stunning virtuosity. The Assads studied together under Monina Tavora, another student of Andr?s Segovia's. Their international career has been highlighted by a 1998 Grammy, a 2001 Latin Grammy and collaborations with other leading musicians, such as Yo-Yo Ma.

• Perspectives on Performance (lecture/demonstration). Thursday, March 24 at 2:30 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free
• Concert. Thursday, March 24 at 8 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall (Tickets: $48; discount groups $36; Emory students $5)

MUNDELL LOWE
Jazz guitarist Lowe presents an evening of jazz with the Emory Jazz Ensemble. Lowe has performed with such musical luminaries as Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Billie Holiday, Bennie Carter, Andre Previn and Doc Severinsen. His television and film composition credits include the Today Show; "Hawaii 5-O"; "Starsky and Hutch"; "Lucy Comes to Nashville"; Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex"; and the film "Sidewinder." In 2000, he was inducted into the Mississippi Music Hall of Fame with B.B. King, Elvis Presley and Jimmy Buffett. "Lowe is a cool player--his sound is round and velvety and he lazes behind the beat, improvising a note at a time," says Lee Jeske of the New York Post.

• Concert with the Emory Jazz Ensemble. Tuesday, April 19 at 8 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

BRIAN LUCKETT
Classical guitarist Luckett and flutist Hall take the stage for an evening of contemporary music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Astor Piazzola, Carlo Domeniconi, Joaquin Rodrigo, Luckett and others. Both artists have recorded for National Public Radio and performed throughout the United States. Luckett has premiered several new works for the guitar, including a concerto and several large chamber works. His recently recorded solo CD, "Serenades of the Unicorn," features the music of Einojuhani Rautavaara and Nikita Koshkin.

• Concert. Friday, April 8 at 8 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

EMORY GUITAR ENSEMBLE
The Emory Guitar Ensemble, directed by Luckett, wraps up the festival with music for guitar quartets, trios, duos and solos, from the Renaissance through the 20th century.

• Concert. Thursday, April 28 at 8 p.m., Schwartz Center, Emerson Concert Hall, free

Residencies for Fisk, Salerno-Sonnenberg, the Assads and Lowe are supported by the Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence Series. Fisk's performances are made possible in part by the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta's Noontime and Emerson series. The performance by Salerno-Sonnenberg and the Assads is made possible by the Flora Glenn Candler Endowment.

ARTS AT EMORY
Emory is home to a vibrant arts community and welcomes the public to more than 200 annual events featuring student, faculty and guest artists. As many as 80 concerts are performed each year, ranging from presentations by internationally-acclaimed artists in the Flora Glenn Candler Concert Series and Emory Coca-Cola Artists-in-Residence series to presentations by more than a dozen Emory music ensembles. The Schwartz Center for Performing Arts opened in February 2003 and houses the Dance Studio, Theater Laboratory and the 825-seat, state-of-the-art Cherry Logan Emerson Concert Hall.

The mission for the arts at Emory University is to provide a dynamic, multidisciplinary environment for the study, creation and presentation of the arts. For more information on the Schwartz Center or arts at Emory events, visit www.arts.emory.edu and www.schwartzcenter.emory.edu or call the Arts at Emory box office at 404-727-5050.

EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: photographs available upon request.

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