SOLD OUT: Tonight's Los Angeles Guitar Quartet concert

TICKETS FOR THIS PERFORMANCE ARE CURRENTLY SOLD OUT. The ticket office staff will start a waiting list beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the venue door (must be present to join list). 

The School of Music will present the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ), on Friday, April 4, at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall.

Tickets are $30 ($12 for students with ID) and include reserved seating and a post-concert reception with the artists, and are available at the SUNY Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center, by phone at 716-673-3501 or online at www.fredonia.edu/tickets.

Their appearance at Fredonia will include a special joint performance with the Fredonia Guitar Ensemble, a student ensemble led by Distinguished Professor James Piorkowski. The combined groups will perform “SHIKI: Seasons of Japan,” written specifically for the LAGQ plus guitar orchestra by Japanese composer Shingo Fujii and dedicated to the victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. It is a powerful and moving work that is connecting communities across the nation.

When asked about the upcoming performance, guitar major Matthew Kingsley from Lockport said, “The opportunity to perform on stage with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is nothing short of legendary. LAGQ is a dynamic ensemble that many of us have been listening to for years. This will be the performance of a lifetime.”

Albany native and fellow guitar major, Bradford Hoyt commented, “The work that we'll be doing with the LAGQ will be my first step into the professional world of the craft I am pursuing. I am extremely honored and excited by the thought that I'll be performing with musicians of such artistic magnitude.”

In addition to performing one piece on the concert with LAGQ, Fredonia students will have the opportunity to perform for the ensemble in a master class on Thursday, April 3 at 5 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall. The master class is free and open to the public.

Thirty-three years young in 2013-14, the Grammy Award-winning LAGQ is considered one of the most multifaceted groups in any genre. Enthusiastically referred to by the Los Angeles Times as, “The world’s hottest classical ensemble or its tightest pop band,” the LAGQ is comprised of four uniquely accomplished musicians bringing a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from bluegrass to Bach. They consistently play to sold-out houses world-wide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. Programs including Latin, African, Far East, Irish, folk and American classics transport listeners around the world in a single concert experience.

Winner of a 2005 Grammy Award, LAGQ’s, “Guitar Heroes,” CD released on Telarc is a brilliant follow-up to their Grammy-nominated “LAGQ Latin.” “Spin (Telarc, Spring 2006) continues their explorations of jazz and contemporary music. “LAGQ Brazil” (2007), including collaborations with vocalist Luciana Souza, was released to rave reviews, and their newest recording of the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” and Sergio Assad’s “Intechange,” written specifically for them, was released on Telarc in Spring 2010, and quickly climbed to top spot on the Billboard charts.

Members of the quartet include John Dearman, Matthew Greif, William Kanengiser and Scott Tennant. Dearman, originally from Minneapolis, is a versatile guitarist whose repertoire ranges from samba to bluegrass, and from flamenco to classical. He performs on a unique seven-string guitar with extended upper and lower registers. Dearman is currently director of the Guitar Chamber Music program at California State University, Northridge, in Los Angeles. Greif is the newest member of the quartet, and in addition to being a classical guitarist, he has an extensive background playing in other styles, such as jazz, rock, flamenco, and bluegrass. Greif’s recordings include, “Permanent Transition,” which features duo improvisations with Andrew York and Dusan Bogdanovic. He was named the Outstanding Graduate of the University of Southern California guitar department, where he studied with Kanengiser, James Smith and Tennant. He also studied jazz with Joe Diorio and Frank Potenza. Greif currently teaches classical and jazz guitar at California State University, Dominguez Hills, in the Los Angeles area. Acclaimed soloist, recording artist and professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, Kanengiser is one of the few guitarists to have won the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. His solo recordings on the GSP label display his unique approach to programming, ranging from the music of the Old World to the Caribbean to his latest disc, “Classical Cool,” an exploration of jazz currents for classical guitar. He has earned critical acclaim for his imaginative arrangements for solo guitar and guitar quartet, and for producing two instructional videos for Hot Licks. Kanengiser may be best known as the classical guitarist in the 1986 film, “Crossroads.” Celebrated as a world-class performer, author and teacher, Detroit-born Tennant has been concertizing since the age of 12. Much in demand as a solo artist, Scott has recorded for Delos International and is currently completing a recording project of the complete solo guitar works of Joaquin Rodrigo for GHA, Belgium. He is the author of the best-selling book and video, “Pumping Nylon,” a technical handbook for the classical guitarist, and the five-part series, “Scott Tennant's Basic Classical Guitar Method.” He has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is now on the faculty at USC Thornton School of Music.

Further details about the event are available at the School of Music website at www.fredonia.edu/music. The event is supported in part by the Faculty Student Association.