Corvallis Guitar Society

Category: Newsletter

  • May 2017 Newsletter

    Dear Guitar Friends,
    Thanks to everyone for coming out to enjoy a wonderful guitar evening on May 1st and a big thank you to James Bishop-Edwards for delighting us with his gallery of classical arrangements. It was a great ensemble session and James was so impressed that he has arranged a piece of music by Lorenzo Barcelata called “Maria Elena” especially for us to play. I look forward to hearing us play this piece at the next Society meeting on June 5th and I will be posting the score and guitar parts to the website shortly.

    I would also like to point out that recordings of a number of James’ musical arrangements can be downloaded for FREE from his website. And, if you wish, the scores of his arrangements are also available for a modest fee. So check out his website:  https://www.jamesbishopedwardsguitar.com/

    First Annual Corvallis Guitar Festival
    Looking Forward we have quite a Bonanza of guitar activity happening in the next few weeks. The Corvallis Guitar Society is proud to present the First Annual Corvallis Guitar Festival taking place on June 9th and 10th downtown at the 1st Presbyterian Church 8th St. Adam del Monte will be our headline artist for the Saturday concert. Adam is one of the leading flamenco and classical guitarist/composers of his generation with a remarkably diverse list of accomplishments under a banner of artistic and cultural diversity. Oregonian and rising star Jaxon Williams will be opening the festival on Friday night and there will be Master Classes and workshops which will be free and open to the public. So mark your calendar, bring your guitar and join in the fun.

    Tickets for the two concerts are available online – check out the Guitar Society Website www.corvallisguitarsociety.org or can be purchased downtown Corvallis at Grassroots Books and Music on 2nd St. The Master Class and all workshops are free and open to the public.

    The Festival Schedule is as follows:
    Friday  June 9th
    7:00pm                    Opening Concert: Jaxon Williams

    Saturday June 10th
    10:00am – 12:00   Masterclass with Adam del Monte; 4 students, 30 mins each
    12:00 – 1:00pm                 Break
    1:00 – 2:45pm        Workshop: Introduction to Classical Guitar: Mickey Jones
    2:45 – 3:00pm                  Break
    3:00 – 4pm              Workshop: Flamenco Technique: Berto Boyd
    4:00pm – 5pm        Workshop: Fundamentals of right & left hand for all solo guitar styles: Jaxon Williams
    5pm – 7pm                       Break
    7pm- —                    Concert: Maestro Adam del Monte

    All festival events will take place at the 1st Presbyterian Church downtown Corvallis: 114 SW 8th St.

    Check out the Guitar Society website for more details about the festival .

    Next Guitar Society Meeting Monday June 5th
    Looking forward to our next Society Open Meeting on June 5th, I am anticipating a lot of fun with an extended ensemble and open stage session. We will be playing ensemble music arranged by James Bishop Edwards and our very own Berto Boyd, plus some of our greatest hits from previous meetings. In addition there will be more time for people to get up on stage and play – all acoustic guitar styles are welcome! Bring your own guitar and join in with the Ensemble (music will be posted to the website one week ahead of the meeting) and share your own music with us during the open stage session – ALL levels of music are very welcome.
    7:00 – 7:05pm Welcome
    7:05 – 8:00pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
    8:00 – 8:10pm BREAK and Refreshments
    8:10 – 9:00pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
    Entrance is FREE and open to the public (donations gratefully received).

    Location: Odd Fellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333. The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

    Sunday May 28th Neil and Tamara Caulkins
    Neil and Tamara are experts in the world of early nineteenth century music for two guitars and will be coming to Corvallis to share their knowledge and music on period instruments at the Troubadour at 2:00pm on Sunday May 28th. Neil plays a replica of a seven string guitar made in Mirecourt, France, by Aubry-Maire in 1830 and Tamara plays an original anonymous French instrument from about 1825. The program will be entirely of 19th century guitar duets and will include works by Henry, Giuliani, Lhoyer, and Mertz.  Neil will also be presenting a paper on the early 19th century performance practice of the improvised prelude at a conference at the Musicking Conference at 3:00pm in the Univ. of Oregon Collier House in Eugene at the U of O on May 26th.

     Thank you and I hope to see you on June 5th.

    Best Regards
    Jon Sharp
    President, Corvallis Guitar Society

  • March Newsletter

    Dear Guitar Friends,
    Wow! What an amazing performance by Yuri Liberzon at the Guitar Society meeting on March 6th. If you ever wondered what it’s like to hear near perfection in all of the dimensions that make up classical guitar music, and to witness it first hand in a live performance right here in Corvallis, well that’s what we got! If you missed it, keep your eyes and ears open because it certainly won’t be the last time we invite him to play for us.
    Meanwhile, looking forward to the next meeting on April 3rd, we will be welcoming Ryan Walsh down from Portland. If you have wandered through Portland Airport and heard live classical guitar music wafting beautifully through the concourse, then you have heard Ryan play. He is a wonderful musician and a fun performer willing to act like a classical jukebox – so bring your requests.

    The agenda for the April 3rd Meeting is as follows:
    7:00 – 7:05pm Welcome
    7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
    7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
    8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
    8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist Ryan Walsh

    Entrance is FREE and open to the public (donations gratefully received).
    Location: Odd Fellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333. The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

    Music for the ensemble session will be posted to the website one week ahead of the meeting.

    Looking forward…

    May Meeting
    We have James Edwards lined up for the May Society meeting. Some of you have seen James play before and we are very pleased he will be returning to share his music and depth of knowledge about the history of the guitar.

    Upcoming Guitar Festival!
    Preparation for our first Guitar Festival scheduled for June 9th and 10th is marching forward. We have had to revise our plans for our Saturday night featured artist and I am very pleased to announce it will be Adam Del Monte. Adam is one of the leading flamenco and classical guitarist/composers of his generation with a remarkably diverse list of accomplishments under a banner of artistic and cultural diversity; he has performed with National Symphony Orchestras all over the world including his own compositions, performed soundtracks for motion pictures, appeared on TV, won international guitar competitions and much, much more. It will be a real honour to have someone with Adam’s depth of talent, diversity, and experience right here in Corvallis!

    I am also delighted to announce that one of Oregon’s own rising stars Jaxon Williams will be opening the festival with a concert on Friday June 9th. Jaxon is a great young talent with a vibrant academic and performing career to-date that saw him win a Fulbright Scholarship to study in Seville, Spain. We are proud to have such a great local artist kick off our festival!

    Aaron Larget-Caplan
    Acclaimed guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan is performing in a tour of Oregon later this month. Aaron’s music and arrangements are both fascinating and virtuosic and we hope to be able to welcome him here in Corvallis in the future. In the meantime his current Oregon tour looks like this:
    Tuesday March 28th, Astoria OR (7pm)
    Thursday March 30th, Portland OR (7pm)
    Find out more here: http://www.alcguitar.com/calendar.php

    PDX Classic Guitar Concert Series
    Next up are the Assad Brothers, one of my favourite guitar duets and will be playing at the Marylhurst University, Portland on April 27th.
    http://www.portlandclassicguitar.com/app-news/the-assad-brothers

    Thank you and I hope to see you on April 3rd

    Best Regards
    Jon Sharp
    President, Corvallis Guitar Society

  • Newsletter February 2017

    Dear Guitar Friends,
    Odd Fellows Hall is turning out to be a great venue for our monthly meetings both from an aesthetic and acoustic perspective. No amplification required, so we can just enjoy the natural sound of our guitars! Adam Scramstad was our featured artist on February 6th and he delivered an amazing concert featuring acoustic blues and fingerstyle music inspired by the likes of John Fahey, Robert Johnson, and Muddy Waters. I have to say that Adam is emerging as one of the best local musicians I have had the pleasure to hear and, if you missed the February meeting, keep your eyes and ears open as he will likely be back!

    Looking forward to our Monday March 6th meeting we have another extraordinary guitarist who will be our featured artist; Russian-born and Israeli-raised classical guitarist Yuri Liberzon has been widely recognized for his musicality and technical ability:

     “…If there were anyone in the classical guitar world that could manage to combine musical elegance with architectural logic, it would be Yuri Liberzon.”   – Classical Guitar Magazine.

    If you want to know more, check out his website: https://www.yuriguitar.com/ Though I recommend you don’t miss the opportunity to hear his prodigious talent at the Guitar Society meeting. Entrance is FREE and open to the public (donations gratefully received).

    The agenda for the March 6th Meeting is as follows:
    7:00 – 7:05pm      Welcome
    7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
    7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
    8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
    8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist Yuri Liberzon

    Location: Odd Fellows Hall, 223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333. The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

    Music for the ensemble session will be posted to the website one week ahead of the meeting. We will be performing one of our members newly composed pieces called Zephyr (by Martin Erwig) during the ensemble along with other pieces. The guitar parts for Zephyr, including an MP3 of the piece to help with your preparation, are already posted on the website under the Media tab.

    Upcoming Events
    Looking forward we have more featured artists in the pipeline for your monthly meetings

    PDX Classic Guitar Concert Series. Next up are Los Romeros on March 10th at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland. Los Romeros are the world’s original guitar quartet enjoying their 55th anniversary (including natural transformations.) More details at: http://www.portlandclassicguitar.com/app-news/los-romeros

    Here in Corvallis the SAC Academy (OSU) are planning a summer guitar workshop run by our very own Mickey Jones that will provide an in-depth week of instruction on the concepts and techniques of classical guitar for students ages 11-18. It will take place on the OSU Campus July 10th to July 15th 2017. More details at: http://liberalarts.oregonstate.edu/school-arts-and-communication/sac-academy/summer-programs/precollege-programs/classical-guitar-workshop

    Thank you and I hope to see you on March 6th.

    Best Regards
    Jon Sharp
    President, Corvallis Guitar Society

  • Newsletter January 2017

    Dear Guitar Friends,
    It’s time to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of Corvallis Guitar Society, and what a great two years it has been.  Four wonderful concerts, twenty-three Society meetings including seventeen featured artists, but enough statistics, what’s most impressive is the quality of music that has been on show and not just from the professionals. There have been magical moments when our own members have got up at the open stage session to share their music and increasingly at our open group ensemble sessions where we are beginning to sound like something worth applauding J So a BIG Thank You to all our members for supporting our events and for joining in. Participation is a big theme for this guitar society and we want that to continue going forward.

    Monthly Meeting Location Change
    At the beginning of January we held the first meeting at our new monthly venue – Odd Fellows Hall and what a great venue it has turned out to be.  The location is downtown Corvallis:

    223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333
    The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

    Odd Fellows is the perfect setting with wonderful acoustics for a Guitar Society that is going to further inspire us going forward. And a special mention to Martin Erwig for writing a great piece of music for the ensemble! There is more to come, and I want to encourage everyone out there who has a modicum of music writing ambition to step up and write something for us to play! I am very pleased to announce that local acoustic blues guitarist Adam Scramstad will be our featured artist for our upcoming meeting on February 6th. Adam has played for us before and is a great musician and a great performer. Come along and enjoy a great evening of guitar music.

    The agenda for the February 6th Meeting is as follows:
    7:00 – 7:05pm      Welcome
    7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
    7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
    8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
    8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist Adam Scramstad

    The meeting will take place at the new location – Odd Fellows Hall in downtown Corvallis.

    Upcoming Events
    As we enter our third year, we have an exciting few months ahead of us:

    We have an impressive featured artist line up for our monthly meetings over the coming months including:
    Adam Scramstad – February
    Yuri Liberzon – March
    TBD – April
    James Bishop-Edwards – May
    Michael Harding – June

    Led by our very own Berto Boyd, Flamenco Pacifico will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 27th and 28th starting at 7:30pm. Check out the trailer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yjn-8GjdTxg and for more information and tickets are available on the Majestic Theater website: http://bit.ly/2ht7mtM

    I am delighted to announce that our headline performer for the Guitar Festival in June will be Chilean virtuoso Carlos Perez. If you have never heard Carlos play, this is a golden opportunity to see one of the world’s best classical guitarists right here in downtown Corvallis.  The Guitar Festival is scheduled to take place on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th June 2017. Please mark your calendars and please tell your friends!

    Classical guitar duo Neil and Tamara Caulkins are performing at the Willamette Heritage Center Pleasant Grove Church in Salem on the morning of Saturday 28th January at 10:30am. Neil and Tamara share a rich history of guitar and will be playing works from the early 19th century on period instruments. Neil and Tamara are planning to come to Corvallis to perform in May – more details will follow, and Neil is giving a paper on guitar improvisation in the early 19th century: Improvising Preludes in the Early Nineteenth- Century: Guitar Methods as an Uncommon Source for a Common Performance Practice. He’ll be speaking on Friday May 26th at 3pm at the Collier House on the University of Oregon campus.

    And on the Teaching Front…
    If you are interested in furthering your knowledge and playing of classical guitar in Corvallis by working with a teacher, there has never been a better time. There is a growing number of experienced and well qualified classical/related style guitar teachers in the area and we are all working together to create an environment to meet the needs and goals for all ages and abilities. If your want to know more, check out the guitar resources tab on the Corvallis Guitar Society website: https://corvallisguitarsociety.org/guitar-resources/

    Thank you and I hope to see you on February 6th.

    Best Regards
    Jon Sharp
    President, Corvallis Guitar Society

  • Newsletter December 2016

    Dear Guitar Friends,
    Thank you to all of you who attended the wonderful meeting we had on December 5th . We had great fun during the ensemble session, enjoyed some lovely performances from our members in the open stage session and it was great to hear a wealth of Latin and South American music from our featured artist, Ricardo Cardenas – Maestro of the Milonga! Thanks everyone!

    Location Change
    Owing to Gracewinds closing, we will be changing location beginning with our upcoming meeting on January 2nd 2017. The Board has decided to rent Oddfellows Hall in Downtown Corvallis. Oddfellows provides all the elements that will contribute to great Society meetings including very good acoustics, ambience, fixtures and fittings, and public access. We look forward to experiencing this new space and hope you will join us.

    The address is
    223 SW 2nd St, Corvallis, OR 97333
    The entrance is between New Morning Bakery and Sedlaks Boots and Shoes.

    oddfellows-location

    The agenda for the January 2nd Meeting is as follows:
    7:00 – 7:05pm      Welcome
    7:05 – 7:40pm Open Ensemble: bring your guitar, footstool and join in. Music can be downloaded from the website one week ahead of time.
    7:40 – 8:10pm Open Stage: please share your music with us – all ages and abilities welcome.
    8:10 – 8:20pm BREAK and Refreshments
    8:20 – 9:00pm Featured Artist our very own Berto Boyd!

    The meeting will take place at the new location – Oddfellows Hall in downtown Corvallis.

    Organisation Change
    The last month has also seen some changes to our organisation. Jerry Graser, one of our founding members, has retired from the Board. I would like to thank Jerry enormously for his enthusiasm and contribution in helping establish the Guitar Society and making it the success that it is today. Jerry will continue to be very much a part of what we do. I am delighted to welcome Jeff Muhr to the Board. Jeff brings with him a passion for the guitar as well as a wealth of experience in the writing and editing business and fundraising in the non-profit sector. He has been an enthusiastic member of the Guitar Society to-date and we look forward to working with him as great addition to the Board.

    Upcoming Events
    Looking forward to 2017, I would like to remind everyone that we are in the process of planning a Guitar Festival in Corvallis which is scheduled to take place on Friday 9th and Saturday 10th June 2017. Please mark your calendars! The Festival will comprise two concerts, a Masterclass with our internationally acclaimed headline concert artist (who we hope to announce soon), and guitar workshops. More information will follow as we nail down the details so please watch this space and please tell your friends.

    And coming up in January, Flamenco Pacifico will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 27th and 28th starting at 7:30pm. Led by our very own virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer, Berto Boyd, together with Grant Ruiz, percussionist Terry Longshore, and dancer Elena Villa, Flamenco Pacifico’s guitar-driven performances feature original modern flamenco compositions rooted in the time-honored forms of traditional flamenco. These two performances will be featuring the music from their new album “Convivencia” (coexistence). This concert will also feature two special guest artists joining the group from Santa Barbara: Randy Tico on Fretless Bass and Ryan Zermeño Flamenco dancer and percussionist.

    Check out the trailer on YouTube: https://youtu.be/yjn-8GjdTxg
    More information and tickets are available on the Majestic Theater website: http://bit.ly/2ht7mtM

    As 2016 draws to a close, I would like to thank you all for your support and participation in the Guitar Society and I hope you all have a wonderful time over the holiday season. Have a very Happy New Year!

    Thank you and Best Regards
    Jon Sharp
    President, Corvallis Guitar Society