Links are on the media page. We will be performing: Little Bird, El Vito, Jesusita, M George Whitehead, and Joropo.
Category: Uncategorized
Newsletter November 2016
Dear Guitar Friends,
Thank you to all of you who came to the Guitar Society Meeting on November 7th. Yet again we had a great ensemble session and some lovely performances on the open stage. Thanks everyone!
I am delighted to announce that, following the award of a grant from the Benton County Cultural Coalition (thank you BCCC!), we are now 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.
Looking forward to our next Guitar Society meeting on December 5th, I am very pleased to announce that our featured artist will be Eugene based classical guitarist Ricardo Cárdenas. Ricardo hails from Chile and is a master of Latin American music by composers including some of my personal favourites, Heitor Villa-lobos, Antonio Lauro, Agustin Barrios, and Joao Pernambuco. Ricardo also plays his own arrangements of Chilean songs, so come along and enjoy listening to some great music. There is no admission charge, but donations are gratefully received.
I think everyone attending our meetings has been increasingly impressed with our open ensemble sessions. The overriding goal of these sessions is to encourage participation which has been expanding significantly in recent months. The quality of what we are playing is also on the up, but we will continue to include beginner-level material to ensure people of all ability levels are able to join in. As usual, I will post the music on the Guitar Society website one week ahead of the meeting so you can both review and download the parts you wish to play. Bring your parts, your guitar, and footstool and join in the fun!
Upcoming Events: for those of you who were mesmerized by Flamenco star Fanny Ara and her wonderful group at the Majestic Theater this month, and are hungry for more, please note that Flamenco Pacifico featuring our very own Berto Boyd with Grant Ruiz, along with percussionist Terry Longshore and dancer Elena Villa, will be performing at the Majestic Theater on January 22nd. This will coincide with the release of their debut album which you can view (and support if you wish) on the Indiegogo website:
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/flamenco-pacifico-s-debut-album-music-guitar#/
Many of you will already be aware that Gracewinds Music is closing its store. I would like to thank Ken, Sharon and Travis for their wonderful support which has helped establish the Corvallis Guitar Society over the last 20 months. Thank you Gracewinds! We are in the process of identifying a suitable new venue for our monthly meetings and that will be announced in the New Year. In the meantime, we will continue to meet at Gracewinds Music (3rd Flr) as usual.
The agenda for the December 5th 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 Ricardo Cárdenas. The meeting will take place as usual on the 3rd floor at Gracewinds Music downtown Corvallis (please use rear entrance).
Thank you and Best Regards,
Jon Sharp
President, Corvallis Guitar Society
Newsletter July 2016
Dear Guitar Friends,
Please take note of three news items in this, our belated July missive:
Corvallis Guitar Society Day at the Corvallis Farmer’s Market is set for 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, July 23. Do come and play if you have a mind to; we would especially welcome some finger-style players among the classical and flamenco types. And yes, it’s fine to strum chords and sing a tune or two, or play duets with another instrumentalist, guitarist or otherwise. We’re setting up 15-minute slots on the schedule; write to Tom Strini, at [email protected] to arrange a time. As of this writing, only the 10 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and noon slots are filled. Please sign up; but if you just show up unannounced, we’ll still try to work you in. We’ll have microphones, chairs and music stands on site, and a canopy to keep you in the shade.
At the market, we’ll also have a table set up and staffed. Volunteers are welcome for that duty; email Strini. We will gather email addresses to expand our newsletter and talk up the society and its activities to passers-by. We’ll also be selling tickets to the Jaxon Williams program, which brings us to our next item.
CGS will present guitarist Jaxon Williams in an intimate concert at Troubadour Music Center, 521 S. 2nd Street, in Downtown Corvallis, at 8
p.m. Friday, July 29. Tickets are $15 at Grass Roots Books, at our table at the Farmers’ Market on July 23, and online via Brown Paper Tickets. ($16.52 including the Brown Paper handling fee.)
Williams, an Ashland native, won the Oregon high school classical guitar competition in 2005 and 2006, and several more prestigious competitions since then. He holds guitar performance degrees from Brigham Young University (BMus.) and Arizona State University (MMus.). This fall, he will begin his DMA program at the University of Southern California, where he will be graduate teaching assistant under William Kannengiser. On top of all that, Williams has studied both classical and flamenco guitar and concertized extensively in Spain. His Corvallis program will focus on music by Spanish composers.
On August 1, we will resume our normal monthly first-Monday meetings. As usual, we’ll meet at 7 p.m. on the third floor of Gracewinds Music, 137 SW 3rd Street. Enter via the alley way, next door south from the gyros shop. As usual, we invite attendees to add a little free-will cash, in lieu of dues, to the coffee can on the sign-up table.
Since we’re presenting Jaxon Williams on the Friday before the meeting, we won’t have a guest artist at our Monday meeting. On the upside, well expand both our ensemble reading time and our open-mike session. Be sure to download the ensemble selections — and brush up that piece you’ve been wanting to play in this semi-public, friendly, low-pressure setting.