Presented by JCGS

WHERE:
SOU Music Building
Recital Hall
Mountain Avenue
Ashland, Oregon

WHEN:
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007, 8:00 PM

CONTACT:
541-552-9515

ADMISSION:
$20.00 General,
$15.00 Seniors,
$5.00 Students,
Children under 12 free

“Classical guitar at its finest. When you sit quietly and listenyou feel and see the poetry of the Argentina landscape. Throughout his prolific career, Jose Luis Merlin has composed and interpreted songs related to his home and his people, reflecting the subtle mixture between the classical and the popular. Merlin gives us a classical music with strong folkloric roots, in which malambos, zambas, chacareras, carnavalitos, tangos, and joropos are found.”
–Victory Music review of Merlin CD, “Dreams of Argentina” —

Argentine guitarist/composer Jose Luis Merlin will perform a concert on Saturday, November 3rd, at 8pm, in the SOU Music Building Recital Hall, in Ashland. The Jefferson Classical Guitar Society sponsors the event, which is the first concert of the “2007-2008 JCGS Concert Series”. Mr. Merlin will present a master class on Sunday, November 4th at 2:00 pm in the SOU Music Building Choir Room.

Tickets are $20.00 general, $15.00 seniors, and $5.00 students. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at “CD or Not CD”, 343 E. Main St. in Ashland or at Central Arts Supply, 101 N. Central, in Medford. Tickets can also be purchased at the door. For more information, go to the JCGS website at www.JeffersonGuitar.org, or call 552-9515.

Jose Luis Merlin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1952. He began playing the guitar at the age of five under the tutelage of Maestro Vincente Degese, continued with Maestro Abel Carlevaro, and was performing in Argentina by the time he was nine years old. He has been a concert artist, composer and guitar teacher since 1967, as well as a researcher and teacher of instrumental technique. Merlin has made more than twenty international tours, which include: Spain, Austria, USA (over 100 concerts), Canada, Cuba, Germany, France, Switzerland, Italy, Brazil and Uruguay.

Merlin has played as a soloist with the Symphonies of Rosario and San Juan (Argentina), and has performed chamber music with the following quartets: Buenos Aires, Sudamérica, Sudamericano, Musicámera, del Plata, and the Grupo Merlin. He is co-founder and first president of the Association Integración Guitarrística Argentina. He has published over ten recordings in the USA, Japan, Austria and Argentina.

As a composer he has given workshops on instrumental techniques, rhythmic folklore of Argentina, insights and analyses of South American composers, as well as lectures at universities in Texas, Southern California, Oregon and Michigan. He composed the music for Travesia (The Guitar, Witness to Five Centuries), an oratorio for recitative, singing voice, mezzosoprano and chamber orchestra (texts by José Tcherkasky). Merlin has composed works for solo guitar, guitar and violin, guitar and string quartet, piano and voice, etc.

Presented by JCGS

Featuring classical guitarists Joseph Thompson, Grant Ruiz, and Steve Berman

WHERE:
First Congregational Church,
717 Siskiyou Blvd.
Ashland, Oregon

WHEN:
Sunday, July 22, 2007, 3 pm

CONTACT:
552-9515

ADMISSION:
$15.00 General
$5.00 Students,
Children under 12 Free

Dark Rose Trio Celebrates
the Release of their First CD

The Dark Rose Trio will play a concert on Sunday, July 22, at 3 pm at the First Congregational Church, 717 Siskiyou Blvd, in Ashland. The concert is sponsored by the Jefferson Classical Guitar Society.

The concert is a celebration of the release of their first CD. The program will present works from the CD including original arrangements of Ravel’s Pavan for a Dead Princess, Spanish Dances by Granados, Sinfonias by J. S. Bach, and Milonga by the Argentine tango composer, Astor Piazzola. They will also play works by George Gershwin, Paul Hindemith, and Joseph Thompson.

The Dark Rose Trio grew out of a collaboration in October of 2002 by three
classical guitarists from Ashland. The individual members of the ensemble, Joseph Thompson, Grant Ruiz, and Steve Berman bring extensive experience to the group both as soloists and in their past work with other ensembles. Their common bond is in their love for the passion filled music of Spain, France, and Russia.

They have performed in concerts for the Pistol River Concert Association, Southern Oregon University Music Department, and multiple concerts for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, including OSF’s 2003 Daedalus Project. In May of this year, they played the inaugural concert of the Mildred Hill Concert Series in Port Orford, Oregon and on July 14, they will play a concert in celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Pistol River Concert Association, in Pistol River Oregon.

Tickets for the Ashland concert are $15.00 general, $12.00 seniors, and $5.00 students. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free. Tickets will be available at the door before the concert.

Presented by JCGS

WHEN:
Saturday, March 10th, 2007, 8:00 PM

WHERE:
SOU MUSIC BLDG. RECITAL HALL
Mountain Avenue
Ashland, Oregon

CONTACT:
541-552-9515

ADMISSION:
$15.00 General
$5.00 Students
Children under 12 free

The Jefferson Classical Guitar Society will present guitarist, Paul Galbraith in concert, on Saturday, March 10th, at 8:00 pm. The concert will take place in the SOU Music Building Recital Hall on Mountain Avenue in Ashland. Tickets are $15.00 general, $12.00 seniors, and $5.00 students. Children under 12 years of age are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased in advance at “CD or Not CD”, 343 E. Main St. in Ashland or at Central Arts Supply, 101 N. Central, in Medford. Tickets can also be purchased at the door. For more information, go to the JCGS website at www.JeffersonGuitar.org, or call 552-9515.

PAUL GALBRAITH’s recording of the Complete Bach Violin Sonatas and Partitas (Delos) was nominated for a 1998 GRAMMY AWARD in the category of Best Solo Instrumental Album. This 2-CD set was also chosen as one of the two best CDs of 1998 by Gramophone Magazine, which called it “a landmark in the history of guitar recordings.” It received a “Four Star” rating in Stereo Review, and reached the TOP 10 on Billboard’s classical charts.

Galbraith has been featured twice on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and numerous times on “Performance Today.” He made his New York début at the Frick Collection, receiving a rave review in the New York Times; a subsequent NYC engagement on Lincoln Center’s “Great Performances” series was sold out. Recent and forthcoming North American recitals include NYC, Boston, Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, St. Louis, Albuquerque, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Miami, Baltimore, Buffalo, Amherst, Milwaukee, San Antonio, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Cuernavaca, Mexico. In addition, tours of Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Hungary, and the Netherlands are among Mr. Galbraith’s international activities. During the Bach Year (2000) he was featured artist at the Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Denver and Carmel Bach Festivals.

Recent orchestral engagements in the U.S. include concertos with the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, Knoxville Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony and ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, among others. Galbraith and the St. Petersburg String Quartet gave the World Premiere in March 2003 at Stanford University of a new work, “Rhapsody for Guitar and String Quartet,” that they co-commissioned from the acclaimed Georgian composer Zurab Nadarejshvili.
Galbraith’s unique playing position was first revealed at the Edinburgh Festival in 1989. His guitar (designed in collaboration with the late luthier David Rubio) is supported by a metal endpin, similar to that of a cello, that rests on a wooden resonance box. The instrument has two extra strings, one high, one low. Both the guitar’s extraordinary design and Galbraith’s playing style are considered groundbreaking development in the history of the instrument, increasing its range to an unprecedented extent.
At the age of 17, Galbraith won the Silver Medal at the Segovia International Guitar Competition. Andrés Segovia, who was present, called his playing “magnificent.” This award helped launch an international career including engagements with some of the finest orchestras in Britain and Europe (Royal Philharmonic, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, BBC Philharmonic, Scottish Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Orchestra, Scottish Baroque Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra and Scottish Chamber Orchestra among them). He toured the U.S. as soloist with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and performed in Prague’s Dvorák Hall with the National Chamber Orchestra of Chile. His international touring has also brought him to Canada, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Hungary, Brazil, China, India and Iceland.

Born in Scotland, Galbraith has lived in Malawi, Greece, London, and, for the last five years, Brazil. He was a founding member of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet, playing with them until summer of 2003. His principal teacher, since 1983, has been the Greek conductor, pianist and philosopher George Hadjinikos.

Mr. Galbraith is currently recording a video of the Bach Cello Suite #4, Mozart Sonata K.280, Britten Nocturnal, and Ravel “Mother Goose” Suite.

Discography (on the Delos label):

Bach: The Complete Violin Sonatas and Partitas
Bach Lute Suites
Paul Galbraith Plays Haydn
“In Every Lake the Moon Shines Full” (folk tunes from various countries)
French Impressions: Music by Debussy and Ravel

Further information on Paul Galbraith is available at www.paul-galbraith.com