Jaxon Williams with AHS Orchestra

/in /by

Jaxon Williams Performs
Vivaldi Guitar Concerto
with AHS Orchestra

JCGS member, Jaxon Williams was the featured performer with the Ashland High School Orchestra in a performance of Vivaldi’s, Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra in D Major. The event was the school’s annual Winter Fine Arts Festival. The performance was on Friday, January 23 and Saturday, January 24, 2004 and took place in the AHS Theater, 201 S. Mountain Ave., in Ashland. Jaxon, a 15 year old sophomore honors student at Ashland High School, has played the guitar since the age of 7. He is involved in the AHS sports program, participating in football, swimming and track and field. He is the son of Ashland residents Doug and Ronda Williams and a guitar student of Joseph Thompson.

Brad Richter concert and workshop

/in /by

The Jefferson Classical Guitar Society presented an evening of classical guitar with National Finger-picking Champion Brad Richter. Mr. Richter performed a program of mostly original works for guitar on Tuesday, January 13, 2004 at the Unitarian Center, 87 Fourth St., Ashland. He also taught a combined master guitar class and composition class at the SOU music department recital hall. Brad’s website is at bradrichter-guitar.com

Biography of the Artist:

Brad began teaching himself to play guitar and compose at age 12. At 18, having had no formal musical training, he was awarded the Presidential Scholarship to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago where he began performing, composing, and teaching professionally. After completing his undergraduate degrees in performance and composition, Brad accepted a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London where he began studies with guitarist Carlos Bonell. While there, Brad became the first guitarist to win the Thomas Morherr Prize for voice accompaniment and went on to win the Royal College of Music guitar competition before completing his Master’s degree and returning to the US to continue his concert career.

Brad has performed throughout North America and Europe as a soloist, with renowned chamber ensembles and orchestras and in duos with artists such as soprano, Nancy Davis Booth and cellist, David Finckel of the Emerson String Quartet. His performances and compositions are frequently heard on NPR and PBS stations around the United States as well as in films such as Cuando Circa la Sonida and public television programs such as the Emmy award winning The Desert Speaks. Brad has been featured as a performer/teacher at guitar and music festivals around the world. Festival appearances have included the Guitar Festival of Great Britain and the Walnut Valley Festival, where he won the National Finger-picking Championship, a competition that features some of the world’s finest guitarists from all genres.

While at home in Tucson, Arizona, Brad teaches at the University of Arizona. He enjoys hiking, running, biking and playing his guitar in th