Guitar and Friends perform together in Thursday Scholarship Series

The Hugh Hodgson School of Music Thursday Scholarship Series presents a collaborative concert designed by guitar faculty Daniel Bolshoy Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Hodgson Hall.

“This concert is about celebrating the guitar as a solo and as an ensemble instrument,” said Bolshoy. Audiences will hear beautiful, romantic guitar works for solo guitar, as well as music for guitar and string quartet, guitar and orchestra and small combos with guitar.

The friends joining Bolshoy will include the ARCO Chamber Ensemble, along with faculty members Levon Ambartsumian, violin, David Starkweather, cello, Kristin Jutras, viola, Shakhida Azimkhodjaeva, violin, and Milton Masciadri, double bass.

“The music will feature ensembles with my esteemed colleagues, with a focus on string instruments in this concert. I'm excited to share the premiere of the new piece as well as the concerto, and also perform well-known and loved pieces of the repertoire,” said Bolshoy. 

The program will include Latin music by composers such as Agustin Barrios from Paraguay, who composed a beautiful solo guitar piece that is flowing and lyrical, as well as some bossa-nova and Brazilian rhythms for guitar and bass. 

Also included in the program is a quintet for a guitar and string quartet by Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo Tedesco. His music inspired John Williams and many other Hollywood composers so much that a recent movie entitled “The Maestro” was written about his life. Also featured will be two pieces by living Russian composer Efrem Podgaits: a guitar concerto for guitar and orchestra, and a duo for violin and guitar written especially for Levon Ambartsumian and Bolshoy. 

“The concert is unique in its variety of music from various parts of the world, and in the fact that some of the music was written especially for the performers you're going to hear,” said Bolshoy.

Tickets for the concert are $20 for adults and $3 for students. Streaming will be available for this concert online at music.uga.edu/live-streaming. For all up-to-date concert information, please visit ugamusiccalendar.com.