Grammy Winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet performs in the Series April 29th!

Portland Classical Guitar is thrilled to present the Grammy-award winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, making its PCG debut on Friday, April 29 at 8 p.m. at the First Congregational Church in downtown Portland. A special extended master class will follow on Saturday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., at Marylhurst University’s Flavia Hall—see below for more information.

The LAGQ, a headliner of this year’s PCG series, consistently plays to sold-out houses around the world. The acclaimed group is comprised of guitarists John Dearman, Matthew Greif, William Kanengiser, and Scott Tennant—all amazing and compelling musicians on their own. Dearman, for instance, plays a unique seven-string guitar, while Kanengiser was the classical guitarist in the 1986 film Crossroads. Tennant is the mastermind behind the Pumping Nylon educational series; and Greif boasts a broad background in jazz, rock, flamenco, and bluegrass. Together, these guitarists bring a truly incomparable energy to the stage.

This concert will highlight inventive, daring transcriptions of time-honored masterworks, a commitment to new works that help introduce listeners to the best in contemporary composition, and an adventurous eclecticism: all LAGQ trademarks that audiences have come to love. The program will feature pieces by Alfonso Montes, Chet Atkins, Pat Metheny, Geronimo Gimenez, Aaron Copland, Claude Debussy, Manuel de Falla, and JS Bach.

Though this will be the first chance for listeners to hear the LAGQ in a PCG series, most local guitar fans will no doubt be familiar with their renowned discography. The group won a Grammy in 2005 for their brilliant Guitar Heroes CD, released on Telarc as a follow-up to their Grammy-nominated LAGQ-Latin. Spin (Telarc, 2006) continued their explorations of jazz and contemporary music, and LAGQ: BRAZIL (Telarc, 2007) included collaborations with vocalist Luciana Souza, and received rave reviews. Their newest recording of the Rodrigo “Concierto Andaluz” was released on Telarc in 2010, and quickly climbed to the top of the Billboard charts.

The master class following the PCG concert will, by happy coincidence, be on the same weekend as the Northwest Handmade Musical Instrument exhibit, also at Marylhurst—a truly wonderful opportunity for students to learn about technique, performance, and history! The master class will feature a “Pumping Nylon” workshop by Scott Tennant (author of the acclaimed Pumping Nylon book/DVD/CD series), a bio-mechanics workshop by William Kanengiser, and an ensemble master class by the complete quartet. In addition, students can sign up for private lessons by Kanengiser and Tennant, which will be given on Sunday, May 1. Note: the deadline to register for private lessons is April 8. The deadline for guitar ensembles to audition for the master class is April 15; to audition, ensembles must send a video or audio recording to William Jenks, at info@williamjends.com.

This wonderful weekend of top-tier music is not to be missed! The First Congregational Church is located at 1126 SW Park Ave, in downtown Portland. For tickets, please call 503-654-0082.