2014-15 Artist Series

2014-15 Artist Series

All events at First Lutheran Church of Boston, 299 Berkeley Street, Boston, MA 02116. MapParking options. Public transportation: Green Line Copley or Arlington stations.


Ana Vidovic

Friday, October 17, 2014 – 7:30 PM

Ana VidovicAna Vidovic is an extraordinary talent with formidable gifts taking her place amongst the elite musicians of the world today. Ms. Vidovic has given over one thousand public performances since first taking the stage in 1988. Her international performance career includes recitals in New York, London, Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, Rome, Budapest, Warsaw, Tel Aviv, Oslo, Copenhagen, Toronto, Baltimore, San Francisco, Houston, Austin, Dallas, St. Louis and beyond. Mel Bay Publications released Ana Vidovic’s most recent DVD in 2009 entitled “Guitar Artistry in Concert,” a journey through the music of Torroba, Piazzolla and Pierre Bensusan, Sergio Assad, Stanley Myers, Villa-Lobos and Agustin Barrios Mangoré. “Guitar Virtuoso,” Ana’s performance of works by Bach, Torroba, Paganini and Walton, was released on DVD by the Mel Bay label in 2006.

Ms. Vidovic has won an impressive number of prizes and international competitions including first prizes in the Albert Augustine International Competition in Bath, England, the Fernando Sor competition in Rome, Italy and the Francisco Tarrega competition in Benicasim, Spain. Ana Vidovic comes from the small town of Karlovac near Zagreb, Croatia, and started playing guitar at the age of 5, and by 7 had given her first public performance. At the age of 11 she was performing internationally, and at 13 became the youngest student to attend the prestigious National Musical Academy in Zagreb where she studied with Professor Istvan Romer. Ana’s reputation in Europe led to an invitation to study with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory where she graduated in 2005.


Pavel Steidl

Friday, November 14, 2014 – 7:30 PM

Pavel SteidlPavel Steidl was born in Rakovnik (Czech Republic). Since he won first prize at the Radio France International Competition in Paris in 1982 he has become one of the most widely celebrated soloists of his generation. Before that he studied with such guitarists as Milan Zelenka and Stephan Rak in Prague. In 1987 he decided to emigrate to the Netherlands where after years of studying and getting inspiration from many different artists he has created his own style, which incorporates authentic ways of interpreting 19th-century guitar literature on period instruments and going far to some world music elements. Pavel Steidl also composes himself and his own compositions are often played on his concerts.

He has played in more than 40 countries of the world from among Canada, USA, China, India, Japan, Europe, South and Central America and many others. Italian Guitar Magazine Guitart readers voted him as guitar player of the year 2004. Pavel Steidl plays many instruments, but mainly Francisco Simplico (1926) and Franz Butcher (2008), romantic guitar: copies of JG Stauffer guitar made by B. Kresse and original instrument from the beginning of the 19th century Nikolaus G. Ries cca. 1830.


Sharon Isbin

Friday, January 23, 2015 – 7:30 PM

Sharon IsbinAcclaimed for her extraordinary lyricism, technique and versatility, multiple GRAMMY Award winner Sharon Isbin has been hailed as “the pre-eminent guitarist of our time”. She is also the winner of Guitar Player magazine’s “Best Classical Guitarist” award, and the Toronto and Madrid Queen Sofia competitions, and was the first guitarist ever to win the Munich Competition. She has appeared as soloist with over 170 orchestras and has given sold-out performances in the world’s finest halls, including New York’s Carnegie and Avery Fisher Halls, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, London’s Barbican and Wigmore Halls, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Paris’ Châtelet, Vienna’s Musikverein, Munich’s Herkulessaal, Madrid’s Teatro Real, and many others. She has served as Artistic Director/Soloist of festivals she created for Carnegie Hall and the Ordway Music Theatre (St. Paul), her own series at New York’s 92nd Street Y, and the acclaimed national radio series Guitarjam.

She is a frequent guest on national radio programs including All Things Considered and Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion. She has been profiled on television throughout the world, including CBS Sunday Morning and A&E. She was a featured guest on Showtime Television’s hit seriesThe L Word, and was the only classical artist to perform in the 2010 GRAMMY Awards. She performed as featured soloist on the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s Academy Award winning film, The Departed. Among her other career highlights, she performed at Ground Zero on September 11, 2002, for the internationally televised memorial, and in concert at the White House for President and Mrs. Obama in November 2009. She has been profiled in periodicals from People to ElleThe Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, as well as on the cover of over 45 magazines. A one-hour documentary on her titled Sharon Isbin: Troubadour, produced by Susan Dangel, premieres in 2014.


Marcin Dylla

Saturday, March 14, 2015 – 7:30 PM

Marcin DyllaHailed by Washington Post as “among the most gifted guitarists on the planet” Polish guitarist, Marcin Dylla is a rare phenomenon in recent history of Classical Guitar. Many music critics, connoisseurs and music lovers certify that Marcin Dylla is among the world’s elite of classical guitar players. He has earned this position, among others, to unparalleled number of awards including 19 First Prizes from 1996-2007 at the most prestigious international music competitions around the world. His last triumph was the Gold Medal of the ‘2007 Guitar Foundation of America International Competition’ in Los Angeles known as the most prestigious guitar contest in the world followed by tour of over 50 cities in North America, Mexico and Canada during 2008-09 season, live recital video recording for Mel Bay Publications and CD recording for Naxos that reached the Naxos ‘Top 10 Bestselling Albums’ in September 2008.

His live recital DVD “Wawel Royal Castle at Dusk” was nominated for 2010 Fryderyk Award (equal to American Grammy) in the category of Solo Classical Music Album of the Year. Marcin Dylla was born in Chorzow in 1976. He received his first guitar lessons at the Ruda Slaska Music Conservatory in his native Poland. From 1995 to 2000 he studied at the Music Academy of Katowice with Adi Wanda Palacz. He then completed his studies with Prof. Oscar Ghiglia, Prof. Sonja Prunnbauer and Prof. Carlo Marchione at the Music Academies of Basel (Switzerland), Freiburg (Germany) and Maastricht (The Netherlands), respectively. He is currently a Professor at the Music Academy in Kraków and Katowice.


Carlo Domeniconi & New England Guitar Ensembles Festival

Saturday, April 18, 2015 – 9 AM. Evening concert at 7:30 PM

Carlo DomeniconiThe Italian composer and guitarist Carlo Domeniconi is one of today’s leading guitar artists. His compositions are principally for guitar, whether solo, duo, trio, quartet or in conjunction with other instruments or voice. In addition, he has to date written more than 20 guitar concertos, of which approximately half are for solo guitar, and half for various groupings of instruments.

Among the most frequently performed of Domeniconi’s works are Medium Sweet Guitar ConcertoConcerto Mediterraneo for two guitars, Concerto di Berlinbul for Turkish saz (baglama), guitar and chamber orchestra, and El Trino del Diablo (The Devil’s Trill) for solo violin, speaker, soprano, two guitars, string quartet, accordion, piano, viola da gamba and percussion. This last piece was performed at the Passionskirche, Berlin, on the occasion of Domeniconi’s 50th birthday. A year later it was performed in the Philharmonie Berlin, and in 1999 at the Istanbul Festival. As a player Carlo Domeniconi has performed his own music at regular concerts all over the world for over 30 years.

Many of his compositions are played by renowned musicians including David Russell, Alvaro Pierri, John Williams, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Dale Kavanagh, Marco Socías, Pavel Steidl and Shin-ichi Fukuda. Pieces such as KoyunbabaVariations on an Anatolian FolksongHommage à Jimi HendrixToccata in Blue, and Sindbad are now an integral part of concert programmes. Several CD recordings of these compositions are available. Numerous rewiews and critiques of Carlo Domeniconi have appeared, for example, in Classical GuitarLe Cahier de la GuitareIl FronimoGitarre AktuellGitarre und Laute and Guitart.  For more details, please visit the Ensembles Festival page. View the 2014 NEGEF page for last year’s pictures, program, and video.