2017 New England Guitar Ensembles Festival

Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19, 2017

Longy School of Music of Bard College, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138

Guest Performers: Cavatina Duo

Guest composer: Clarice Assad

2-Day Festival Pass: $45. 1-Day Festival Pass: $35

Cavatina Duo concert only: $30 / 25 / 20

All events at Longy School of Music of Bard College, 27 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
Map. Parking options. Public transportation: Harvard Station, Red line.

If your group is unable to stay for both days of the festival, we welcome one day participants as well.

NEGEF is generously supported by the Augustine Foundation and by the D’Addario Foundation. We are grateful for their continued commitment to this annual event and ongoing project to explore and promote the artistic, educational, and community-building potential the guitar ensembles.

Festival Directors: Dr. Daniel Acsadi and William Riley, guitar faculty at Longy School of Music of Bard College.

Schedule of Events

Saturday, March 18

9:00 AM – Registration & Setup

9:30 – Technique & Warmup Class with Will Riley

10:15 – Ensemble Workshops

11:45 – Lunch

1:15 PM – Denis Azabagic Masterclass

3:15 – Festival Orchestra Rehearsal with Clarice Assad

4:45 – Workshop / Lecture with Oscar Azaret & Bob Ward

5:45 – Dinner

7:30 – Evening concert: Conservatories & BCGS Members showcase

Sunday, March 19

8:30 AM – Registration & Setup

9:00 – Technique & Warmup Class with Robert Bekkers

9:45 – Festival Orchestra Rehearsal with Clarice Assad

11:15 – Ensembles Workshop

12:00 – Lunch

1:30 PM – Ensembles Showcase Recital

4:00 – World Premiere of Clarice Assad Work for Guitar Orchestra

4:10 – Cavatina Duo Recital, with special guests Miguel Perez-Espejo (vln), Hsin-Lin Tsai (vln), Hye Min Choi (vla), and Sam Ou (vcl)

Festival Details

New England Guitar Ensembles Festival – with Cavatina Duo and Clarice Assad

Saturday and Sunday, March 18-19, 2017. Hosted by Longy School of Music of Bard College

2-day Festival Pass: $45. 1-day festival pass: $40. Sunday Concert Tickets $30 / 25 / 20.

Cavatina Duo

We are again pleased to present NEGEF 2017 at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, and are eager to welcome Cavatina Duo back to Boston. We remember Denis Azabagic and Eugenia Moliner’s first concert for the BCGS around the turn of the decade as truly one of the finest chamber duo concerts we’ve ever heard. Their infectious energy, sheer virtuosity, and sensitive interpretations all the amazing possibilities of the guitar/flute combination. Their latest project and recording is Sephardic Journey, which casts culture from the past in a new light: creating new music compositions inspired by melodies from the Sephardic Jews of Spain.

Clarice Assad

Our tradition of commissioning a new work for guitar orchestra continues with the engagement of the wonderful young composer Clarice Assad. Her music is modern and spirited, multifaceted and border-crossing, and appeals to performers as well as audiences. Compositions by Clarice Assad have been performed by Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg and Iwao Furusawa, violoncellist Yo-Yo Ma, the guitarists Assad Brothers, the LA Guitar Quartet, the Turtle Island String Quartet, the Cavatina Duo, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Louisville Symphony Orchestra, the Austin Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton Symphony and the New Century Chamber Orchestra.

Since we have a flute/guitar duo in residence for the festival, I also encourage the participation of ensembles with guitar that include other instruments, for coaching, workshop, and performance opportunities. If you are interested in bringing your ensemble (any level) to the festival, please contact us.