JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 VOL. 24 NO. 1 Warm Up at · PDF fileDanza del Altiplano Ojos Brujos Two Middle Eastern Ballads arranged by Lily Afshar Sene de Qalmaz (Traditional Azarbaijani)

Lily AfsharLily AfsharLily AfsharLily AfsharLily AfsharClassical Guitar/Persian Sehtar

Friday January th pmFriday January th pmFriday January th pmFriday January th pmFriday January th pm

Le Trio Joubran Le Trio Joubran Le Trio Joubran Le Trio Joubran Le Trio JoubranThree ouds!

Three brothers!! Saturday February rd pm Saturday February rd pm Saturday February rd pm Saturday February rd pm Saturday February rd pm

A Publication of the Minnesota Guitar Society P.O. Box 14986 Minneapolis, MN 55414

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 VOL. 24 NO. 1

Also In This IssueLocal Artist concerts by Carlson and Cramer the UM Guitar Dept andPaul Hintz; the nd Annual Youth Guitarathon; more News and Notes

Warm Up atWarm Up atWarm Up atWarm Up atWarm Up atSundin Hall withSundin Hall withSundin Hall withSundin Hall withSundin Hall with

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Minnesota Guitar SocietyMission Statement

To promote the guitar, in all its stylistic and cultural diversity,through our newsletter and through our sponsorship of

public forums, concerts, and workshops.

To commission new music and to aid in itspromotion, publication, and recording.

To serve as an educational and social link between amateur andprofessional guitarists and the community.

To promote and help create opportunities for Minnesota guitaristsand players of related instruments.

Minnesota Guitar SocietyNewsletter

EDITOR

Paul Hintz

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PRESIDENT Joe Haus

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TREASURER Jim Campbell

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As a member of the Minnesota Guitar Society, you receive ticket discounts on all MGS-sponsoredevents, a years subscription to the Guitarist and the opportunity to place free classifieds in eachissue. To join the Minnesota Guitar Society, please fill out the information on this coupon andmail it to: Minnesota Guitar Society, P.O. Box 14986, Minneapolis, MN 55414

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To reserve tickets for any Sundin Hallconcert, call our phone line at

612-677-1151 and leave a message.

The Minnesota Guitar Societyconcert season is co-sponsored bySundin Hall. This activity is madepossible in part by a grant from theMinnesota State Arts Board, throughan appropriation by the MinnesotaState Legislature and a grant fromthe National Endowment for theArts. Matching funds have beenprovided by General Mills, AT&T,and Ameriprise Financial.

january / february 3

Concert Spotlight: Lily Afshar

The 2008 half of our 0708 Sundin Hall concert seriesopens with the return of Lily Afshar on Friday, January18th. Afshars previous recitals here were warmlyreceived, and were glad for the chance to bring her back. Thisvisit will include a free workshop on the seh-tar, a traditionalPersian string instrument featured on Afshars most recentCD that she will play for part of her Friday night concert. TheThursday workshop will be at the Univer-sity of St. Thomas, and is cosponsored bythe UST Music Departments GuitarProgram. See sidebar for details.

Lily Afshar is a breath of fresh air in theworld of classical guitar. Her solo, cham-ber, and concerto appearances combinedwith adventurous recordings have earnedher the status of one of the worldsforemost classical guitarists according toPublic Radio International. The Washing-ton Post described her onstage perfor-mances as remarkable, impeccable. Butperhaps equally as important is herreputation for expanding the contempo-rary classical guitar repertoire. Afsharscollaborations with international compos-ers have resulted in premieres of new works by manyinternationally known composers.

Her exciting concert programs continue to earn her anactive schedule of solo, chamber, and concerto appearances inthe U.S. and around the world, including England, Ireland,Canada, France, Iran, Jordan, Denmark, Italy, Africa, NewZealand, Australia, and throughout South America. She hasperformed at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, theGrand Teton Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival,Wigmore Hall in London, Banff School of Fine Arts, theMenton Music Festival in France, and the AmericanAcademy in Rome.

Afshars four recordings have received international criticalacclaim. Her first, 24 Caprichos de Goya, Op. 195, was releasedin 1994 and her second, A Jug of Wine and Thou, in 1999 (bothon Summit Records). Her recordings Possession and Hemi-spheres (Archer Records, 2002 and 2006) feature eight worldpremieres. Hemispheres reached #7 on Billboards Top Classi-cal Albums Chart in 2006. Not only has her passion for

challenging the traditional guitar repertoiremade her a sought-after artist by classicalcomposers, it has also led to some unusualguitar sounds. Afshar introduced quartertones on Hemispheres, accomplished by theaddition of fretlets to her guitar to accu-rately reproduce the tones. Hemispheresattracted the attention of National PublicRadios Robert Siegel, who featured Afsharon All Things Considered in 2006.Audiences have responded with fascina-tion to the fretlets and to her live perfor-mances on the seh-tar, a traditional Persianinstrument.

Born in Tehran, Afshar was 10 years oldwhen she began the guitar. She graduatedwith a Bachelor of Music and a Master of

Music degree in guitar performance from The Boston Conser-vatory and the New England Conservatory of Music. AtFlorida State University, she became the first woman in theworld to earn a Doctorate of Music in guitar performance. Shehas studied at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts and the AspenMusic Festival. She received Diplomas of Merit from the

Directions to Sundin Hall on theDirections to Sundin Hall on theDirections to Sundin Hall on theDirections to Sundin Hall on theDirections to Sundin Hall on theHamline U CampusHamline U CampusHamline U CampusHamline U CampusHamline U Campus

From I head north on Snelling Avenue in St Paul

past University Avenue to Hewitt Avenue Turn

right Sundin Hall is on your left a halfblock east of

Snelling Free parking is available one block past

the hall in lots off Hewitt (on your right) or

off Pascal ( block north)

Lili Afshar, continued on p. 6

Lily Afshar Free Sehtar WorkshopLily Afshar Free Sehtar WorkshopLily Afshar Free Sehtar WorkshopLily Afshar Free Sehtar WorkshopLily Afshar Free Sehtar WorkshopThursday January th pm

University of St Thomas Brady Education Center

SW of Grand/Cretin Aves intersection in St Paul

Room (lower level)

Free street parking south of building

For more info visit wwwmnguitarorg

For a UST St Paul campus map visit

wwwstthomasedu/campusmaps

Afshar Concert ProgramAfshar Concert ProgramAfshar Concert ProgramAfshar Concert ProgramAfshar Concert ProgramKara Toprak Black Earth by Asik Veysel

(arranged by Ricardo Moyano)MKG Variations by Kamran Ince (arranged by Lily Afshar)Invocation y Danza by Joaquin RodrigoGozaar by Reza ValiBird of Dawn Morgheh Sahar by Morteza Neydavood

(performance on sehtar)Fantasia on Bird of Dawn (MorghehSahar) by Garry EisterIntermissionTwo Pieces by Leo Brouwer

Danza del AltiplanoOjos Brujos

Two Middle Eastern Ballads arranged by Lily AfsharSene de Qalmaz (Traditional Azarbaijani)JaanehMaryam (Persian popular ballad)

Three South American DancesAire de Joropo by Benito CanonicoJugueteando by Jorge MorelMissionera by Fernando Bustamante

Two pieces by Isaac AlbenizTango

Sevilla

photo by Jack Kenner

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Concert Spotlight: Le Trio Joubran

On Saturday, February 23rd, our Sundin Hall seriesfeatures the Minnesota debut of Le Trio Joubran.The group consists of three brothers: Samir Joubranon oud and voice, Wissam Joubran on oud, and the youngest,Adnan Joubran, also on oud. The trio has been in existenceonly a few years, and has already established an internationalreputation for their incredible live performances. The daybefore their concert at Sundin Hall, they will attend a screen-ing at Oak St. Cinema of a documentary made in 2005 aboutthem. After the film, the brothers will take part in a paneldiscussion/question-and-answer session with the audienceabout their art and the many questions the film explores.

The JoubransThe JoubransThe JoubransThe JoubransThe JoubransSamir (b. 1973), Wissam (b. 1983), and Adnan (b. 1985)

Joubran were born in the biblical city of Nazareth in Galilee,into a family with a strong musical tradition. Their mother

sang in a Muashahat en-semble and their father,Hatem, is a master oudmaker known throughoutthe Arab world. As soon ashe could, Hatem startedteaching Samir to playthis ancient pre-cursor ofthe lute.

At the tender age of 9Samir began his formalmusical education atNazareth Institute of Music.He completed his studies atthe Muhammad AbdulWahhab Conservatory inCairo, having in the interim

performed at some of the most important venues in theMiddle East. His talent as a composer quickly gained him theopportunity to work with leading Arab artists and intellectu-als (Mahmoud Darwish the poet, Rashid Masharawi the filmdirector). H