Don’t Fret, UK International Guitar Series to Return
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 3, 2017) — The University of Kentucky’s annual International Guitar Series returns this fall with an opening concert by the university’s own Dieter Hennings. The series, which runs October through April, features artists who will showcase the influences of jazz, rock and folk music in the classical guitar tradition.
Associate Professor Dieter Hennings arrived in Lexington eight years ago to direct the guitar program at the UK School of Music. Mexican-born Hennings will open the concert series with a program centered on variations of the Iberian folksong “La Folia de España” beginning 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, at Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church. Donations for this performance are encouraged; proceeds from this concert will go to the Disaster Relief Fund of Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church.
Other artists to be showcased in the UK International Guitar Series are:
- Xavier Jara, 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 29, $15 for general admission and $10 for students with school ID;
- UK Guitar Studio Fall Showcase, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, free admission;
- “Stephen Goss: A Concerto of Colours,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 3, free admission;
- UK Guitar Weekend | Nicolò Spera, 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 16, $15 for general admission and $10 for students with school ID;
- UK Guitar Weekend | Les Frères Méduses, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17, $15 for general admission and $10 for students with school ID;
- New Chamber Music with Guitar (Tim Weiss), 3 p.m. Sunday, March 25, free admission;
- Dieter Hennings and Andrew Zohn perform “Sergio Assad: Asphalt Jungle,” 3 p.m. Sunday, April 8, free admission;
- UK Guitar Studio Spring Showcase, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 13, free admission; and
- Romilio Orellana, 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 27, $15 for general admission and $10 for students.
All concerts will be held at Maxwell Street Presbyterian Church, except the concerts featuring the music of Stephen Goss and Sergio Assad, which will be presented at the UK Singletary Center for the Arts.
One of the most sought-after guitarists of his generation, Xavier Jara recently took first prize at the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artists Competition. Experience the first of many visits by Jara to Lexington’s music scene.
Declared by many as one of the guitar’s finest living composers, Welsh composer Stephen Goss will bring an exciting concert enjoyed by many of the country’s leading guitar programs to Lexington. This concert will include special guests Cody Birdwell, director of UK Bands, and Hennings.
Italian guitarist and University of Colorado Boulder Professor Nicolò Spera is one of few musicians in the world to perform on a 10-string guitar. With captivating recordings of work by composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach and Maurice Ohana, Spera will bring his unique synthesis of European and American tradition to the concert series.
Having performed as a duo across America and Europe for the last five years, Les Frères Méduses will be returning to Lexington with their genius improvisations and original compositions.
World-class New Music USA conductor and director of Oberlin Contemporary Ensemble Tim Weiss brings his rarely performed works back to UK.
Closing out the UK 2017-2018 International Guitar Series will be one of Chile’s outstanding guitar virtuosos, Romilio Orellana, winner of several competitions in South America and Europe. Orellana has forged a successful recording career performing in over 30 countries as a soloist and as half of the Orellana-Orlandini duo.
The UK School of Music in the UK College of Fine Arts has garnered national recognition for high-caliber education in opera, choral and instrumental music performance, as well as music education, music therapy, composition, and theory and music history.
