Austin Classical Guitar Society’s Italian Masters Soloduo in Concert
The Austin Classical Guitar Society (ACGS) continues its International Concert Series with the highly-anticipated return of the Italian masters, SoloDuo, hailed by the Washington Post as “one of the most engaging duos in classical music,” in concert at 8 pm on Friday, March 1 at Northwest Hills United Methodist Church.
As SoloDuo, Matteo Mela and Lorenzo Micheli have performed throughout Europe, Asia, the USA, Canada and Latin America, and have been acclaimed everywhere – from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall, from Kiev’s Hall of Columns to Vienna’s Konzerthaus – as one of the best ensembles ever heard.
In addition to classic, romantic and modern repertoire, Matteo and Lorenzo enjoy exploring the early literature for baroque guitar and theorbo. Together, Matteo and Lorenzo have recorded François de Fossa’s Three Quartets, op. 19 (Stradivarius 2004), a CD of 17th century Italian music for baroque guitar, archlute and theorbo (“La Suave Melodia”, Stradivarius 2008), “Solaria”, an anthology of 20th century masterpieces for two guitars (Pomegranate 2007), the Duos Concertants by Antoine De Lhoyer (Naxos 2007), a collection of chamber works by Mauro Giuliani (Amadeus 2008), a collection of 19th century pieces for two guitars (“Noesis”, Pomegranate 2009), the Sonatas of Ferdinand Rebay (Stradivarius 2010), the Arias and Cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti (Stradivarius 2012), and the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (Solaria 2012), as well as a dozen solo recordings on the labels Naxos, Brilliant Records, Kookaburra, Mel Bay, and Stradivarius.
Matteo resides in Geneva, Switzerland, where he teaches at the Conservatoire Populaire. Lorenzo lives in Milan, Italy, and teaches both at the CSI Conservatory in Lugano, Switzerland, and the Conservatory of Aosta, Italy.
The ACGS Educational Outreach Program will present outstanding classical guitar students from McCallum High School in a brief concert at 7:45 pm prior to the performance by SoloDuo. The ensemble will be conducted by McCallum guitar teacher, Andrew Clark.
As a fitting prelude to this night of Italian musical artistry Pre-Concert Dinner will be held at 5:30 pm at Gusto Italian Kitchen by reservation-only. At the dinner, ACGS Executive Director, Dr. Matthew Hinsley, will provide a special preview of the artists and the concert program.
Tickets for the Pre-Concert Dinner are $55 per person, including wine. Reservations may be made by calling ACGS at (512) 300-ACGS. Concert tickets are sold separately priced from $25 to $50 and may be purchased at Austinclassicalguitar.org or by phone at (512) 300-ACGS (2247).
By Monica Pena
Leave a Reply
