Tennessee Guitar Festival at MTSU, March 15-20, 2008

It's that time again where I work my tail off to host a great concert series of guitarists, the biggest festival of it's kind in the state.

The Tennessee Guitar Festival presents 5 consecutive evenings of FREE concerts at 8:00 pm 3/15 - 3 /19 in Hinton Music Hall in the Wright Music Building on the MTSU campus.

Come on by ! This year's festival kicks off on Sat. night with a set my me playing both guitar and lute, then guitarist/composer Roger Hudson performs solo guitar and Arabic oud, and with percussionist, David Pruett. The duo called, Bella Musiqa performs Mediterranean music. Roger has established himself as one of Nashville's finest oud players. Great stuff. David will play Middle Eastern percussion instruments: darbuka, tar, rain stick, finger cymbals.

Sunday night, Randy Reed will play Sor and Barrios, Valerie Harzell will play Tarrega and Villa-Lobos. Monday, duo Firenze will perform Viennese duos for period instruments - fortepiano and terz guitar.

Tuesday will bring Christopher Berg who'll play Barrios, Albeniz and Bach. Wednesday night's finale will present the two finest classical guitarist born in TN. Vanderbilt's John Johns, and young virtuoso Matt Palmer. That is a concert not to be missed. Palmer will freak you out! He is amazing and guaranteed unlike anyone you've heard. He'll close the concert with his trademark piece, the Mongolian Sonata by Stepan Rak ... a piece that will shatter any preconceived notions you might have about classical guitar.

Complete schedule with masterclass times. All events including the masterclasses are free and open to the public.

We play well and party long. The traditional flavor is Spanish. I cook a huge seafood paella with lemon garlic asparagus, sangria, and lots of olive, fruit, cheese, and mushroom appetizers with various bruschetta and tapinades.

It's going to be awesome. Party hardy, every night. Here's a photo from last year's paella.




The Tennessee Guitar Festival is made possible by support from the MTSU School of Music and by grants from the MTSU Instructional Development Committee, the Office of Sponsored Programs, the D'Addario Music Foundation, and the Arts Builds Communities Program of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. The Arts Builds Communities program is funded by the Tennessee General Assembly and administered in cooperation with the Tennessee Arts Commission and The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.