Gesamtkunstwerk: Music Via Prism of Cinema, Mak Grgic and guests

Mak Grgic is a rising star in the world of classical guitar.

From The New York Times:

“The gifted young guitarist Mak Grgic uses different guitars to perform arrangements of music featured in film soundtracks; a flamenco instrument, for example, for Alberto Iglesias’s “Volverino.” Mr. Grgic’s imaginative, expressive playing is also heard in Stanley Myers’s “Cavatina”; an excerpt from Mascagni’s “Cavalleria Rusticana”; and selections by Bach, Albeniz, Albinoni, Bernstein and Nino Rota.”

His guests, members of the Harry Patch Ensemble and Buzz Gravelle, have been shining in this part of the musical world for quite some time now,

Join us for an evening of sonic explorations with this timeless instrument, with music which spans generations.

Partch Ensemble:

PROGRAM: Music by Harry Partch - Walking in the shoes of a homeless genius:

PARTCH is the GRAMMY® AWARD winning ensemble that specializes in the music & instruments of the iconoclastic American Maverick composer Harry Partch who, between 1930 and 1972, created one of the most amazing bodies of sensually alluring and emotionally powerful music of the 20th century. Partch wrote music drama, dance theater, multi-media extravaganzas, vocal music and chamber music—all to be performed on the extraordinary orchestra of instruments that he designed and built himself.

Since their formation as Just Strings in 1991 to perform the music of Lou Harrison and Harry Partch, the group has gone on to commission and premiere works by Larry Polansky, Mamoru Fujieda, John Luther Adams, Mari Takano, Sasha Bogdonawitsch and others. In 1995 they toured Japan under the auspices of the American Embassy's prestigious Interlink Festival, giving three weeks of concerts and lectures on new music. In 2005, with the completion of their twelfth Partch instrument, the group began performing under the name Partch. They have performed for Chamber Music in Historic Sites, the LA County Museum of Art, UCLA’s Partch Centennial Celebration, Sacramento’s Festival of New American Music, Minnesota Public Radio’s American Mavericks, the Songlines series at Mills College, and the Gordon Getty Concerts at the Getty Center. In 2004, they made their Disney Hall debut premiering Harry Partch’s Bitter Music, and have returned every year since. Partch is the resident ensemble of MicroFest, Los Angeles’ yearly festival of microtonal music.

Partch's recording of Bitter Music was Grammy Award nominated for Best Classical Compendium of 2012, while the 57th Grammy Awards nominated their performance of Castor & Pollux for Best Chamber Music Performance, and awarded their Bridge Records release of Plectra & Percussion Dances with the Grammy Award for Best Classical Compendium of 2014.

BUZZ GRAVELLE, fretless guitar:

PROGRAM: @fret_buzz: Fretless Instagram Hits

A native of California, Dr. Buzz Gravelle is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, performer, and music educator.

His love for contemporary composition was first kindled through his studies at UCLA with the late guitar pedagogue Theodore Norman and guitarist/composer Peter Yates. Buzz’s compositions are informed by a modernist’s perspective, yet are lyrical and expressive. His compositions for guitar have been performed by guitarists Mak Grgic, Sergio Puccini, the Modern Arts Guitar Quartet, the Elgart/Yates guitar duo, the Thomson/Ratzkowski Duo (Denmark), the New Music Ensemble of North Texas State University, the Cal Poly Pomona University Guitar Ensemble, and the UCLA Guitar Ensemble, among others.

Buzz has been performing on guitar and other instruments for over thirty years in variety of musical genres--classical, experimental, popular, rock, jazz and blues, and world music.

MAK. guitar and video:

PROGRAM: Gesamtkunstwerk: Music Via Prism of Cinema

Touted as a “gifted young guitarist” by the New York Times, and “a guitarist to keep an eye on” by the Washington Post, Mak Grgic is emerging as a star on the worldwide stage. An expansive and adventurous repertoire attests to his versatility and wide-ranging interests: from the Baroque and Renaissance to music of the cinema; from ethnic music of his native Balkans to extreme avantgarde and microtonal music, Mr. Grgic’s extraordinary talents and tastes as soloist, collaborator, and recording artist are fueled by his curiosity, imagination, and boundless energy.

Born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1987, Mr. Grgic studied guitar in Zagreb with the revered Ante Cagalj at the Elly Basic Music Academy. By the age of 14, he was balancing his world champion status in karate with his love for the guitar. Throughout his high school years, he concertized in Ljubljana and Zagreb, splitting his weeks between the two cities, as well as competing in professional martial arts contests across Europe and Asia. Following an injury to his left thumb, he made the decision to focus solely on a career in music, going on to complete a bachelor’s degree with Alvaro Pierri at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna

What's the music?

Mak Grgic

John Schneider Partch Instruments

Erin Barnes Diamond Marimba

Buzz Gravelle Fretless Guitar

Attendees

Julie E.

+2

Annette D.

+1

Anjali B.

Tristine Y.

Bette B.

+1

Lana K.

Marianna T.

+2

Teri M.

Sally M.

+1

Sara C.

Doris C.

+1

Niki

+1

Betsy Z.

Barry A.

Seth H.

+1

Matthew T.

+2

Grant N.

+2

Randall S.

+1

Ron M.