Week-Long Festival Brings Renowned Guitarist to The Hartt School 7/18-22

The Hartt School Guitar Department presents the 2011 Hartt School Guitar Festival from Monday, July 18, through Friday, July 22. International concert artist Jason Vieaux joins Guitar Department founder/chair Richard Provost and faculty member Christopher Ladd for this week-long festival of concerts and daily master classes. This event is open to classical guitarists of all levels and aspirations who wish to improve and refine their playing and performance skills by studying with professional classical guitar performers and teachers. Interested performers should register for the Festival by June 30. Visit www.theharttschoolguitardepartment.com/ or contact Christopher Ladd at ladd@hartford.edu or 860-966-7696 for details and registration information.

Master classes are designed to improve students' technique, musicianship, and performance skills. Jason Vieaux, Christopher Ladd, and Richard Provost conduct daily master classes. Performers receive two lessons from each of the instructors during the week in a master class setting. Non-performing students will have the opportunity to ask questions after each lesson and during the daily question and answer sessions. Classes meet Monday through Friday.

In addition to master classes, the Festival features the faculty and other guests in a series of evening concerts beginning at 7:30 PM, in Berkman Recital Hall. These concerts are free and open to the public:

Monday, July 18, Richard Provost, Christopher Ladd, and Jason Vieaux
Wednesday, July 20 George Sprengelmeyer
Thursday, July 21 Tempo del Fuoco
Friday, July 22 Student Recital

About the Faculty and Guest Artists

One of the "youngest stars of the guitar world" (The New York Times, 2010), Jason Vieaux is a musician regularly noted for his engaging and virtuosic live performances, imaginative programming, and uncommon communicative gifts. Recent concert highlights include recitals for Lincoln Center and the 92nd St. Y in New York, Dumbarton Oaks in Washington DC, a debut with the Charlotte Symphony, and recitals for Spivey Hall and Indiana University. Vieaux began guitar studies at age eight with Jeremy Sparks in Buffalo, New York, and continued study at The Cleveland Institute of Music with John Holmquist. Aside from his duties as a performer, he is highly dedicated to the art of teaching. He currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio, where he is Head of the Cleveland Institute of Music Guitar Department, the youngest department head to serve at the prestigious conservatory.

Award winning guitarist Christopher Ladd is rapidly becoming known throughout the country as one of the most promising young classical musicians. Praised for his remarkable talent and richness of sound, he is highly sought after as a soloist and chamber musician. Performances of note as a soloist or as part of an ensemble include the Viennese Opera Ball hosted by the Austrian Embassy, the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the historic Byrdcliffe Theater in Woodstock, NY, and for former vice-president Al Gore at his residence in Washington, DC. Mr. Ladd has been a prize-winner in numerous competitions, including the Appalachian Guitar Festival Solo and American String Teachers Association Competitions, and was a semi-finalist in the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America International Competition. Ladd currently serves on the faculty of The Hartt School, Central Connecticut State University, and the New England Music Camp in Sidney, Maine.

Founder and chair of the guitar department at The Hartt School, Richard Provost is regarded as one of the Country's leading guitar pedagogues. His students have won or been finalists in major guitar competitions including the GFA, MTNA, ASTA, and Alirio Diaz Competition. His early studies were with Alexander Bellow of New York City and Oscar Ghiglia. In addition, he was selected to perform in the last of Andres Segovia's summer master classes in Santiago de Compostella, Spain, as well as multiple week master classes given by Julian Bream and Rey de la Torre.

George Sprengelmeyer recently was awarded the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in guitar performance at the prestigious Peabody Institute of the John Hopkins University, where he had the opportunity to study the guitar with the internationally acclaimed recording and concert artist Manuel Barrucco. He received his Bachelors and Masters degrees from The Hartt School, where he studied with Richard Provost. He currently is an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts and the Guitar at Misericordia University.

Tempo del Fuoco formed in the fall of 2009, is the duo of Nick Cutroneo, classical guitar, and Sarah Larsen, violin. Cutroneo and Larsen began working together as members of The Hartt School's Performance 20/20 Honors Chamber Music Ensemble. Cutroneo is known for being a "communicative player with natural musicality." He has played concerts throughout the Northeastern United States and in Italy. He attended the Pre-College Division at The Juilliard School and studied with Antigoni Goni, and then competed both his Master's in Classical Guitar Performance, with an emphasis in Suzuki Pedagogy, as well as his Bachelor's in Classical Guitar Performance at The Hartt School, where he studied with Richard Provost and Christopher Ladd. He currently is on the faculty at the University of Connecticut's Community School of the Arts in Storrs, CT, and MusicMakers Academy in Manchester, CT. Larsen received her degrees in violin performance and music history at The Hartt School. She maintains an active schedule as a performer and teacher. Larsen was a top prize winner in the concerto competitions of the Milwaukee Symphony, Fox Valley Symphony, and Green Bay Youth Symphony. She graduated from the Walnut Hill School for the Arts, and is a native of Green Bay, WI.

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford that offers innovative degree programs in music, dance, and theatre. Founded in 1920, Hartt has been an integral part of the University of Hartford since its charter merged the then Hartt School of Music, the Hartford Art School, and Hillyer College to create the University in 1957. 2010 markEd Hartt's 90th year of providing world class performing arts education to students in Greater-Hartford and around the world. With more than 400 concerts, recitals, plays, master classes, dance performances, and musical theatre productions a year, performance is central to Hartt's curriculum. For more information about The Hartt School, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

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