Guitar Weekend

Kent State University at Stark’s Guitar Weekend is a three-day festival celebrating all styles of guitar playing.

This free event is open to guitar enthusiasts at any level. Join us for exciting, intimate concerts and hands on workshops given by some of the most respected guitarists in Ohio and from across the country.

GUITAR WEEKEND

NOVEMBER 16-18, 2017
Kent State University at Stark
6000 Frank Avenue NW
North Canton, Ohio 44720

FEATURED ARTISTS:

Judicaël Perroy  |  Video

Nir Felder  |  Video

Stephen Lochbaum  |  Video

Mickey Jones  |  Video

SCHEDULE:

Artist Biographies:

MICKEY JONES
"Mickey Jones is one of the truly great classical guitar teachers in America today." -- Sergio Assad, Guitarist and Composer

Mickey Jones has had an extensive career as a guitar soloist and chamber musician. He has twice been a featured soloist at the New Mexico Classical Guitar Festival, worked with the New Mexico Philharmonic, the Church of Beethoven, Chatter, and the Rio Grande Guitar Quartet, among others. Mickey's many important teachers have included Albert Valverde, Matthias Stegmann, Michael Chapdelaine, Bill Wood, Pedro Cuadra and John Truitt. As part of the New Mexico Guitar Duo, founded in 1989, Mickey and his partner Jeremy Mayne have appeared throughout the years in concert and on radio and television. They were Artists in Residence at Ft. Lewis College in Durango, Colorado in 2012 and in 2013, the New Mexico Guitar Duo was characterized in a Pasatiempo review as "a model of finesse, interplay, and technique." In 2014, the New Mexico Guitar Duo gave several performances in Santiago, Chile which concluded with a recital at the historic Teatro Casona Dubois.

Mickey is also a nationally renowned music educator who has been on the leading edge of classical guitar education in the United States for nearly two decades. During his 17 year career as guitar instructor in the legendary Albuquerque Academy Guitar Program, along with colleagues John Truitt and Jeremy Mayne, Mickey directed the lauded Albuquerque Academy Guitar Quartet, the music theory program, helped inaugurate the first All-State Guitar Orchestra in the United States and formed the first Youth Symphony Guitar Orchestra in the United States as well. He founded the Hector Garcia Young Artist Concert Series, conducted two groundbreaking ballets featuring the Albuquerque Academy Guitar Orchestras, and guided his student ensembles to performances on stage with the Assad Brothers, SoloDuo, and LAGQ to name only a few.

Known for his humorous teaching and a gift for metaphor, Mickey has been in demand around the United States and around the world as a teacher, conductor, lecturer, and performer. Mickey’s students, both as soloists and in ensemble, have won many prestigious awards and competitions in North America and have gone on to attend some of the most important music institutions in the world. Above all, many of Mickey's students have gone on to be unique and deeply devoted artists who have shared and continue to share their enormous talents and gifts with the world. Mickey is guitar instructor for the Oregon State University SAC Academy and is a board member of the Corvallis Guitar Society.
 

NIR FELDER
Called “the next big jazz guitarist” by NPR, Nir Felder is a new voice in instrumental music. Equally adept across a wide range of genres, inspired by icons from John Coltrane to voodoo chile Jimi Hendrix, Felder has forged a unique and highly recognizable sound at a young age and quickly become one of New York City’s most highly sought after musicians as both a solo artist and as a sideman. He has performed with, among others, Chaka Khan, Diana Krall, John Mayer, Esperanza Spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington (with whom he recorded the Grammy-winning “Money Jungle”), Vijay Iyer, Jack DeJohnette, Meshell Ndegeocello, the New York City Opera, Dianne Reeves, Joe Lovano, Snarky Puppy, Bobby McFerrin and Lizz Wright, at venues including Radio City Music Hall and the Village Vanguard and on major national televised programs including the NBC Christmas Special. He is also a member of the new co-lead all-star band Band of Other Brothers (with Jeff Coffin, Jeff Babko, Will Lee and Keith Carlock). Seeking a more personal creative outlet, Felder first formed his own group in 2010, performing shows throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe and Asia. Felder’s critically acclaimed debut “Golden Age” (Sony/OKeh) has been called “absolutely beautiful” by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “lyrical and lofty” by The New York Times, “mesmerizing” by The Boston Globe, “a melodic triumph” by the New York City Jazz Record, and “mind-boggling” by All About Jazz. “If the hope, thought, depth and heart displayed on this recording are any indication, Felder sees his own golden age happening right now – and I wholeheartedly agree. A great recording.” – Downbeat Magazine Editor’s Pick. Felder’s next release is slated for 2017. The new album, tentatively titled “Interregnum”, seeks to build on the direction established with “Golden Age” – taking jazz music in a new direction for the 21st century.
 

STEPHEN LOCHBAUM
Within six years of beginning training on the classical guitar at the late age of 18, Stephen Lochbaum had earned a Master’s degree from the University of Victoria, won the national music festival of Canada, and had the immense honor of performing with the legendary guitarist Pepe Romero as well as Alexander Dunn and Randy Pile. Shortly after graduation Stephen had his radio debut on CBC Radio 1 with the internationally recognized Vancouver Cantata Singers. Over the last four years he has been a first prize winner at The Florida Guitar Foundation International Competition, Indiana University International Competition, Texas A&M International Competition, University of Louisville International Competition, the Columbus Guitar Symposium, the Middle State Tennessee University International Competition, and the Allegro Guitar society competition in Dallas. He has also been a finalist earning top prizes over thirty times at competitions all over the US, Canada, and Germany. He was recently rewarded a recording contract with EMEC Discos in Madrid and will record the music of Guilio Regondi. As well as playing classical guitar, Stephen is also an established jazz guitarist. He has appeared in numerous national Jazz, Tango, and Flamenco festivals as a soloist and ensemble player. His recordings and performances have been heard regularly on CBC radio 2 and 3, and on several television appearances in Victoria, BC. He recently performed in broken consort at the Boston Early Music Festival and also performed Monteverdi’s Incoronazione di Poppea under the tutelage of renowned Julliard professor Daniel Swenberg.
 

JUDICAËL PERROY
Judicaël Perroy has become widely known as an extraordinary virtuoso classical guitarist and musician with several prizes to his credit. In 1997 he captured the prestigious first prize of the 15th Guitar Foundation of America International Competition and Convention awarding him tour of the United States and Canada with more than sixty concerts and master classes. In between his North American tour that year, he gave several concerts in France where his performances were broadcast live on France-Musique followed by extensive recital tours throughout the world.

Highly sought after and in great demand as a teacher, he is regularly invited to give master classes at many of the top conservatories and universities in the United States and abroad. Mr. Perroy’s students have won several top prizes in regional, national and international competitions including Guitar Foundation of America, while emerging as mature and upcoming rising stars of classical guitar and international music scene. Mr. Perroy is currently the Professor at the Ecole Nationale de Musique d'Aulnay-sous-Bois a position which he has held since 2004. He holds the Certificate of Aptitude (CA), and has taught at the Ecole Nationale de Musique Blanc-Mesnil from 1995 to 2004. Furthermore, in winter of 2000, he was the chosen substitute for the chair of guitar department, Steven Robinson, at Stetson University.

During his GFA victory tour Mel Bay Publications recorded and published his live concert in Lubbock (Texas). Following his GFA victory tour, a CD recording entitled “Aspen Suite” as well as his earlier CD recording on the French label QUANTUM received high praise and won 5 Diapasons, awarded by Diapason Magazine and was subsequently re-released on Bayard Musique recording label in 2008. He has recorded two new CDs for the collection of Bayard Musique Meditation including a Disc with flutist Florence Bellon and another with harpist Joanna Kozielska. More recently, he recorded an all Bach CD for Naxos label which includes an impressive and unprecedented performance of Bach’s second keyboard partita transcription on the classical guitar.

Born in 1973 in Paris, he began playing the guitar at age 7 attending the Conservatoire Municipal Inter-districts of Paris. He studied with Delia Estrada and Raymond Gratien at the Ecole Nationale d'Aulnay-sous-Bois where he graduated with honors.  At age 11, he performed as soloist in two concertos by Vivaldi with Ensemble Instrumental du Mans, under the direction of André Girard and continued his musical studies with Roberto Aussel and Daniel Lavialle. At 14, he won second prize at the International guitar competition of Ile de France. In 1992, he won the grand prize and audience prize at the 15th Concours international de guitare René Bartoli by unanimous jury decision. In 1994, he received Licence de Concert from Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris from Alberto Ponce’s class and later that year he was awarded the 1st prize at the 7th International Competition of Bourg-Madame where the final vote was by the general public without any jury. In 1996, he was the first prize winner of his graduating class at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris (Paris Conservatoire). He currently resides in Paris while he enjoys teaching at the Pôle Sup' 93, Lille’s apPSEA (Association de préfiguration du Pôle supérieur d'enseignements artistiques) Nord-Pas-de-Calais and the Ecole Nationale de Musique d'Aulnay-sous-Bois a position he has held since 2004 while traveling and concertizing around the world.

Contact:

Adam Larison
Adjunct Instructor, Music
alarison@kent.edu
330-244-5071