2012 Hartt School Guitar Festival Welcomes Scott Tennant, 7/23-27

The Hartt School Guitar Department presents the 2012 Hartt School Guitar Festival from Monday, July 23, through Friday, July 27. International concert artist and pedagogue Scott Tennant 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. Visit www.theharttschoolguitardepartment.com or contact Christopher Ladd at ladd@hartford.edu or 860-966-7696for more information.

Scott Tennant, Christopher Ladd, and Richard Provost conduct daily master classes designed to improve students’ technique, musicianship, and performance skills. 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 23 – Richard Provost, Christopher Ladd, and Scott Tennant

Wednesday, July 25 – Alturas Duo, with guest Melanie Chirignan

Thursday, July 26 – Daniel Hartington

Friday, July 22 – Student Recital

Scott Tennant is considered to be one of the world’s premiere guitar virtuosos, and is a favorite guest artist with orchestras, music series, and major guitar festivals around the world. He is a founding member of the Grammy®-winning ensemble L.A. Guitar Quartet, now in their 30th year. He has made numerous recordings as a soloist on the GHA and Delos labels, and with members of the LAGQ he has recorded for GHA, Delos, Sony Classical, Windham Hill, Deutsche Grammophon, and Telarc labels. Their Telarc release “LAGQ LATIN” was nominated for a Grammy®, and it was their Telarc title “LAGQ’S GUITAR HEROES” which won a Grammy® as the best classical crossover recording of 2005.

Mr. Tennant is well known as a teacher and author, currently with eight books to his name. His first book, Pumping Nylon, is an advanced book on classical guitar technique and is used by students and teachers alike in most of the world’s major guitar programs. It has attained a kind of “cult status,” being hailed as the only book of its kind. Tennant lives in the Los Angeles area, and is on the faculties of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.

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, ME.

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.

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts school 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.

Photo: Scott Tennant