Pablo Sainz-Villegas Joins Pacific Symphony For Guitar Festival

"Master of guitar" Pablo Sáinz-Villegas joins Pacific Symphony for a special guitar festival, conducted by Carlos Izcaray for three nights, Thurs., May 2 through Sat., May 4. This unique festival includes music featuring a combination of both guitar and orchestra, with such favorites as Ravel's "Rapsodie Espagnole," Rodrigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez" and Piazzolla's "Libertango" for Guitar and Strings. Before the Thursday and Friday concerts, enjoy free pre-show music in the Argyros Plaza by local guitar students from 6:30-7:45 p.m. Before the Saturday show, popular YouTube guitar teacher Marty Schwartz of "Marty Music" will be hosting and curating a free 2-hour celebration of guitar in popular music, along with special guests, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. This guitar festival includes a recital with Sáinz-Villegas at 4 p.m. on May 4 in the Samueli Theater's intimate setting.

The evening's concerts begin at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 6:45 p.m. for a preview talk hosted by Alan Chapman at 7 p.m. Tickets for the evening's concerts start at $25; Sáinz-Villegas' Guitar Recital tickets are $15. For more information or to purchase tickets, call (714) 755-5799 or visit the website, www.PacificSymphony.org. The Thursday night performance is generously sponsored by Avenue of the Arts Costa Mesa, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. The Friday night performance is generously sponsored by Symphony 100. The Saturday night performance is generously sponsored by the Board of Counselors.

Inspired by the gardens at Palacio Real de Aranjuez, the Spanish spring resort palace, "Concierto de Aranjuez," this concert's centerpiece, is a guitar concerto by the famed Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. The work attempts to transport the listener to another place and time through the evocation of the sounds of nature. According to Rodrigo, the first movement is "animated by a rhythmic spirit and vigour without either of the two themes ... interrupting its relentless pace"; the second movement "represents a dialogue between guitar and solo instruments"; and the last movement "recalls a courtly dance in which the combination of double and triple time maintains a taut tempo right to the closing bar." He described the concerto itself as capturing "the fragrance of magnolias, the singing of birds and the gushing of fountains" in the gardens of Aranjuez.

Photo Credit: Paul Wagtouicz

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