GGQ News

2011-03-14T06:01:00.000-07:00

Members of the Georgia Guitar Quartet, Odd Trio, Maps and Transit and the Musicsmiths will be performing “Daedalus, a work by Brian Smith” with special guest appearances by vocalists Stephanie Tingler and Joseph Hitchcock. The work follows the life of the Greek inventor Daedalus and is paired with aerial dance by members and students of Canopy Studio Repertory as well as belly dance and ancient dance by Tara Faragoza of the Shakti project.

"Daedalus was the Greek inventor of Athens who was banished to Crete when he attempted to murder his nephew in a jealous rage. While in Crete, he worked for king Minos where he created the wooden cow for Pasiphae, the labrynth to house the Minotaur, and the waxen wings for his son Icarus. Upon the death of his son, Daedalus moved to Sicily where he was taken in by king Cocalus and continually hunted down by king Minos until Minos was killed by King Cocalus’s daughters. After Minos’s death, Daedalus finally returned to Athens to finish out his last days at the home of his birth."

Saturday, March 19th, 7pm
Sunday, March 20th, 3pm
at Canopy Studio

$5 Suggested Donation

Featured Performers:

Kyle Dawkins, guitar/electronica

Marc Gilley, saxophone

Tara Faragoza, floor dance

Joseph Hitchcock, baritone

Alison Mueller, violin

Todd Mueller, percussion

Julie Phillips, aerials

Audrey Smith, aerials

Brian Smith, guitar/electronica

Natalie Smith, flute/aerials

Phil Snyder, cello

Stephanie Tingler, soprano

2010-12-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

We have a few things we'd like to update everyone on as we wind up 2010. First, we're reposting some of our favorite live holiday performances as a Christmas mp3 gift from all of us: Jason Solomon's arrangement of "The Little Drummer Boy" (with quotes and references from Maurice Ravel's Bolero) followed by Brian Smith's inventive take on "Carol of the Bells." The performances were recorded at Hodgson Hall in Athens, Georgia. Enjoy!

click HERE to download

As a preview to our upcoming GGQ Publications feature which will allow you to download the sheet music to some of our pieces, we thought we would offer as a free download, the score and parts for Brian Smith's arrangement of Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi from "A Charlie Brown Christmas"

Linus and Lucy (score)

L/L Guitar One

L/L Guitar Two

L/L Guitar Three

L/L Guitar Four

Also, here's a video from a recent performance in Brasstown, NC

Our Google Page is up now with updated videos, purchasing links for our music on Amazon, the Internets, etc.

2010-12-04T06:20:00.000-08:00

Georgia Guitar Quartet & Robert Sims from Paul Hamilton on Vimeo.

from Paul Hamilton:
"As a pianist I have collaborated with Robert since 1997 - we are long time friends/colleagues. His talent is immeasurable. In 1999 he won the Gold Medal in the American Traditions Competition, in Savannah, Georgia. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2005, and returned to Carnegie Hall in 2009 as a guest of Jessye Norman, as part of her HONOR! festival. I was fortunate to play the piano for him on his second appearance, and this was my Carnegie Hall debut. We're performing together in Gibraltar this month (Dec. 20)!

His new partnership with the GGQ is nothing less than extraordinary. Their arrangements are completely original: with Southern twang and classical arch! Their artistry is of the highest calibre.

Caleb Vinson and I filmed this with two Canon 7D's, in Dekalb, Illinois. The audio was recorded live."

2010-10-21T09:25:00.000-07:00

We'll be adding a new feature to this site soon enabling you to purchase and download the sheet music to some of the pieces we've been performing in our concerts. Thanks to all of you who have been inquiring over the years as to where to purchase our arrangements and transcriptions. We're glad to finally be able to offer this service to you. We'll be adding pieces gradually once the page goes live. Stay tuned!

2010-01-08T10:03:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned to THIS PAGE for more info/samples from our collaborations with baritone Robert Sims.

2009-12-09T07:27:00.000-08:00

We recently released a new EP with our friend and amazing lyric baritone Robert Sims, who we began working with in early 2008. Collaborating with a vocalist is something we hadn’t really considered much until we heard Robert’s incredibly moving voice and his inventive take on early African American spirituals. We were eager to see what would result. Brian went to work on arrangements that could work for both the quartet and Robert, and together, they came up with a collection of songs that blew us away.

Among them is Leonard Bernstein’s “Simple Song,” a piece commisioned in honor of JFK, a Delta blues-style rendition of the traditional spiritual “Two Wings,” and a haunting and beautiful arrangement of Bob Dylan’s legendary “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

The GGQ/SIMS ensemble had our debut performance at Martha’s Vineyard in July, 2008 and it was clear the audience was as moved by the songs as we were. On the spot we were invited to return to play the series at Martha’s Vineyard the following year (though sadly that series came to an untimely end before that was realized). We have a number of shows scheduled with Robert in 2010 (we'll be posting these dates soon on our concert page). The EP will be available to purchase online soon so keep checking this page for further updates.

2009-08-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

We recently held our second annual Quartet Retreat in the beautiful mountains of western North Carolina, where we learned a lot of new pieces for the upcoming concert season. We worked on Phil’s arrangements of Grieg and Prokofiev, Jason’s arrangements of two Villa-Lobos études, two new compositions by Brian, and Kyle’s arrangement of a Radiohead song. We also revisited some Renaissance dances by Praetorious and a work by Jason entitled Rung. We are excited to incorporate this music into our program.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming GGQ/Sims EP, which features 5 songs from our collaboration with lyric baritone Robert Sims. The songs, all of which were arranged by Brian, run the gamut from spirituals, to blues, to folk tunes. We hope to have the EP available soon!

Finally, we have instituted a new guitar workshop to occur every summer at Western Carolina University. “Guitar in the Mountains: First Annual Classical and Contemporary Guitar Workshop in Cullowhee with the Georgia Guitar Quartet” will take place July 7–10, 2010. More details to come.

Thanks for visiting our site!

2009-04-22T15:56:00.001-07:00

Kyle Dawkins recently contributed a track for "Exsanguinette", the new album from Athens composer and multi-instrumentalist Killick. The band consists of Liz Allbee on trumpet, shell and electronics; Larry Ochs from Rova Saxaphone Quartet on tenor and sopranino saxophones, and Brann Dailor (from Atlanta metal band Mastodon) Kyle's track is an electronic piece called "Form Constant" and features Killick on H'arpeggionne, Delene Porter on vocals and Brann on drums.

The album was recorded by Tom Lewis at John Keane's studio in Athens, Georgia and recently mastered at Chase Park Transduction (also in Athens). The beautiful artwork which accompanies the album was designed by renowned tattoo artist and former Athenian Watson Atkinson. More info on the official release date and places to retrieve the album coming soon.

©Rinne Allen

2009-04-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

The Quartet will be featured on a broadcast of The Atlanta Music Scene on Atlanta Public Radio WABE 90.1 FM. If you're in the Atlanta, Georgia area, tune in May 4, at 9:00pm. The featured performance will be from our recent concert in Hodgson Hall in Athens, Georgia. A special highlight will be a performance of Wheels, recently written for us by UGA theory and composition professor Leonard V. Ball and premiered at this performance.

The Atlanta Music Scene is a series of classical performances from venues all around Metro Atlanta. The series is made possible in part by a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts, a member agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

2009-04-16T22:11:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder to those in the Athens, Georgia area - be sure to check out a performance from Our New Silence this Saturday at Ramsey Hall on the campus of UGA at 8:30pm.

Musicians Involved - Kai Riedl, Suny Lyons, Heather Mcintosh, Kyle Dawkins, Killick, Page Campbell, Josh Mckay, Jay Nackashi, Roger Stahl, Tim Hankins and more.

"Our New Silence is a collective of various musicians from Athens Georgia that are remixing/reinterpreting/abstracting music from Java Indonesia that has been documented by the Javasounds recording project produced by UGA Religion Asian studies professor Kai Riedl. This is a rare chance to hear some of Athens’s most creative musicians, learn about an unfamiliar part of the Islamic world, and enter the soundscape of another country in a particularly Athens, Georgia fashion." Hear on Myspace.

Athens Banner Herald
Red and Black
Flagpole Magazine

2009-03-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

The Quartet was recently featured on WITF Pennsylvania Public Radio's Classical Air radio broadcast.

CLICK HERE to listen to the podcast.

2009-02-17T07:26:00.000-08:00

Phil's arrangement of Chopin's "Etude op. 10 no. 3" has been published by Productions d'Oz and is available for purchase through their website.

Click over to the media page to listen to our performance of this piece on our album "Mosaic" or check out the live performance from our 2007 concert at LaGrange College below.

2008-12-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

Tune in next Wednesday, December 17th to American Public Media's Performance Today to hear a few selections from our Sept. 21st Hugh Hodgson Hall performance in Athens, Ga.

American Public Media's Performance Today is broadcast on 245 public radio stations across the country and is heard by about 1.1 million people each week. Each station individually decides what time to air the program. To find out where and when Performance Today is broadcast in your area, please visit performancetoday.org

2008-12-03T06:10:00.000-08:00

In November, we performed the final concert of what turned out to be a very busy and very fun fall season--one that included stops in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, Mississippi, and concluded in our home state of Georgia.

The last few months have brought to fruition many projects begun during the summer: we debuted new works written for us by Nikita Koshkin, Leonard V. Ball, Jr., and our own Kyle Dawkins, and we also recorded a number of Brian Smith's arrangements for our collaboration with lyric baritone Robert Sims, which we premiered at Martha's Vineyard this past July.

We sincerely thank everyone who came to hear us play this year. It's a thrill to share our music with you, and while it will be nice to have some downtime, we look forward to hitting the concert stage again in January and hope to see you at future shows. Our winter and spring schedule will bring us to New York City, Panama City Beach, Fla., and various cities in Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Iowa. We also have a two-week residency in the Quad Cities area during the spring.

In the meantime, we're editing and mastering the 6–7 track demo EP that we recorded with Robert Sims in Athens back in November. We will soon be posting some photos and mp3s of our collaboration.

Below is a clipping from the recent issue of the University of Georgia Magazine (Vol. 88, No. 1) that mentions our "homecoming" concert in Athens this past September.

Thanks for your support, and be sure to check out the recent video clips on our Youtube channel.
-GGQ

2008-10-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

We just returned from an exciting tour of New England, where we performed six shows in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and two different towns in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We had a great time performing the recent additions to our program (Koshkin, Ball, Dawkins) to receptive and responsive audiences. We also really enjoyed working with the bright students at the Loomis Chaffee School (Windsor, CT) as well as the talented guitarists at Keene State College. All in all, we had a really fun week together making music, eating copious amounts of clam chowder, and goofing around. Here is a video that sums up the tone of the entire trip.

2008-09-29T06:35:00.000-07:00

Georgia Guitar Quartet honors mentor John Sutherland
By Chris Starrs | Athens Banner Herald | 9/17/2008

On Sunday, September 21 we performed a "homecoming" concert in Athens, GA at Hodgson Hall on the UGA campus. It has been over 5 years since we have performed in this venue, and it was a thrilling experience to perform there again. This hall has some of the best acoustics in the Southeast, if not the entire country. Our program ranged from the first piece that we ever performed together some 12 years ago (The Cat's Fugue by Domenico Scarlatti) to the world premiere of a piece entitled Wheels composed for us by Leonard V. Ball, Jr. We also performed the Suite for Four Guitars that we had commissioned from Nikita Koshkin and the second of Two Repaired Movements by our very own Kyle Dawkins. It was so great to see so many longtime friends at this concert. Thanks to everybody who was able to make it out!

The concert was dedicated to our teacher and mentor John Sutherland. John has taught at UGA since 1971 and is still going strong. If you know anything about the classical guitar, you know who this man is. Besides being responsible for forming our quartet, John gave us invaluable feedback and constructive criticism during our formative years (and beyond). He is an outstanding pedagogue and friend who has touched the lives of countless people—guitarists and non-guitarists alike. A core component of John's teaching philosophy can be summed up as follows: He does not produce guitarists; rather, he produces musicians whose medium is the guitar. He has taught us to love music first and the guitar second—the latter merely being the means to the former.

On a separate note, our twin albums Mosaic and Puzzle both received favorable reviews by Al Kunze in the most recent issue of Soundboard Magazine (34.3, p. 107). These albums are "twins" only because they were "conceived" and recorded at the same time. They were actually born about three years apart (Puzzle being the younger sibling). Our good friends The Athens Guitar Trio also received a great review of their debut recording entitled Emergence in the same issue (p. 106). These guys sound great, so check them out if you get the chance!

2008-08-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

We just returned from a performance at the Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City, Utah. We had a fantastic time and premiered two new works: The second movement of Two Repaired Movements by Kyle Dawkins and the Suite for Four Guitars by Nikita Koshkin. These new additions to the program went over very well with the crowd, and we look forward to performing them during our upcoming concert season.

While in Park City, we gave a salon performance at the beautiful home of Sheldon and Sandy Urlik. Sheldon is a collector of fine classical guitars, and he graciously showed us his collection. He owns the Torres guitar that belonged to none other than Francisco Tárrega! The guitar sounds amazing--it is loud and perfectly balanced. The playability and sonic quality of this instrument inspired Tárrega to write such beautiful works as Recuerdos de la Alhambra, Adelita, and the Gran Vals (from which the Nokia tune is taken). Sheldon let each one of us play this guitar, which was an overwhelming experience that we'll never forget.

To order Sheldon's book that profiles his collection CLICK HERE.

2008-07-30T13:20:00.000-07:00

We recently spent a week in the beautiful area of Waynesville, NC at the
amazing Fuller Cabin. Special thanks to Emmett and Melanie Fuller for
allowing us into their fantastic home. While on the retreat, we
learned some new music that we're very excited about. Leonard V. Ball,
Jr., a professor of composition at the University of Georgia, composed
a work for us entitled Wheels. This is one of the most challenging—and
also most interesting—musical works we have ever played. The piece is
written in a highly contemporary style but has an abundance of
infectious rhythms and well-developed themes that make it very
accessible. We look forward to premiering it in Athens this coming
September.

We also learned the Suite for Four Guitars that we had commissioned
from Nikita Koshkin and received from him about a year ago. The 3
movements of this work are very idiomatic and fun to play. The work is
somewhat of a departure from his first quartet, Changing the Guard. It
features the trademark Koshkin harmonies, themes, and rhythms that
anyone familiar with his output will recognize. He achieves a
remarkable variety of texture and color with this work, and the slow
second movement is pensive and heartbreaking. We think this suite will
go over well with audiences.

Finally, we learned one of Kyle's latest tunes: the second movement of
his Two Repaired Movements. This is a rock tune that truly rocks.
Think Appalachian folk music meets Tool meets Radiohead, all combined
with Kyle's unique voice. It features percussion, surprising rhythmic
changes, power chords, Bartók pizzicato, and wonderful themes that you
will never be able to get out of your head.

In addition to these brand new pieces, we also revisited 3 selections
from Estampes by F. M. Torroba: La Boda, Camino del Molino, and Juegos
Infantiles. We are excited to incorporate these pieces back into our
program…it has been nearly 8 years since we last performed them!

This porch setting is where we rehearsed 4–5 hours a day
for the entire week. The mountains were both inspiring and
distracting.

2008-07-10T13:34:00.000-07:00

We just flew in from Martha's Vineyard where we played a concert with the amazing lyric baritone Robert Sims. Robert's incredibly moving interpretations of African American spirituals are really something to behold and we had a blast collaborating with him. The concert took place in a beautiful wrought iron tabernacle dating back to 1879. Many thanks go out to all who made this a very special night for all five of us and to Brian Smith for his stunning arrangements which made up the bulk of the program.

2008-03-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

We have recently re-released our 1999 album entitled "A Live Portrait." This recording has been out of print for a while and is now available exclusively online.

The album is a collection of live performances from the years 1997-1999. Recorded in various venues around the state of Georgia, "A Live Portrait" is a 25 track document from the early years of our group and offers a rare glimpse at some of our favorite moments on stage together.

Tracklisting:
1-4 from Estampas - Federico Moreno Torroba
5 Intermezzo op. 118 #2 - Johannes Brahms
6-8 Quartet in D major - Georg Phillip Telemann
9 Funeral March of a Marrionette - Charles Gounod
10 Reverie - Claude Debussy
11 Linus and Lucy - Vince Guaraldi
12 The Old Castle - Modest Mussorgsky
13 Changing the Guard - Nikita Koshkin
14 - 17 Four Dances from Terpsichore - Michael Praetorius
18-22 Lullaby with toothfairy - Jason W. Solomoni
23-24 Introduction and Fandango - Luigi Boccherini
25 Georgia on my Mind - Hoagy Carmichael

As of right now, we're offering the album via Itunes with more online retailers to be added. Click the icon below to begin downloading.

2008-01-09T06:23:00.000-08:00

We hope everyone is settling into the New Year. 2008 is shaping up to be an exciting and busy time so we thought we'd kick things off with a few updates.

Jason Solomon has a fascinating new article out in the current issue of Soundboard Magazine. The article is entitled "Found in Translation: De-Sublimation and Spatialization in Guitar Transcriptions."

To order the current issue click HERE.

Also, a few reviews of our new album Puzzle:

FLAGPOLE MAGAZINE
SEA OF TRANQUILITY

The concert schedule will be updated soon with new dates for 2008 so keep an eye out in the coming weeks. A few highlights will be a return to the Deer Valley Music Festival this summer in Salt Lake City, a performance at Martha's Vineyard with baritone Robert Sims and a performance in our hometown of Athens, GA at the amazing Hugh Hodgeson Concert Hall.

And finally, a little inspiration for the New Year:

2007-09-07T11:08:00.000-07:00

To access Puzzle's special features CLICK HERE.

2007-07-20T09:01:00.000-07:00

Today we have officially finished work on our new album Puzzle! We wrapped up the artwork last night and the final master was mailed off to the manufacturer this morning. We are all relieved and very excited to see this album finally come to fruition. Working on this project has taken us to a new place as a band and the album itself is different than anything we've done so far. Having immersed ourselves in this music over the last few years, both in the studio and out on tour, we're finally getting the chance to share it as a complete album. To preview tracks from Puzzle click HERE.

Stay tuned as we will be posting more info on the official release date, upcoming concerts, and some background info on the music itself.

2007-05-05T09:41:00.000-07:00

This month's edition of Guitar Review features an article contributed by Jason Solomon. The article is entitled "What Every Guitarist Should Know: A Guide to the Prevention and Rehabilitation of Focal Hand Dystonia."

To order the current issue click HERE.

2007-03-26T11:12:00.000-07:00

Jason recently spoke to Rebecca Ritzel of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal about the history of the Quartet, the ever-evolving music scene in Athens, Georgia, and our mentor John Sutherland.

Click HERE to read the story.

2007-03-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who came out to hear us in Florida. We had a blast and enjoyed seeing so many new faces.

We were also amazed at (and grateful for) the disproportionate amount of AC/DC on the Florida radio dial.

And so we're back home, rested up, and getting ready for our upcoming concerts in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. For ticket info in these areas please visit the concert schedule.

A recap of our Flagler museum performance appeared in The Palm Beach Daily News

Also, an interesting blurb turned up Wednesday in The Ledger.

2007-02-13T16:52:00.001-08:00

Some interesting words about our website and recent appearance at the Singletary Center in Lexinton, Ky appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader.

We also just finished listening to one of our final versions of "Puzzle" in the van on the way from Mississippi to Arkansas. We're finally in the homestretch with this album and can't wait to share it with you all.

2007-01-10T12:16:00.000-08:00

We hope to be able to tell you more about "Puzzle", our upcoming album in the weeks ahead. Stay tuned!

2006-12-13T09:52:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the season we thought we'd offer up a couple of live holiday performances; Jason Solomon's arrangement of "The Little Drummer Boy" (with quotes and references from Maurice Ravel's Bolero) followed by Brian Smith's inventive take on "Carol of the Bells." The performances were recorded at Hodgson Hall in Athens, Georgia. Enjoy!

click HERE to download

2006-11-13T12:19:00.001-08:00

Hello. As you can see we're upgrading our news page to something a little more manageable. Some older items are still making their way back into the archives so things may look a little different for awhile.

A new date has been added: April 10.07 at Concord University in West Virginia. To view the complete schedule click here.

Some things to look for in next year's programs: We're bringing back a few pieces from older days (an Intermezzo by Brahms, and some pieces by Grieg) and premiering a few new original works and arrangements. In the meantime, keep an eye out for concerts in your area.

Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

2006-09-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Phil Snyder's article on the music of Alberto Ginastera has recently been published by Soundboard Magazine, Vol XXXI, No. 4. The article is entitled 'The Music of Alberto Ginastera, A Fertile Source for Guitar Transcriptions'.

To order the current issue click HERE.

To listen to the Ginastera, please visit the MEDIA PAGE

2006-08-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

QUARTET'S OWN ARE NIGHT'S BEST
story by Rebecca C. Howard (published in the Deseret Morning News on Sunday August 13

GUITAR QUARTET PERFORMS - AND WRITES
story by Rebecca C. Howard (published in the Deseret Morning News on Saturday August 19)

2006-05-19T12:20:00.000-07:00

We just flew in from Los Angeles and are now settling back into life here in sunny GA. We had an amazing time performing at the Cerritos Center with our friends in the Santa Fe Guitar Quartet. The Cerritos Center is hands-down one of the most spectacular concert halls we've ever played in. The sound there is incredible and the staff was awesome too.

Click below to read an excellent recap on the show.

STRING FEVER CLEANS UP AT CERITOS
(story by Glen Creason published in the Cerritos Community News on Saturday May 13)

We'd also like to extend some love to Jason who just arrived in China a couple of days ago and is no doubt nursing some serious jetlag. Keep us posted on your trip man!

2006-04-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

2006-03-21T11:17:00.000-08:00

Two new live videos are now posted in the media section. The performances are from a recent concert we did at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation near our hometown in Athens, GA. Special thanks to Qiao Solomon for documenting the concert.

Also in the media section is a new mp3 clip from our upcoming album Puzzle.

2006-03-17T14:15:00.000-08:00

The Georgia Guitar Quartet turns 10.
story by Chris J. Stars (published in the Athens Banner Herald March 16, 2006)

Georgia Guitar Quartet Puts ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll’ in Chamber Music
story by Suzanne Ramsey (published in the SBC news March 8, 2006)

2006-03-15T22:06:00.000-08:00

Hello! We just returned from a two night stint in New York. We played at the CSI Center for the Arts and and the Gibson Theatre at Elmira College. Both shows were sold-out, so thanks to everybody who came out! During this little tour, we premiered two new works: an outstanding new piece by Brian entitled “Sketches” and the Fugue No. 4 in C#-minor by J.S. Bach. You can expect to hear both of these works on our upcoming concerts.

We are also currently working on several other new works, including “Wheels” by Leonard V. Ball, Jr., and “Two Repaired Movements” by Kyle Dawkins. We also have new arrangements of music by Bartok, Bach, and Grieg in the works.

We are still planning on completing “Puzzle”—an album that has been on the backburner for quite a while now. In fact, we fear that it might become our equivalent of Brian Wilson’s “Smile.” This album features all original compositions. All of the slated tracks are recorded, and we are still wrapping up the production work. We hope to have it out sometime during the summer...but of course, you’ve heard this all before.