The next outstanding live performance of the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra’s 35th season will take place on Sunday, October 16, at 5pm in Rudder Theatre. CHI St. Joseph Health is the official sponsor of this concert as well as the entire “Positively WICKED” 2016-17 BVSO Season. This music program, presented in collaboration with the Texas A&M University International Guitar Symposium and Competition, will feature the Spanish flavor of selections from Carmen, as well as two works featuring the guitar. Maestro Marcelo Bussiki and the orchestra will join forces with the exciting and vibrant Texas Guitar Quartet. “The quartet plays as one person . . . Impeccable in every respect!” (Classical Guitar Magazine).
What: “Festival of Guitars”
When: Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 5:00pm.
Where: Rudder Theatre on Texas A&M University Campus in College Station.
Program: Bizet; Carmen Suite No. 1 Bizet; Carmen Suite No. 2 Vivaldi Concerto for Four Guitars, RV 580, B minor Rodrigo Concierto Andaluz Guest Artists! Texas Guitar Quartet Isaac Bustos, Jonathan Dotson, Alejandro Montiel, Joseph V. Williams II
Concert Sponsor: CHI St. Joseph Health. This concert is presented in collaboration with the Texas A&M University International Guitar Symposium and Competition.
Maestro Bussiki conscientiously crafts each concert for our audiences. Each music program typically begins with one piece of music and is built from there. “There aren’t many guitar concertos for four guitars, so we talked about a couple of those with the quartet and decided on the Concierto Andaluz,” explained Bussiki. “The audience will love it . . . it’s a very good piece of music, very well written. It shows a lot from the guitarists—the virtuoso aspects of the guitarists, but it is also very melodic and spirited.”
Next, the Concerto for Four Guitars was added to the program, which is actually an adaptation of Vivaldi’s original work: Concerto for Four Violins. The orchestra will play the original score as written by the composer but the guitar parts were enhanced by the Texas Guitar Quartet to improve the sound for the alternate instrument.
Dr. Isaac Bustos, one of the quartet members, explains what they added, “Even though we are reading it right off of the original score, we added bass notes to make it more guitar like. In the second movement, for example, we harmonized the solos. We filled in the textures to make the guitars sound bigger, give the allusion of sustain and, as a result, made it more conversational with the orchestra.”
To complete the story of how the formulation for the concert was put together, Busski said, “But then what is it that you put with the rest of the program? What is something that has a more Spanish flavor? One of the members of the quartet mentioned the Carmen Suites to round out the concert and that’s how it happened.”
The Texas Guitar Quartet not only played a big part in selecting the music for this concert, they will of course play a big “part” in the concert as well, performing both the Vivadi and the Rodrigo with the BVSO. The Texas Guitar Quartet consists of four independently talented classical guitarists, all of whom have won countless competition awards and each holding prominent positions at different universities in Texas. These four formidable musicians have banded together to form the TXGQ with a goal to present orchestral/chamber music of the highest quality and have, “developed an exciting repertoire by commissioning new works and creating their own arrangements and compositions,” according to their bio. Dr. Bustos is the local connection, on faculty at Texas A&M University Department of Performance Studies where he is Director of Guitar Studies and main organizer of the International Guitar Symposium and Competition partnering with the BVSO for this concert.
“We are thrilled to be doing this concert with the BVSO. More than anything, we are thrilled to be working with Marcelo, who is such an incredible musician and a great advocate for the arts in the Bryan/College Station area. So, for the Texas Guitar Quartet, the Department of Performance Studies and I, it is an absolute joy to collaborate and share the stage with him,” said Bustos. “Marcelo was a part of the first competition in 2010 as a judge, and we have been discussing how to collaborate again since that time. It’s something that has been in the works for 6 years, so it’s wonderful that it has come to fruition now,” Bustos continued.
Interested patrons can attend other guitar symposium performances taking place October 14 through 16 as well. Visit www.perf.tamu.edu/guitar/ for more information and to purchase tickets to those events.
BVSO patrons can also enjoy free pre-concert talks one hour prior to each subscription performance in the Rudder Theatre Complex. Ann Thompson will again present her delightful and witty insights into the composers, the history, and meaning behind the music. Then after each subscription concert, a patron social hour at Napa Flats will keep the enjoyment going to top off an exquisite evening of music and entertainment. The Maestro and select guest artists are scheduled to attend these socials as well.
“We are so excited about joining forces with the Texas Guitar Quartet on this concert,” said Executive Director Mary Koeninger. “Not only will audiences hear an incredible guitar ensemble performing with the talented musicians of the BVSO, but you will hear favorites from Bizet’s Carmen and the beautiful Concierto Andaluz! Get tickets for this concert early as there will be an even greater demand than usual from A&M faculty, staff, and students due to the symposium element.”
Individual tickets to all concerts are on sale now at the MSC Box Office, $39/adult and $13/student advance; $44/adult and $16/student at the door. Call (979) 845-1234 or go on-line to www.boxoffice.tamu.edu. Visit www.bvso.org for more information or call the Symphony Office (979) 696-6100 with any further questions.
About the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra: The BVSO is a non-profit performing arts organization with the mission to maintain a symphony of high artistic standards, and to promote the musical arts for cultural and education purposes in the Brazos Valley. For more information about the Symphony's 2016-2017 Season, please visit the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra Web site at www.bvso.org.
