Preservation New Jersey presents Aaron Larget-Caplan in 1867 Sanctuary.

March 22nd, 2018 by bob 1 comment »

When: 8:00 p.m., Wednesday, April 18
Where: 1867 Sanctuary at Ewing, 101 Scotch Road, Ewing, NJ
Info: http://www.1867sanctuary.org/event/bach-to-today-aaron-larget-caplan-classical-guitar/
Tickets can be purchased online or reserved at the box office for payment by cash, check or credit card by calling 609-392-6409 or emailing: 1867sanctuary@preservationnj.org

Bach to Today – Music from Japan, India, Europe, Russia, USA, by J.S. Bach, Modest Mussorgsky, John Cage, Vineet Shende and Keigo Fujii. Featuring New Jersey premieres of Shende, and Aaron’s arrangements of Bach and Cage.

 

 

April Meeting

March 19th, 2018 by bob No comments »

These pieces were played at the April 15 meeting in Wayne:

Francis Braunlich (tenor recorder & tenor whistle) & Robert Ey (Irish bouzouki)

  • Miss McLeod’s Reel
  • Port Sgian
  • Portsmouth
  • Irish Lamentation
  • The Butterfly

Irene Ey (soprano) & Robert Ey (Irish bouzouki)

  • A Cowboy’s Hard Times — Bill Staines

David Starbuck

  • Four Studies — Fernando Sor

Anthony Campanella

  • Dininha
  • Black Orpheus — Luis Bonfa
  • Love is the Sweetest Thing — Ray Noble

 Kevin Lutke

  • Suite for Guitar — Kevin Lutke

Jim Tosone

  • Blackbird — Lennon/McCartney, arr. Soren Madsen
  • Here, There, and Everywhere — “

Jeff Griesemer

  • Slieve Russell/Port Skeain — Trad., arr. Jeff Griesemer
  • Manha de Carnival — Luis Bonfa, arr. Jeff Griesemer

Jeffrey Wilt

  • Adelita — Tarrega
  • Lagrima — “
  • If You Were Here — Per-Olov Kindgren

Gary Lee

  • The Banks of Doon — Robert Burns
  • Choro No. 2 — Armando Neves
  • Cancion del Emperador — Luys de Narvaez

New York Classical Guitar Society Presents Frank Wallace and Nancy Knowles

March 19th, 2018 by bob No comments »

Guitarist/composer Frank Wallace and mezzo-soprano/poet Nancy Knowles are an acclaimed duo pioneering their own outstanding body of original contemporary art song with classical guitar. Touring throughout North and South America and Europe since 1979, they have numerous recordings on the Gyre label.

Tuesday, April 24, 2018, at 7:30 PM
Diller-Quaile School of Music, 24 East 95th Street, New York City

Program:
Music of Mertz, Tárrega, Sagreras, Villa-Lobos, Rodrigo, and Wallace

Ticket information

Letter from Tom Silver

March 19th, 2018 by bob 1 comment »
Hi Guys,
 
This may come as a shocker but I’m suspending all of my guitar activities, probably for at least the next several years.  No more recordings or gigs during that time, and in fact, probably little or no practice.  All of my life I’ve only been able to focus on one big thing (to me) at a time, whether it was business, finance, or music.  Never been able to compartmentalize.  The reality is that after retiring 12 years ago and doing almost nothing but guitar all day every day for the last 10 years, I’m burned out.  Daily practice became something I wasn’t looking forward to anymore, but more of a chore. That’s not good, so I need to give it a rest.
 
But the coup de grace is a new focus – Japan and Japanese woodblock prints.  Starting last winter I became interested in these subjects and basically turned my website over to them in terms of everything new I wrote for the site on “Tom’s Take”.  After my articles amounted to 10 – 12,000 words I kind of decided to develop them into a full-fledged book, with illustrations from my own print collection.  Whether this ever goes to completion I don’t know, but I’m acting on that assumption.  Talk is cheap before the hard work begins!
 
What’s so great about this is that I come to the subject at ground zero – before this year I knew almost nothing about Japan or their prints.  So it’s the steepest possible learning curve, but endless material to work with. Japan is a fascinating culture going back thousands of years, but my focus will start 400 years ago, which happens to be an important dividing line in Japanese history.  I’m completely into it on a daily basis, so there’s no room for another obsession.  There’s a ton of reading to be done but I’m doing it slowly and building my knowledge base from the ground up.

I wish you all the best, and will stay in touch.  Hope you will do the same and keep me on your mailing lists.

 

Tom

Robert Stephen Norman ( April 25, 1947 – May 04, 2008 )

March 19th, 2018 by bob No comments »

Robert Stephen Norman, 61, of Lawrenceville died on Sunday at his home of metastatic prostate cancer.

Born in New London, CT, he was a Lawrenceville resident since 1994 after living in New York City for 30 years. Bob graduated form Columbia University in 1969 with a degree in English Literature. Bob had been a copy editor for Business Week Magazine for twenty years, but his passion and true vocation was music. He was a well-known singer/songwriter folksinger locally and across the country for over 30 years. From 1970 to 1977, he was editor-in-chief of Sing Out!, and was on its board until 1990. His CD titles include: Romantic Nights on the Upper Westside; To the Core; Love, Lust, and Lilacs; and Time Takin’ Man. His music fused varied influences of blues, country, contemporary folk, and classical guitar writing about topics ranging from the streets of New York to local life in Lawrenceville.

Son of the late Victor and Francis (Sharaf) Norman and brother of the late Jon Norman, he is survived by his wife Clara Haignere, his son Samuel Norman-Haignere, his nephew Daniel Norman, and his nieces: Forest Cattich and Martina Norman Botinelli.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday at 11 AM at Poulson & Van Hise Funeral Directors, 650 Lawrence Road, Lawrenceville. Burial will be in the Lawrenceville Cemetery. The family extends an invitation to friends to come to their home at K18 Shirley Lane, Lawrenceville after the burial.

In lieu of flowers, please tax-deductible donations can be made to Sing Out! Magazine (P.O. Box 5460 Bethlehem PA 18015) or to the Westminster Conservatory Young Artist’s Program. Check should include a note that it is for the Young Artist’s Program in Memory of Bob Norman to Westminster Conservatory, Attn Sandra Franc, 101 Walnut Lane, Princeton NJ 08540.

R. Conway LeCraw, Founding Member of New Jersey Classical Guitar Society

March 19th, 2018 by bob No comments »

R. Conway (Connie) LeCraw of Hilton Head Island died Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at his residence. He was born in Atlanta on January 10, 1924 to Julia Adams and Roy LeCraw, a former Atlanta mayor. He became an eagle scout at age 11, one of the youngest ever to do so, and was an active member of North Avenue Presbyterian Church. He attended Georgia Institute of Technology and Ohio State University, where he studied electrical engineering and physics. During World War II he served in the Pacific theater as a lieutenant in the Signal Corps. He began his career as a physicist with Diamond Ordnance Fuze Laboratories in Washington, D.C. in 1951. Four years later he received the Department of the Army Gold Medal Award for Exceptional Civilian Service which was awarded for his outstanding work in microwave energy. From 1955 until his retirement in 1986 he was a renowned physicist at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, N.J. where he authored or co-authored over 100 research papers and was granted 35 U.S. patents. His most significant discovery, that of magnetic bubble devices, revolutionized the storage of information for military technology. He was invited to present his papers at national and international physics conferences, including in Russia, China, and Japan. The year Bell Laboratories established its Distinguished Scientist Awards, he was one of five research scientists to be so honored. As a result of his seminal discoveries, he was offered various teaching posts, including one at UC Berkeley, but he declined in order to continue his research.

After his retirement Mr. LeCraw concentrated on his two avocations, classical music and chess. In New Jersey, he formed a classical guitar society and arranged for free public concerts at a local library. He participated in chess tournaments throughout the East, winning numerous trophies. He moved to Hilton Head Island with his wife, Mildred, in 1990. There he formed a local chess club and sponsored a regional chess tournament. He also helped form a chess club at Hilton Head High School.

He is survived by his wife, Mildred Carolan LeCraw, his sons Timothy of Atlanta and Spencer of Bluffton, S.C., and his brothers Veazey, Julian, and Rupert, all of Atlanta. He was predeceased by his first wife, Mary Luddeke, and his brother, C. Buck LeCraw.

A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew By-The-Sea Methodist Church, 20 Pope Avenue, Hilton Head at 2:00 P.M. Saturday, Nov. 19, 2011, with a reception to follow at the church.

Lemongrass duo plays Sudamericana

February 26th, 2018 by bob No comments »
Sudamericana
music of Piazzolla, Villa-Lobos, Pixinguinha
traditional peruvian music
original works by Raul Abbad

performed by
Lemongrass Duo
Elizabeth Moulthrop: violin
Raul Abbad: 6 & 8 string guitars
March 9th at 7:30pm
Rutherford Congregational Church
251 Union Ave
Rutherford,NJ

$10_ adult
$8_ students  & seniors

Rescheduled to March 15: Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts presents Matthew Van Dongen

February 24th, 2018 by bob 1 comment »

Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts (WIPA) presents an evening of contemporary and original works for guitar by faculty member Matthew Van Dongen at the Salon Series on Thursday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m. at 60 Locust Avenue in Berkeley Heights.

In addition to featuring works by 20th century Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo including Tiento antiguoUn tiempo fue Italica famosa, and Zarabanda lejana, the one-hour concert will include a Beyond the Notes Q&A with Van Dongen, covering topics from composing for the guitar today to how music theory enhances the understanding of music written for the guitar. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for seniors, and free for Wharton Institute for the Performing Arts students. Tickets are available online, at the door or by calling 908-790-0700.

Stanley Alexandrowicz in Lawrenceville, NJ

February 24th, 2018 by bob No comments »

Adath Israel Congregation
1958 Lawrenceville Road
Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Sunday 4 March, 2018
4:00 to 6:00 PM
Admission to Event: $5.00
RSVP’s appreciated—please RSVP to Gale Cohen at 609-530-0087 0r gabike4@aol.com

Please join me for my upcoming concert of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic Masterworks presented at the OBOJC—Adath Israel Congregation 2018 cultural event discussing New York Times best-selling author Lauren Belfer’s wonderful book “After Fire!” 

Beginning with the masterful “Ouverture de la Grotte de Versailles (de Lully)” by Robert de Visee (court guitarist to Louis XIV), my program will feature masterworks by the 19th Century’s greatest composer-guitarists: Napoleon Coste (France), J. K. Mertz (Hungary), and Johann Dubez (Vienna), and include Felix Mendelssohn’s famous “Venetian Boat Song” from his collection of Songs without Words (Lieder ohne Worte)!

March Meeting

February 22nd, 2018 by bob No comments »

These pieces were played at the March 18 meeting in Hopewell Borough:

David Starbuck

  • Carolan’s Farewell — Turlough O’Carolan, arr. Allan Alexander
  • Down by the Sally Gardens — “”
  • The Two William Davis’s — “”

Robert Ey

  • The Boys of Blue Hill/Reedsdale Hornpipe — Trad., arr. Gordon Bok
  • Port Lennox — Rory Dhall O’Cathain, arr. Glenn Weiser
  • Give Me Your Hand — “”

 Gad Berger

  • Un Dia de Noviembre — Leo Brouwer
  • Air on a G String — J.S. Bach, arr. Per-Olov Kindgren
  • Hallelujah — Leonard Cohen, arr. Gad Berger
  • Prelude to Cello Suite — J.S. Bach
  • The Parting Glass — Trad., arr. John Mock

Gary Lee

  • Banks O’ Doon — Robert Burns, arr. Guy Bergeron
  • Muir Woods — Andrew York

Jeff Griesemer

  • Here, There, and Everywhere — Beatles, arr. Jeff Griesemer
  • Slieve Russell/Port Sgian — Trad, arr. Jeff Griesemer

 James Day

  • Night Music — Donald Crockett
  • Guiding the Minotaur — Donald Crockett
  • Roll Out — Paul Lansky