 From left to right are: Michael Sevilla, Ian Hill, Stephen Brew, Michael Mendoza --Photo by Roger Coda
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This student guitar ensemble, directed by Music Professor James Piorkowski, has been invited to perform at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Sevilla (May 22nd), the Centro de Estudios Hispánicos de Segovia - a 15th-century palace in Nieva (May 24), and at the Universidad de Oviedo (May 26).
The members of the quartet are Stephen Brew (Music Performance), Ian Hill (Music Education), Michael Mendoza (Music Performance) and Michael Sevilla (Music Education).
During the fall semester, Professor Piorkowski realized the potential for extraordinary music making from this particular group, and subsequently sent recordings of their recent Fredonia recital to potential concert presenters in Spain.
The old saying of “carrying coals to Newcastle” would be logically transferable to my plan of “bringing guitars to Spain”, because Spain is the birthplace of the classical guitar, and anything less then excellence by these young performers would be unacceptable. After receiving the recordings, the host institutions liked what they heard, and the invitations for performances soon followed.
“These requests for our students to perform in Spain, where the guitar is an esteemed instrument of musical art, is a marvelous validation of Fredonia’s music program, and reaffirms what we already know, that our students are prepared to create music at a world class level.” - James Piorkowski
