International Guitar Night, UK 2010 Edition

IGN’s 4th Tour of the United Kingdom Takes Place in the Fall of 2010

booked through Dr. Jon Barrow, Stoneyport Associates

email: jb@stoneyport.demon.co.uk

The Best in World Guitar

THE INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT (IGN) brings together the world’s foremost acoustic guitarists to perform their latest original compositions and exchange musical ideas in a public concert setting.  Each tour, IGN founder Brian Gore invites a new cast of guitar luminaries to join him for special evenings of solos, duets and quartets that highlight the virtuosity and diversity within the world of acoustic guitar.

For the Fall 2010 United Kingdom tour a, Brian will be joined by Alexandre Gismonti an exciting young Brazilian guitarist and son of the legendary Egberto Gismonti, and Pino Forastiere from Italy, one of the leading players of the new contemporary steel string guitar world.

About the International Guitar Night

International Guitar Night is the world’s premier mobile guitar festival. Sponsored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, it is the only production of its kind to have grassroots origins. Ever since its beginning in 1995 in a converted laundromat in the California Bay Area, IGN has featured the best performing guitar composers from around the world. Since the beginning, audiences have cherished the friendly informal ambiance of the performances. Participants have relished the chance IGN affords to express reverence for one another, and to collaborate rather than compete. The unique brand of “guitar positivity” the forum provides has helped make IGN the most successful guitar showcase of its kind.

 

“With the International Guitar Night, Brian Gore has created a new niche for the myriad of styles that can be played by the unaccompanied acoustic guitar, as well as marvelous opportunity for virtuosos to interact and learn from one another onstage.”
Michael Parrish,
Dirty Linen (100th Anniversary Edition)

“A magical evening.”
Nikki Nelson
Cowichan Theater, Duncan BC

“The audience loved this show.”
Bruce Labadie
Villa Montalvo, Saratoga, California

 

Pino Forastiere

The music of Italian guitarist Pino Forastiere comes from a solid classical, contemporary, and rock background that is hard to define. He employs a dazzling blend of slapping, tapping, strumming, altered tunings, and harmonics combined with classical phrasing and a focus on distinct and addictive melodies. His music is “something like a mix of Steve Reich’s interlocking rhythmic patterns meet Michael Hedges’s techniques, all while admiring Eddie van Halen” (John Schaefer, WNYC Radio).

Born in Latronico, Southern Italy, Pino moved with his family to Rome in his early childhood. In 1992 he graduated from one of the most prestigious European Music Academy, Santa Cecilia Conservatory of Rome, with a degree in classical guitar, taking his final exam with a ten-string classical guitar. In the following years, he used this ten-string guitar in live performances with baroque, contemporary and original repertoire. In 1996 he laid down this instrument and picked up a six-string acoustic guitar. He has studied composition and chamber music, performed in various ensembles with classical or original repertoire, and collaborated with jazz, experimental, electronic and pop projects.

Pino Forastiere lives in Rome, Italy; he performs in festival and venues in Italy, United States and Canada, also for classical societies; in January 2008 he premiered at Teatro Palladium in Rome “Why Not?”, an epic concerto for electro-acoustic guitar and string orchestra (Roma Tre Orchestra, conductor Pietro Mianiti). Live recording of the concerto “Why Not?” is contained and gives the title to his third solo album, released by Candyrat Records (2008). His latest work, “Live DVD/CD” (Candyrat, 2009) is a ‘best of’ from all his previous solo compositions.

Since 2003, year of release of his debut solo album “Rag Tap Boom”, Pino collaborates with the fingerstyle leading authority John Stropes, Director of Guitar Studies of the UWM University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and editor of guitar composer such as Leo Kottke, Michael Hedges, Alex de Grassi.

» It’s hard to find a CD for solo instrument that could be completely appreciated also by non-instrumentists: here is one.
Daniele Bergesio, World Music Magazine

» Contrary to the in-your-face approach taken by many of his peers, Forastiere opts to delay overt flexing of his guitar muscles until quite late in the disc, thus drawing the listener in with his gentle musical narrative rather than with garish technical displays. This disc is truly exceptional because its virtuosic qualities are secondary to its inception as a piece of fine art.
Timothy Smith, Minor7th.com

» Like Hedges, Forastiere employes a dazzling blend of slapping, tapping, strumming, altered tunings and harmonics. However, he also combines those elements with classical phrasing and a focus on distinct and addictive melodies.
Anil Prasad, Guitar Player

 

Alexandre Gismonti

A guitarist from a renowned family, with a profound musical knowledge, Alexandre Gismonti has developed his own language as both a performer and composer.

With his father, the legendary Egberto Gismonti, he has played in major theaters and festivals in Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Argentina, Cuba, México, the Dominican Republic, Italy, Spain, Israel, Denmark, Portugal, and France.

As a soloist, Alexandre has performed in theaters both in Brazil and abroad, including the Baden Powell Room, Finep, Ibam, Cecília Meirelles, SESCs, Furnas Cultural, Municipal Theaters in several cities, and the series “Music in the Stars” (Planetarium of Rio de Janeiro) in “Music at the Museum”.

In 2002, Alexandre represented Brazil in the international guitar festival “Entre Cuerdas”, in Chile. In 2003, he performed as a soloist in the 41st Villa-Lobos Festival, in Rio de Janeiro. In 2004, he was selected for the 7th Visa award prize of Brazilian music, in São Paulo.

In 2001, Alexandre made his recording debut with Egberto Gismonti on the disk “Nicanor Teixeira ” (Rob Digital). In 2006, he recorded his own arrangements, interpreted by the great singer Jane Duboc, in the disk “Golfinho Gaivota” (Independent).

Alexandre’s compositions have been selected for important Brazilian instrumental music festivals, such as the 1st Festival Guarulhos instrumental (Guarulhos-SP), the 1st Tim festival of “choro” (Belem-PA), and the 7th Visa prize.

He has received much critical praise in both the Brazilian and foreign press. According to the newspaper “Brecha”, Uruguay, July 2001:

“The son of Egberto is a young guitar virtuoso. Alexandre`s approach is very different from that of his father…he played with an amazing interpretive authority for his age of 20”.

As the culmination of a long and illuminating musical journey, Alexandre returned to the studio in 2007 to record another duet record with his father for ECM Records. In this project, Alexandre split with Egberto all the arrangements and compositions for two guitars.

In 2009, Alexandre’s first solo CD will be released. As an established touring artist, Alexandre performs in various configurations. In solo performances or with his trio, he presents a repertoire ranging from new arrangements of Brazilian music classics to his own compositions. He also plays in another trio, with Eli Joory (saxophonist and composer) and Michel Maciel (guitarist). And, Alexandre regularly appears beside Egberto Gismonti, bringing new music and new acclaim to his father’s brilliant career, and assurance that his legacy lives on in capable hands.

Brian Gore

“Brian Gore’s strong, well developed melodies and intriguing chord sequences set him apart from the myriad of steel-string fingerstylists who compose in open tunings.  His finely crafted poetic “songs without words” take the listener on a spellbinding emotional ride.”
–Ron Forbes Roberts, Acoustic Guitar Magazine

“An artist of the highest caliber.”
–Ray Toumey, the Boulder Chautauqua

San Francisco guitar poet Brian Gore is gaining a reputation as one of the most interesting and influential performers of “the next generation” in fingerstyle guitar. A musical romantic, his compositions draw inspiration from myth and modern literature. Hailed as having “…one of the most unique new acoustic guitar styles on the scene today (News and Review),” his lyrical, understated compositions integrate classical and percussive techniques that display what the Los Angeles Times calls “a characterful bounce and spaciousness all his own.”

Gore’s style of playing offers strikingly beautiful tone and dynamics– qualities that are often hard to find in steel string players.  His melodic, evocative songs rely heavily on the use of open tunings, extending the “stream of consciousness” style of guitar composing he grew up with in Northern California.  “Music started out as a kind of therapy for me,” says Gore.  “Consequently, I am a very emotional player. Now, my style of playing has also become a well honed craft. I am very grateful I can share this with people.”

His buoyant personality and odd sense of humor help add lightness to his shows.  “By the time I’m done with a performance,” explains Gore, “people really know the meaning of the term ‘extroverted introvert’.”  While Gore integrates some of the flashier percussive techniques into his pieces, the poetic quality of his music is preserved.  “Because my music is simple and somewhat rootsy, it’s easy to relate to, which is something I’m thankful for.  Also, it helps keep me grounded.”

Gore is an artist in residence at the Boulder Chautauqua, and endorses LR Baggs Equipment, Ryan Guitars and Morris Guitars. He is founder of the International Guitar Night, sponsored by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. His first CD, produced by Peppino D’Agostino, is called The Path of Least Resistance. His second CD, Legacy: Solo Guitar and Duets, is available on Germany’s Acoustic Music Records Label.  His music has been featured on NPR’s nationally syndicated Echoes Radio, and many other local public radio programs.

Brian founded The International Guitar Night in 1995 as a forum for the world’s finest guitarists/composers to play their latest original songs and share musical ideas with their peers in public concert.  This has evolved into critically acclaimed annual tours in the US (starting in 2000),  Canada (starting in 2006) and the UK (starting in 2007),  a CD on Favored Nations Records released in 2004, a guitar instruction book published in 2005, and IGN releases on Warner Music Canada (the 3rd annual CD will be released in 2008).