May 28, 2004

Jim Vita, Rudolfo Betancourt and Peter Fletcher are some the greats heroes of classical guitar music. Twenty-five students hope to one day fill their shoes as they aspire to become the next pioneers of this genre of music.

From May 30 – June 5, the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music will host the Classical Minds Guitar Festival. The festival will give guitar players of all ages and skill levels the opportunity to immerse themselves in an intensive learning environment. Through lessons taught by six UH faculty members and other guest artists, students will participate in a unique learning experience.

Randall Avers, who captured second prize in the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Competition at the age of 17, will be the guest performer opening night at 7:30 p.m. May 30 at Dudley Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building.

Other performers include Kithara Duo and Valerie Hartzell, who will perform alongside guest soprano Sandi Johnson during “An Evening of Guitar Ensemble” and Steve Kostelnik, who is being presented in association with Guitar Houston. A student performance at 4 p.m. June 5 will close the festival.

“There aren’t that many opportunities for guitarists to have a specialized program like this,” said Alan Austin, the festival’s executive director. “We wanted to create an environment where they could focus intensively on their instrument.”

The Classical Minds Guitar Festival is a prelude to the Immanuel and Helen Olsham Texas Music Festival, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year. The Texas Music Festival was founded in 1990 to provide young professional musicians with an environment to grow musically through intense training in orchestral, chamber music and solo performance.

For more information, please call (713) 743-3313.

Leticia Vasquez,
Lvasque5@central.uh.edu