11.09.24

Laura Mazon

Laura Mazon

Date: Saturday, November 9, 2024

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Regent Street Black Box Theater at the Eccles

144 South Regent Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Masterclass: Info here

06.20.23

Ben Lougheed

Ben Lougheed

Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Arlette Day Cultural Arts Center

4914 S. State Street, Murray, UT 84107

Described as creating "music of dramatic power and lyric beauty," Dr. Ben Lougheed knows how to draw in audiences and give them “another dimension in which to enjoy [his] performances." A performer, entrepreneur, and pedagogue in his multifaceted career, Ben's diverse professional experiences include over ten years of performances, community engagement, music entrepreneurship, and teaching. Audiences, colleagues, and critics have repeatedly referred to Ben as "an emerging force in the classical guitar world," with "beautiful" and "extremely precise" playing.

A central thread to all of Ben's work is his focus on education and outreach. His desire to engage audiences and communities through vivid and captivating musical performances is only strengthened by his love of connecting with his audience through informative exchanges. These lively audience-performer interactions serve to strengthen each person’s experience with the music and have been enthusiastically received by concertgoers around the country, including recent performances for the Treasure Coast Guitar Society, Kerrytown Concert House, and the Dale Mabry Guitar Series. 

Ben is also a highly sought-after and accomplished teacher who has built one of the largest Suzuki guitar studios in the Southeastern United States. As the only guitarist in the world with a doctorate and all nine Suzuki book certifications, Ben is in demand as a guest instructor at events across the country. His students have been selected for the All-State and All-National ensembles and won prizes at multiple guitar competitions. 

Ben's creative fingerprints can be seen all around his community via his numerous projects and collaborations. As the founder and director of the Florida Guitar Festival, Ben has raised over $65,000 to bring together hundreds of burgeoning musicians and students for educational activities, concerts, and competitions. Additionally, Ben's work with the festival included a collaboration with GRAMMY-winner Bill Kanengiser on the first recorded performance of Sergio Assad’s piece, “The Walls.” Furthermore, Ben's community engagement includes being a Founder and Director of the Tallahassee Chapter of Classical Revolution, a classical music outreach organization that produced dozens of classical music concerts in non-traditional venues.

Ben’s debut album, Baroque Legacies, showcases music by influential and celebrated Baroque composers parallel with contemporary pieces inspired by these historic paragons of the music world. Described as "emotionally delicious from start to finish" and "technically perfect," this recording provides a glimpse into how lyrical beauty is pervasive through time.

04.13.24

Gohar Vardanyan

Gohar Vardanyan

Widely admired for her technique, artistry, and passionate performances Armenian-American guitarist Gohar Vardanyan has performed throughout the United States and internationally.

Opening Ensemble: Providence Hall High School Guitar Ensemble

Providence Hall Guitar is in its tenth year of educating young classical and jazz guitarists, under the direction of Ms. Sarah Palma.  PH guitarists perform in quarterly concerts throughout the school year, region and state UHSAA music festivals, venues in the community, many holiday and Christmas events, and have been featured guests in performances with the Murray Symphony, Utah ASTA workshops, and the University of Utah Classical Guitar Ensembles. These young, yet accomplished guitarists consistently receive superior ratings at state festivals, and the PH guitar program continues as the only high school program of its kind in the state of Utah.

Instagram @providencehallguitar #phhsguitar #providencehallguitar

Date: Saturday, April 13, 2024

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Regent Street Black Box Theater at the Eccles

144 South Regent Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Masterclass: Saturday, April 13, 2024

Time: 11:00am

Location: Arlette Day Cultural Arts Center

4914 S. State Street, Murray, UT 84107

Registration here

Widely admired for her technique, artistry, and passionate performances Armenian-American guitarist Gohar Vardanyan has performed throughout the United States and internationally. She has performed for numerous guitar societies, universities, and arts organizations, including the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and guitar societies in Seattle, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, and New York City to name a few. She has appeared on National Public Radio in the United States and Radio Nacional in Argentina. Ms. Vardanyan has performed with the Juilliard Opera Center and as a soloist with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and Panama National Symphony Orchestra. She has also been a guest artist at International Guitar Festivals in Sweden, Italy, Panama, Canada, and Mexico. She has been featured on the cover of Classical Guitar Magazine. Guitar International Magazine has described her as “the complete package,” “with a musicality and emotional quality . . . that one would expect from someone much older than the young wunderkind. Not only is she able to draw you into her performances with engaging musical interpretations, but she has the technical facility that is required of any concert-level guitarist.” Her playing has been described as “passionate,” “evocative,” and “virtuosic.”

In addition to her performing career, Ms. Vardanyan is an avid teacher. She maintains a private studio in New York City and frequently teaches master classes and guitar technique workshops during her concert travels.  Ms. Vardanyan is the author of four books from Mel Bay Publication and has an extensive list of instructional guitar videos on both her own and the Strings by Mail channels on YouTube. 

Ms. Vardanyan began studying the guitar in her native Armenia at the age of five under the careful guidance of her father, Vardan Vardanyan. At the age of eight, she gave her first public performance and also appeared on Armenian National Television. She was the first prize winner in the Armenian National Music Contest “Amadeus” and was accepted into the prestigious group, “New Names,” for talented young musicians. She performed in numerous concert venues in Armenia, including Komitas Chamber Music Hall and the Small Philharmonic Hall. She went on to study with Antigoni Goni at the Pre-College Division of the Juilliard School. In 2001, Ms. Vardanyan studied with John Wunsch at the Interlochen Arts Academy. She was awarded the Young Artist’s Certificate from Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Harold Randolph Prize in performance from the Peabody Conservatory.

Ms. Vardanyan holds a Master of Music Degree from The Juilliard School where she studied with Sharon Isbin and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory of Music where she studied with Manuel Barrueco. She is also an alumna of the Aspen Music Festival and School.

Gohar Vardanyan is sponsored by Strings by Mail

 Guitar: 2012 Jean Rompré

04.14.23

Raphaël Feuillâtre

Raphaël Feuillâtre

Winner of the 2018 Guitar Foundation of America's Solo Artist Competition 

Date: Friday, April 14, 2023

Time: 7:30pm

Location: Regent Street Black Box Theater at the Eccles

144 South Regent Street, Salt Lake City, UT 84111

Masterclass: Info here

03.22.25

Swede Larson

Swede Larson

Enjoy an inspiring performance featuring music by Coste, Ponce, Bach, York, Sor, and Vivaldi.

Date: Saturday, March 22, 2025

Time: 3:00pm

Location: Glendale Library, Rooms A & B

1375 S. Concord St., SLC 84104

***FREE ADMISSION***

Swede Larson began playing the guitar with his father at a very early age, and brings a unique perspective to the instrument. His passions rest in sedate musical experience and the vigorous sport of exploring caves. In college he had to choose between them, and made the choice to study under Frank Koonce at Arizona State University. While there he traveled in the summers attending competitions and conventions, gaining the opportunity to study with guitarists such as Oscar Ghiglia, Michael Chapdelaine, Bruce Holzman, Martha Masters, Nicholas Goluses, Rachel Gauk, William Kanengiser, Lily Afshar, and others. 

After college Swede began a project to record the entire contents of Guitar Classics Vol. 1 edited by Jerry Willard, in the span of just one year. During that time he learned a great deal about what it takes to produce an acceptable classical guitar recording. With the extreme pressure of recording so much music in such a short time, Swede only published four albums of the eleven recorded albums of music completed. But those were to be his first. In 2013 Swede and Mezzo-Soprano Amber Nordvik received a grant with funding largely from the family of John W. Duarte, to produce a debut album of all the guitar and vocal music of John W. Duarte. In 2014 Swede produced an album of Niccolo Paganini Guitar Sonatas. 

In 2015 Swede began teaching guitar at London Studios and took a sabbatical from performing in order to focus on teaching. Throughout his musical career Swede has guided guitarists from many different walks of life, with many different goals in playing. His guidance on the guitar is focused on bringing the highest musicianship and the solid technique of playing regardless of style or genre. In Swede’s own words “playing the guitar well is done the same way, whether you are playing Joaquin Rodrigo or Led Zepplin, good technique is good technique, period!”

in fall 2018 Swede received a privately-funded match grant, along side crowd source funding, to expose new audiences to the classical style of guitar playing in Utah.

To date Swede has played in such venues as Arizona State University-AZ, Westminster College-UT, Salt Lake Community College-UT, Brigham Young University-UT, Stetson University-FL, Utah Tech University-UT, Southern Utah University-UT, National Guitar Workshops-CT, Utah Classical Guitar Society-UT, Springville Museum of Art-UT, Rice Eccles Stadium, UT

Swede continues to work diligently to show what is possible for the guitar and expose new audience to the instrument. He is very excited to bring this, the most beautiful of instruments, to life, to the public, and to you.