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18th Annual Appalachian GuitarFest and Competition Takes Place April 12-14 at ASU’s Broyhill Music Center

April 11, 2013. The 18th Annual Appalachian GuitarFest and Competition will be held April 12-14 at Appalachian State University’s Broyhill Music Center.

Artists performing at the annual event are Dieter Hennings, Stephen Robinson, the Amadeus Guitar Duo and the Appalachian GuitarFest Orchestra.

Dieter Hennings
Dieter Hennings

Admission for all concerts, masterclasses and workshops is $60. Tickets to individual concerts and the competition’s final round are $20 for the general public and $10 for students with an Appalachian I.D. and Watauga County school students.  Tickets will be available at the door. Performances will be in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. Visit http://music.appstate.edu/news-events/guitarfest for more details.

Hennings and Robinson will perform April 12 at 8 p.m.

Hennings is an active proponent of new music, particularly that of Latin America. He has received grants from the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music and the Fondo Estatal para la Cultura y las Artes to commission and premiere contemporary works for guitar. Recent engagements include concerts with pop-singer Natalie Merchant and baroque violinist Monica Huggett.

Robinson has been heralded by The New York Times for his “effortless virtuosity with intelligence and good taste,” by The Tallahassee Democrat for his “sweet, pure sound, technique to burn and strong sense of musical and poetic phrasing,” and by Puerto Rico’s El Nuevo Dia as a “magnificent North American guitarist, full of virtuosity, magnificent technical precision, and a masterfully delivered diverse range of sound.” He has appeared as guest soloist with orchestras including the Cincinnati Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras.

The Amadeus Guitar Duo will perform April 13 at 8 p.m. in Broyhill Music Center’s Rosen Concert Hall. The duo of Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff has been playing together since 1991 and have given more than 950 concerts in more than 50 European countries and North, Central and South America and Asia. Critics and audiences acknowledge the young musicians’ bubbling temperament in virtuoso recital, their highly sensitive creative ability in musical phrasing and articulation, and their great guitar-tone, which fills large auditoriums with a warm, rich sound.

Competitions on April 13 from 2-5 p.m. are free and open to the public. A free concert featuring the competition’s 100-guitar orchestra will begin at 10:30 a.m. April 14. 

The final round of the competition begins at 1 p.m. April 14.