Skip to page content
  • WDCH
  • GUITARISTS ELIOT FISK, ADAM DEL MONTE AND BRIAN HEAD JOIN MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES PHILHARMONIC IN CHAMBER MUSIC PROGRAM AS PART OF THE ART OF THE GUITAR FESTIVAL AT WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL
  • Nov. 15, 2005
  • Works by Bolcom, Piazzolla, Schubert, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco Celebrate the Versatility of the Guitar

    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2005, AT 8 PM

    Guitarists Eliot Fisk, Adam del Monte and Brian Head showcase the guitar’s versatility in a chamber music program with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as part of the L.A. Phil’s Art of the Guitar Festival, Tuesday, November 15, at 8 p.m., at Walt Disney Concert Hall. The program includes 19th-century German violinist-composer Ferdinand David’s Variations on Schubert’s “SehnsuchtWaltz, as well as three 20th century compositions – Tres Piezas Lindas by American William Bolcom, Histoire du Tango by Argentinean Astor Piazzolla, and the Guitar Quintet by Italian-born Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, who immigrated to the United States as an adult and settled in Los Angeles.

    Fisk, the last direct student of the incomparable guitarist Andrés Segovia, who proclaimed the virtuoso to be “at the top line of our artistic world,” returns to Walt Disney Concert Hall three nights later, on November 18, to make his debut as soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Marin Alsop, as part of the Casual Fridays series. He returns with Alsop on November 19, for an expanded program which repeats on November 20.

    Del Monte, who previously appeared with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2002, earned First Prize at the prestigious 1997 Stotsenberg International Classical Guitar Competition. Head, a senior lecturer at USC’s Thornton School of Music, is active as both a performer and composer, and has appeared with such groups as XTET, Ten-String Music, and the New World Symphony.

    The chamber music concert is the second event in the nine-day Art of the Guitar Festival, during which the Los Angeles Philharmonic explores the guitar’s many musical personalities, ranging from classical concerto and folk to “le jazz hot.” Other concerts taking place as part of the Festival include the Django Reinhardt Festival on November 16, and the Colburn Celebrity Series on November 17, with the guitar duo of Sérgio and Odair Assad.

    ADAM DEL MONTE studied flamenco and classical guitar in Spain, Israel, and England. Beginning with his father, he continued his training with such famed gypsy performers as Pepe “Habichuela,” Paco Cortez, Nino Miguel, and Gerardo Nuñez. His classical guitar teachers were Menashe Baquiche in Israel and Gordon Crosskey at the Royal Northern College of Music, in Manchester, England. He has also appeared as both a solo artist and group performer (with his wife, acclaimed flamenco dancer Laila del Monte) in major venues such as Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum and Wilshire Theater; the Teatro Real and the Conde Duque in Madrid; Manuel de Falla Auditorium in Granada; St. Francis Auditorium in Santa Fe, New Mexico; as well as numerous international guitar festivals. Del Monte has also performed with flamenco singer Enrique Morente and the Madrid Symphony Orchestra. He was influenced by, and, in turn, inspired the younger generation of flamenco performers who were beginning to depart from the previous virtual space of Spanish flamenco. Del Monte’s performances are enriched by his eclectic awareness of jazz, world music and other contemporary forms. He has been commissioned to write a progressive flamenco piece (entitled Cambio de Aire) for the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.

    A creative innovator linked to the great romantic tradition of the past, guitarist ELIOT FISK is one of the most exciting and unique artists performing today. He earned critical and public acclaim in recital, as soloist with major orchestras and in a variety of chamber music combinations in most of the world’s great concert halls. Fisk has expanded the guitar repertoire enormously through countless ground-breaking transcriptions of works by Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Mozart, Paganini, and others as well as through commissions from such leading composers as Luciano Berio, Leonardo Balada, Robert Beaser, William Bolcom, Xavier Montsalvatge, Nicholas Maw, George Rochberg and Kurt Schwertsik. His numerous transcriptions and editions are published by Universal, Presser, Ricordi and Guitar Solo Publications. Fisk, who studied with Andrés Segovia, also studied interpretation under the legendary harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick at Yale University, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1976. Called by one New York Times headline "A Fiery Missionary to the Unconverted," Fisk is a professor at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, where he teaches in five languages, and in Boston at the New England Conservatory. He has recorded for the Musical Heritage Society, DGG, Arabesque, and EMI.

    BRIAN HEAD enjoys a multi-faceted career as a guitarist, teacher and composer, performing and recording as a soloist, as an accompanist, and with many groups including inauthentica, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and their New Music Players, Ten-String Music, and XTET. He has premiered works by Tamar Diesendruck, Stephen Hartke, William Kraft, Frederick Lesemann and Steve Reich among others. As a composer, he recently wrote an homage to John McLaughlin for the 2005 Grammy-award winning Guitar Heroes album by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, and his works for solo guitar have been performed for many years throughout the U.S. and abroad in venues including Merkin Hall in New York, Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. As a teacher, Brian has a dual appointment on the Classical Guitar and Composition faculties at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Brian previously led the classical guitar program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is currently president of the Guitar Foundation of America.

    The Los Angeles Philharmonic Association, under Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen, presents the finest in orchestral and chamber music, recitals, new music, jazz, world music and holiday concerts at two of the most remarkable places anywhere to experience music — Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl. In addition to a 30-week winter subscription season at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the LA Phil presents a 12-week summer festival at the legendary Hollywood Bowl, summer home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and home of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. In fulfilling its commitment to the community, the Association’s involvement with Los Angeles extends to educational programs, community concerts and children's programming, ever seeking to provide inspiration and delight to the broadest possible audience.

    EDITORS PLEASE NOTE:

    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2005, at 8 PM


    WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL, 111 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles

    Chamber Music Society: The Art of the Guitar

    MEMBERS OF THE LOS ANGELES PHIlHARMONIC

    ELIOT FISK, guitar

    ADAM DEL MONTE, guitar

    BRIAN HEAD, guitar

    BOLCOM Tres piezas lindas

    PIAZZOLLA Histoire du Tango

    DAVID Introduction and Variations on Schubert’s “Sehnsucht” Waltz, Op. 8

    CASTELNUOVO-TEDESCO Guitar Quintet

    Tickets ($16-$43) are on sale now at the Walt Disney Concert Hall Box Office, online at LAPhil.com, or via credit card phone order at 323.850.2000. A limited number of $10 rush tickets for seniors and full time students may be available at the Walt Disney Concert Hall box office two hours prior to the performance. Valid identification is required; one ticket per person; cash only. Groups of 12 or more may be eligible for special discounts for selected concerts and seating areas. For all information, please call 323.850.2000.

    # # #

  • Contact:

    Contacts: Libby Huebner, 562.799.6055; Cathy Williams, 213.972.3689; Photos: 213.972.3034