WCGS Member Newsletter – March 2019 – Wilmington Classical Guitar

Greetings WCGS Members!

Warm weather is finally here! Rejoice!

Upcoming Concert March 23rd at 7:30 pm: Alec Holcomb with special guest Darla Rublesky
Our very first concert at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant in October of 2016 was an amazing success, in no small part due to the enormous talent of our next featured artist, Alec Holcomb. His assured and virtuosic playing easily won us over, and his recent arrangements of a number of pieces by Isaac Albéniz captured our hearts. We were so blown away that we couldn’t wait any longer to have him back.

Since performing for us in 2016, Alec has completed his undergraduate degree at Curtis Institute of Music, and begun his masters studies at San Francisco Conservatory with Judicaël Perroy (teacher of GFA winner’s Thibaut Garcia and Xaviar Jara). We can’t wait to see what he’s learned in the past 2 years.

Tickets are on sale now in our Online Store. Your WCGS Member coupon code for this concert is holcombWCGS; use holcombWCGSfam if you have a Family Membership. To get your member discount, add a General Admission ticket to your cart, and then apply the coupon code in the cart or at checkout for your discount.

Come out and support Alec and Darla on March 23rd, and share our event on Facebook and invite your friends!

Upcoming Event March 23 at 1:30 pm: Masterclass with Alec Holcomb
Earlier on the day of his concert, Alec Holcomb will be teaching a masterclass in the West Room of Church of the Covenant. The masterclass is free to observe and open to the public, but registration is required. Register as an auditor to sit in and hear what Alec has to teach our guest performers, or register as a performer for your chance to perform for Alec and have him critique your performance (a small tuition fee applies). Register as either an auditor or performer in our Online Store. Auditing is always FREE and very much encouraged. I always feel I learn more as an auditor than I do as a performer, so I can’t recommend it enough. Performance slots are almost gone, so if you’d like to perform for Alec, sign up soon!

We have several masterclasses still upcoming, so if you’d like to perform in an upcoming masterclass, please take a look at our Online Store to sign up.

Please help us welcome our new board member, Graham Williamson
I want to take a moment to welcome our new board member Graham Williamson. Graham works in human resources for Gore, and has been playing guitar for many years. I’ll let him introduce himself:

“I’m from Rutland in England about 2 hours drive north of London. In 1996 I Graduated in accounting and management from Cardiff university in Wales. I Came over to the US in 2005 and have been trying to learn the language ever since. All of my career has been within Human Resources and creating engaging work environments. I Joined W.L. Gore and associates in 2006 and have held leadership roles in recruiting and currently lead Americas HR services team.

I started playing guitar in teenage years and worked through London trinity Music exams to grade 5 before pausing for 15 years… I started playing again 2 years ago and joined Wilmington Classical Guitar Society in January 2018 as a New Years resolution to rediscover guitar.

I am married to Andee and we live in Landenberg, PA with our two boys jack 14 and James 9, and basset hounds Oliver and Coco.”

Graham has a special interest in making the most of our social media presence, so, in addition to moderating our new Facebook Members Group, he’ll be posting regularly for us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If there’s any content you’d especially like to see on those platforms, please let us know.

In addition, Graham will be taking over Memberships in August, so be on the lookout for membership correspondence coming from his desk in the near future.

Welcome Graham! We’re happy to have you on the board. 🙂

Please Join our new Members Only Facebook Group!
We always have such a great time talking at concerts, salons and other gatherings that we thought it would be a great idea to have an easy place to continue the conversation between events. This group is for WCGS members only, so it’s a safe space for asking questions, submitting performance videos for review, or conversing about all manner of topics. Right now we’re discussing getting a guitar ensemble together, as well as sightreading material and other useful topics. There are lots of possibilities of what this Facebook group could become, and it could be a great resource for lots of things guitar, but it will only be as good as the level of involvement of our members, so come join us!

To access the group, go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/275482806679259/ and request to join. Either myself (Matthew) or Graham (our moderator) will be happy to hit the accept button once we see your request.

March Salon
Our next salon is coming up Sunday, March 31st at 6 pm (doors open at 5:45). Monthly salons take place at the Church of the Covenant, 503 Duncan Rd, Wilmington, DE 19809. The church is easily accessible from 95 and has ample parking on the street and in a private parking lot. Our meeting will be in the West Room, which is appropriately situated on the West side of the building. Our entrance is in the corner of the building right off the West side of the parking lot (see link).

Google directions to the Church: Presbyterian Church of the Covenant

**Also, if you are coming to the salon, please arrive between 5:45 and 6:00. I will LOCK the door at 6:00 so it is not left open and unattended. If you arrive later than 6:00, please ring the black doorbell next to the West Entrance or text me at (302) 650-8797 and I will be happy to let you in. Knocking loudly may also work.

*NOTE: The following salon will take place on May 19th. There will be no salon in April due to conflicts with the Annual PCGS Guitar Festival, so go to the festival!

2019 Salon Schedule

February Meeting Recap
Thanks to everyone who came to our February salon. We had a great turnout, and a great night for music.

Here’s a list of last month’s performers:
Derek Mansen – Study in C by Fernando Sor
Scott Kurkendall – Preslude and Bourree from Suite in Dm by Robert de Visee
Graham Williamson – Menuet 1 & 2 from Cello Suite No.1 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Robbie Berge – Rêverie by Shawn Bell
Joanna Daneman – Ejercicio by Antonio Cano
John Nguyen – Gavotte I and II from Cello Suite No.6 by Johann Sebastian Bach and Por Tí Mi Corazón by Luis Gonzaga Urbina (arr. Manuel ponce)
Robert Guerrero – Waltz by Bartalome Calatayud and Simple Mambo by Thierry Tisserand
Simon Varley – Fantasie by Silvius Leopold Weiss

Other Events
There are all kinds of great concerts in the area, and we’ve just added a dozen more in the past month. Check out all the listings in our regional calendar, and if you learn of other classical guitar events in the area please let us know so we can get them on our calendar.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our event calendar at https://wilmingtonguitar.org/calendar.

To submit an event, please Email our event calendar coordinator at events@wilmingtonguitar.org.

We just surpassed 2,200 likes on Facebook! Make sure you’re one of them, and help us break the 2,500 mark! https://www.facebook.com/wilmingtonguitar

Best,
Matthew Lavanish
President & Artistic Director – The Wilmington Classical Guitar Society

Wilmington Classical Guitar Season 10 – 2018-19
September 22 – WCGS Members Showcase at Old Town Hall
October 20* – Thomas Viloteau, classical guitar with special guest Keith Calmes at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
November 17 – Brendan Evans, classical guitar with special guests Zach Alex & Liam Thomas at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
February 23* – Jeremy Lyons, classical guitar and Lisa Perry, soprano with special guest Evan Conrad at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
March 23* – Alec Holcomb, classical guitar with special guest Darla Rublesky at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
April 28* – GFA Winner’s Tour featuring Tengyue Zhang, classical guitar with special guest Everett Shen at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant
May 25 – 7th Annual WCGS Members Concert at Presbyterian Church of the Covenant