Duo Noire performs at the Pillsbury Theatre at the 560 Music Center during St. Louis Classical Guitar's 59th season. Photo courtesy of Brian Vaccaro.
This year, St. Louis Classical Guitar (SLCG) is celebrating its 60th anniversary with a stacked concert season. The organization has grown considerably over the past 60 years, having evolved from a small group of classical guitar fans to a nonprofit arts agency dedicated to education and community outreach.
Founded in 1963 as the George C. Krick Classic Guitar Guild and named for a local music teacher who had recently passed away, the group was originally an intimate ring of musicians who shared recordings and performed in each other’s living rooms. By 1980, it underwent a name change, reincorporated as a 501(c)(3), and shifted its focus to bringing the classical guitar to others.
Brian Vaccaro became the executive director of SLCG last year. Vaccaro says the organization’s chief achievement over the past 60 years has been its realization of the guitar as a source of positive social change. SLCG accomplishes this by bringing artists to local schools and providing professional development opportunities for music teachers, among other efforts.
“All of that is happening just because the guitar exists, and it's a means to an end,” Vaccaro says. “We can really affect some positive community change and growth, and the guitar just happens to be the vehicle for it.”
But for many people—even music fans—classical guitar might seem like an esoteric subject. One of Vaccaro’s goals as executive director is to show listeners that the art form can be enjoyed by anyone. This mission is reflected in the lineup for SLCG’s 60th anniversary season, which ranges from classical guitar legends like Manuel Barrueco to younger players like Michael Poll and Adam Levin.
William Ash, one of the founding members of SLCG, played a crucial role in the group’s transition into a 501(c)(3), and remains involved as the executive director emeritus. He encourages community members to attend an upcoming show, even if they’ve never been exposed to classical guitar performance before.
“Brian has kept the tradition alive of trying to offer a wide variety of perspectives and artists,” Ash says. “Any of them are liable to spark a flame inside you. You might hear something you haven’t heard before…You never know what you’re going to be moved by.”
We spoke with three artists from this year’s concert season about what people can expect from their performances. You can access the full lineup and purchase tickets here.
SLCG will kick off its 60th anniversary season with a performance by Tengyue Zhang on September 16. In 2017, Zhang became the first Chinese person to win the Grand Prize of the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition, which led to more than 50 tour dates in the U.S. This will be his debut performance in St. Louis.
Zhang tries to make his concerts accessible to every type of listener—not just classical guitar aficionados. Thus, his SLCG debut will consist of several shorter compositions, rather than two or three lengthy ones. He frequently collaborates with violinist Strauss Shi to make classical guitar arrangements for a variety of songs that weren’t originally written for the instrument, including Chinese compositions and a track by the Texas-based progressive rock band Polyphia. He hopes to perform some of these arrangements during his SLCG date.
Zhang believes the pieces that a classical guitarist adds to their repertoire are just as much a part of their artistic voice as their technique or individual approach to the instrument. But the exciting part, he says, is sharing these pieces with a crowd and being in communion with other music fans.
“To communicate with them without words, to have this transcendent experience together through music…is quite a pleasure and a source of fulfillment that nothing else can replace,” he says.
Renowned for her warm tone and delicate phrasing, Irina Kulikova has built a reputation as one of today’s leading classical guitarists. Kulikova started playing the guitar at age 5, and was performing across Europe by the time she was 12. Since then, she’s received more than 30 awards, including first prizes at several international competitions.
Kulikova also has numerous recordings under her belt, including a Christmas CD and a collection of pieces that reflect the musical life in her homeland of Russia. For her SLCG performance on October 21, she has selected pieces that represent a variety of moods and points in history, from the baroque period to the modern era.
Kulikova is dedicated to providing guidance for young musicians, and bringing the joys of the instrument to others. She says organizations like SLCG are important because they serve a similar purpose and improve the quality of life within their respective communities.
“We can’t live without music,” she says. “[SLCG] is doing a great job of bringing international artists. It makes life more rich for the audience.”
Few names in the world of classical guitar are better suited to close SLCG’s 60th anniversary season than Manuel Barrueco. The Cuban-born guitarist has brought his deft, lyrical style to concert venues and orchestras across the world since the 1970s. Decades of practice certainly helped him reach this point, but aside from that, his success can be attributed to the fact that he simply adores his instrument.
“I heard an expression years ago, which is ‘you don’t choose who you fall in love with,’” he says. “I fell in love with the guitar. It’s the most beautiful thing.”
When selecting which pieces to perform in concert, Barrueco aims for a variety of styles. His SLCG performance on April 13 will range from baroque pieces by the likes of J. S. Bach to the Asian-influenced music of American composer Lou Harrison. Also included in the program are three Spanish works: Fernando Sor’s Gran Solo, Dionision Aguado’s Fandango, and Joaquin Turina’s Sonata, a piece rooted in flamenco music.
After turning 70 last year, Barrueco says he notices more beauty in his surroundings than he did before. In turn, his performances have taken on an acutely spiritual dimension.
“When it comes to something like, for example, Bach, the only word for it is ‘glorious,’” he says. “He was very religious…this piece that I’m playing for the program, I almost feel like I’m dropping in on his conversation with God.”
