CONTENT COURTESY MATTHEW FAGAN
España El Vito – The Spirit of Spain
Starring:
Internationally acclaimed, award-winning concert pianist and Young Steinway Artist Nicholas Young; and renowned 10 string Spanish classical guitarist Matthew Fagan.
Performing:
A celebration of Spanish repertoire for the guitar and piano, from classical masterpieces to flamenco styles of Paco De Lucia and Paco Pena and modern jazz.
In a world first collaboration, Nicholas Young and Matthew Fagan infuse the exhilarating traditional flamenco elements of Spanish Guitar into virtuosic classical piano masterpieces to form stunning new arrangements, celebrating the launch of Fagan’s newest vinyl album El Vito.
From the famous folk-inspired ballet music of Manuel de Falla’s The Three Cornered Hat to the Spanish dances evoked in Isaac Albeniz’s Sevilla, Asturias and Tango.
Joaquin Rodrigo’s famous Concierto de Aranjuez is explored through its origins in Tarantos and Rodena, combined with stunning orchestral realisation by piano, and Egberto Gismonti’s Frevo Rasgado, first brought to fame by guitarists Paco De Lucia and John McLaughlin, will be transformed for concert piano and 10-string guitar, pairing rhythmic drive with colourful sonority.
About the artists:
Born in Sydney and based in Melbourne, pianist and Young Steinway Artist Nicholas Young has regularly concertised throughout Australia and Europe, appearing as soloist with the Vienna International, West Australian, Queensland, Adelaide and Willoughby symphony orchestras.
Nicholas’ past national accolades include Keyboard Winner of the 2011 ABC Symphony Australia Young Performers Awards, Second Prize of the 2012 Australian National Piano Award, and Winner of two of Australia’s most prestigious piano awards – the 2016 Allison/Henderson Sydney Eisteddfod and Michael Kieran Harvey Piano Scholarships. During his overseas studies, supported by the Marten Bequest Travelling Scholarship, Nicholas received first prize of the 2015 Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition (London).
In 2013, Nicholas graduated from a Bachelor of Music (Performance) with First Class Honours and received a University Medal; Nicholas undertook Masters studies at the Universitat Mozarteum Salzburg with Claudius Tanski, where he had master classes with Dmitri Bashkirov, Christian Zacharias, Robert Levin, Dominique Merlet and Jaques Rouvier among many others. Nicholas went on to graduate with Distinction and the highest possible grades in all performance and academic components.
Matthew Fagan has long been established as one of Australia’s finest exponents of the guitar. Matthew has toured with Billy Connolly, The Buena Vista Social Club, Shirley Bassey, Natalie Cole and Michael Crawford. Matthew’s virtuosic rendition of Bach’s famous Toccata in D Minor featured on ABC TV.
Matthew has performed in more than 120 countries worldwide as a soloist, with orchestra and bands including extensive touring across Europe, South America, Alaska, Canada, China, Japan and South East Asia Matthew’s music education has been at the Victorian College of the Arts (Performance -Classical and improvisation), Monash University (Ethnomusicology, Composition Education) and a Masters PHD of Cultural Development at the University of Melbourne. Matthew has studied and/or performed with masters John Williams, Paco Pena, Leo Kottke, Martin Taylor, Joe Pass amongst others.
Where to catch the event:
SAT 13 Oct: Wolumla Memorial Hall (Wolumla), 7.30pm
SUN 14 Oct: St Paul’s Parish Hall (Cooma), 2pm
TUE 16 Oct: St Paul’s Church (Narooma), 6pm
THU 18th Oct: St Bernard’s Church (Batehaven), 7.30pm
FRI 19th Oct: Wesley Music Centre (Canberra), 7:30pm
SAT 20th Oct: Wollongong Church (Wollongong), 7.30pm
SUN 21st Oct: St Jude’s Church (Bowral), 2.30pm
TUE 23rd Oct: Adamstown Church (Adamstown), 7.30pm
THU 25th Oct: All Saints Cathedral (Bathurst), 7.30pm
FRI 26th Oct: St. Hilda’s Church (Katoomba), 7.30pm
SAT 27th Oct: Sydney Opera House-Utzon Room, 8pm
SUN 28th Oct: St Mary’s Church (Gosford), 2pm
Find out more on Matthew Fagan’s website.
Artwork on ceramic tile by Jennifer Gadsden. Image of Matthew by Mark Russell.
