09/23/11

Story by Diane Carroll

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet

Los Angeles Guitar Quartet unmatched for acoustic ensemble

The Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Guitar Quartet brings a new energy to the concert stage with programs ranging from classical and jazz to Brazilian tunes at 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in the Carlsen Center's Yardley Hall at Johnson County Community College.

A preconcert talk by Dr. Paul Laird, professor of musicology, University of Kansas, begins at 7 p.m.

Tickets, which are $35 and $25, are available through the box office at 913-469-4445 or at jccc.edu/TheSeries.

The evening's program will include El Amor Brujo by Manuel de Falla and Carmen Suite by Georges Bizet (arr. W. Kanengiser).

Popularly known as the LAGQ, members John Dearman, William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant and Matthew Greif (who replaced Andrew York at the end of 2006), consistently play to sold-out houses worldwide. Their inventive, critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world music realms continually break new ground.

Programs, including Latin, African, Far East, Irish, folk and American classics, transport listeners around the world in a single concert experience.

Their Guitar Heroes CD, a heartfelt salute to the great players who inspired the quartet members, was a 2005 Grammy Award-winner for Best Classical Crossover Album. Other well-known albums are LAGQ: Latin, LAGQ: Spin and LAGQ: Brazil. Their newest recording, Interchange: Concertos by Rodrigo and Assad, is their first concerto album, which was recorded with the Delaware Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro David Amado. (The quartet performed the Rodrigo Concierto Andaluz at the composer’s official centenary in Spain at the invitation of his daughter.)

LAGQ was formed at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in 1980 by Anisa Angarola under the oversight of Pepe Romero of the famed Romeros Guitar Quartet. For more than 30 years, the acclaimed acoustic quartet has set the virtuosity standard for guitar ensembles.

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