Global award winners, Canadian chamber ensembles and Vancouver guitar stars: announcing our 2024-25 concert season!
The Vancouver Classic Guitar Society presents five beautiful classical guitar solo and ensemble chamber concerts for our 2024-25 season. Artistic director Alec Pearson says, “This line-up of top talent from Canada and around the world includes multi-award winners, Vancouver’s finest guitarists and community builders, international superstars and a special focus on Canadian chamber ensembles featuring guitar plus violin and flute. “ All concert performers also offer masterclasses open for public registration. Check out our lineup then go to www.vancouverguitar.org for tickets and subscriptions.
Trio Tangere – Saturday, Oct. 12th, 2024, Pyatt Hall. We open our season with Trio Tangere, an exciting Canadian chamber ensemble built around the striking sound of dual guitars and a violin. The three members, Marc Djokic on violin, Jérôme Ducharme and Louis Trépanier on guitars, were already established virtuosi (Jerome and Louis were here last year as part of the Canadian Guitar Quartet!) when they started performing together a decade ago. The magical simpatico in their playing has turned them into an audience favourite, performing at Canadian music festivals and in concert halls with repertoire for guitar and violin, plus original transcriptions and newly commissioned music. Wholenote Magazine: “A standing ovation…Trio Tangere sparkles!”
Artyom Dervoed – Friday, Nov. 1st, 2024, Pyatt Hall Artyom Dervoed has been called the “Paganini of the guitar“ for his absolute mastery of the instrument evidenced by a wide dynamic range, expressive phrasing, and a technical facility with no discernible limitations. This bold claim is backed by growing international demand, an active recording career, and 16 first place awards in international competitions starting in his teens. Now a regular guest on the world’s most prestigious stages, Artyom brilliantly performs the entire solo, chamber and orchestra guitar repertoire plus his own transcriptions and world premieres of works by leading composers. He’s the founder of the Moscow Chamber Guitar Music Festival and artistic director of the Guitar Virtuosi Moscow International Festival. Absolute virtuosity!
Vancouver’s Finest: Alec Pearson and Luis Medina – Saturday, Jan. 25th, 2025, Vancouver Academy of Music - Join our annual celebration of Vancouver’s finest classical guitarists with a concert by two driving forces in our music community, Alec Pearson and Luis Medina. Alec Pearson is an outstanding composer and performer, a gifted instructor at UBC and Vancouver Academy of Music, the founder of the Okanagan Guitar Festival, and the president and artistic director of the Vancouver Classic Guitar Society. Luis Medina is a superb guitarist, a newly appointed instructor at Capilano University, the founder of the Vancouver Classical Guitar Festival and a longtime board member of VCGS. Together, these two have done so much to support and promote classical guitar learning and performance. This concert recognizes their contributions and celebrates their talent.
Marko Topchii – Friday, March 14th, 2025 – Vancouver Academy of Music As the winner of the GFA’s International Concert Artist 2023, Ukraine’s Marko Topchii may well be the world’s winningest classical guitarist. His prodigious achievements are best exemplified by more than 100 awards worldwide in international classical guitar competitions, an astonishing 55 of them being first prizes in prestigious competitions. Marko was born into a family of musicians in Kiev, Ukraine and started studying the guitar at the age of four, at the Kharkiv Conservatory and Kyiv Music Academy. He currently performs worldwide often collaborating with orchestras, having performed more than 15 concertos for guitar and orchestra. The remarkable Marko is truly one of the world’s greatest classical guitarists.
Duo Beija Flor – Saturday, April 19th, 2025 Pyatt Hall Montreal-based Charles Hobson and Marie-Noelle Choquette are the innovative guitar and flute duo, Beija-Flor. Together, they present a dynamic and beautiful repertoire of classical works inspired by cultures from around the world in a style they call ethno-classical. They travelled to Buenos Aires to refine their arrangements of Astor Piazzolla’s “Escualo” and “Oblivion”, worked to understand Romanian musical language for their arrangement of Bartok’s “Romanian Folk Dances” and recently embraced the 1929 Japanese classic Haru no umi ( Sea in the Spring) by Miyagi. Their multiple recordings and international performances continue to win awards and rave reviews. Hailed by San Francisco’s Flute View magazine as “…an incredibly dynamic and creative team“, the duo is known for their “masterful arrangements” (Flute Quarterly, USA).
All concerts start at 7 pm, with a pre-concert performance of up-and-coming guitarists at 6:15 pm so come early for a full evening of classical guitar. Concerts are at Pyatt Hall, 843 Seymour Street, Vancouver or the Vancouver Academy of Music’s Koerner Hall, 1270 Chestnut Street, Vancouver.
Tickets are $45 General Admission, $37 Senior/Student, $15 Youth (18 and under) and Livestream $20. Members can save up to 25% with a subscription or enjoy a 15% discount on single tickets.
Buy a family membership for just $30.00 and save on a 5-concert subscription for $175 General Admission, $135 Seniors/Students, $60 Youth (18 and under.) Member discounted single tickets are $38 General Admission, $31 Seniors/Students, $12 Youth (18 & under) and Livestream $17..