Teacher Biographies
Saturday Teachers:
Sunday Teachers:
The Amadeus Guitar Duo celebrates 20 years together.
They are counted among the top-class international guitar duos, receiving enthusiastic reviews from all over the world.
Canadian Dale Kavanagh and her German partner Thomas Kirchhoff have made up the Amadeus Guitar Duo since 1991.
The secret of their success,
regularly documented by more than 70 concerts per year, is the complete devotion of the two artists to their instrument. Hence they did not limit
themselves to playing as a duo, but began to concentrate on the repertoire for guitar and orchestra. Thanks to their commitment, this genre was soon
able to emerge from its niche. In more than 100 cities, they played their "Spanish Night" recital, featuring concertos for one, two and four guitars and
orchestra by Joaquin Rodrigo and the world-famous pan flautist Gheorghe Zamfir.
The Amadeus Guitar Duo has so far appeared in more than 1.000 concerts in some 50 countries in Europe, Central, South and North America, and Asia.
The duo has always been able to delight its audience with its exuberant temperament, virtuoso performance, sensitive creative power and a fulsome, warm,
carrying guitar tone. They regularly play together with the Prague, Mainz and Mannheim Chamber Orchestras, the Halle Philharmonic State Orchestra, the
International Philharmonie, the Gotha-Suhl Thuringian Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Capella Cracoviensis, the Ankara President Orchestra
and the South Westphalian Philharmonic.
Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff have recorded a large number of productions for radio and television (BBC, ZDF, CBC, WDR, BR, TRT, etc.).
They have also recorded 16 CDs (Haenssler-Classic) which document the high quality of the Amadeus Guitar Duo. The two artists' stirring commitment and
inspiring style of playing have enabled them to considerably broaden the repertoire for guitar, especially for guitar and orchestra. Such renowned composers
as Harald Genzmer, Gheorghe Zamfir, Roland Dyens (Paris), Jaime Zenamon (Curitiba), Christian Jost (Cologne), Carlo Domeniconi (Berlin), Gerald Garcia (Oxford),
Martin Herchenröder (Siegen) have written orchestral concertos for them. Stephen Dodgson (London), Harald Genzmer (Munich), Jaime M. Zenamon (Curitiba) and
Christian Jost (Cologne) have dedicated compositions for two guitars to them. All works have been published by Schott‘s, Mainz - Edition Margaux, Berlin,
Edition Peters, Frankfurt, and Verlag Hubertus Nogatz, Essen.
In 1992 they founded the International Guitar Symposium in Iserlohn, which is today one of the most important festivals of its kind in Europe, with more than
200 participants from more than 40 countries, concerts featuring world-famous stars, master courses, lectures, exhibitions and many other activities (www.guitarsymposium.com).
In the 2012-13 season, these successful musicians have been invited to tour the U.S.A., Canada, South-Korea, China, England, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Turkey, Romania and Poland. Today, Dale Kavanagh and
Thomas Kirchhoff live with their daughter Melissa-Rachel in Germany, and both are professors who have been teaching at the newly launched guitar class of the Detmold Music School since 2003 (www.hfm-detmold.de).
The Amadeus Guitar Duo plays exclusively D'Addario strings on guitars made in Germany by Toni Mueller, Aarbergen.
Press comments:
"Surely one of the most innovative duos in the world"
(Gitarre & Laute, 1998)
"Real professionals for guitar and orchestra"
(Musikmarkt, 2003)
"Any Rodrigo connoisseur will be thrilled with this."
(American Record Guide, USA, 2001)
"A great success!" on the Spanish Night 1 CD
(Zupfmusik, 2001)
"Once again, thoroughly commendable" on Spanish Night 2
(Acoustic Guitar Mag., 2004)
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Daniel Boring is a rare performer who specializes in various instruments
including baroque, classical and romantic guitars, baroque lute and theorbo.
He has performance degrees from the State University of New York at
Buffalo
and the Ithaca College School of Music, and former teachers include the
Castellani-Andriaccio duo, Donald Miller, Timothy Schmidt, Pablo Cohen, and
James Tyler. He has participated in master classes given by
Oscar Ghiglia, the Assad duo, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Anthony Rooley,
Nigel North, Ronn McFarlane, Robert Barto, Ricardo Iznaola, and Adam Holzman.
Mr. Boring made his European debut in
Rome, Italy in 1995 where he participated as chamber
artist with the Rome
festival orchestra and ballet troupe.
Return engagements throughout Italy include performances with the
Opera Theatre of Lucca orchestral member and chamber music artist. He has also
toured Europe as a member of Due Colori, a
soprano/guitar-lute duo with soprano Megan Monaghan, with whom he has released
the recording Irish Airs and Ballads.
As a soloist and continuo player on lute, theorbo, and
baroque guitar, Mr. Boring performs with such baroque groups as the Philadelphia
Bach Festival Orchestra, La Fiocco, The American Society of Ancient Instruments,
and the Vox Ama Deus Baroque Orchestra with whom he has made several recordings
on the Lyrachord Early Music record label. He also has
performed with various opera companies throughout the United States including Pittsburgh
Opera, Ithaca Opera, Teatro Grattacielo and Glimmerglass Opera.
As a teacher, Mr. Boring served as Director of Classical
Guitar Studies at the University of Louisville School of Music, and taught at
the Preparatory Department of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Currently in the
Philadelphia
area, Mr. Boring is on faculty at Muhlenberg and Montgomery County
Community Colleges.
At
Muhlenberg
College, he serves as the
Director and Conductor of the Muhlenberg College Chamber Orchestra, and is
instructor of Historical Instruments and Classical Guitar.
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Eric Shuster
is a Lecturer of Music Appreciation and Creativity and
Electronic/Acoustic Music. Eric holds his M.M. from Louisiana State University and B.A.
from Kutztown University, both in Percussion Performance, and has attended the Berklee
College of Music Summer Workshop. His principal instructors include Brett Dietz, Frank Kumor,
and Will Rapp, with additional study under Jim Atwood, timpanist with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
In addition to his work at Salisbury University, Eric is the percussion instructor for the Stephen
Decatur High School Band and Percussion Ensemble (Berlin, MD) and maintains a private studio. Since 2008, Eric has partnered
with the Reading Musical Foundation to direct summer music outreach programs to underserved areas of Reading, PA.
An avid new-music practitioner and thinker, Eric has collaborated with visual artists for installations
and multi-media exhibitions, held premiere performances of both solo and chamber music, and been published in Percussive Notes
(The Journal of the Percussive Arts Society). He has performed internationally (San Juan, Paris, Bangkok, Patagonia), nationally
(Baltimore, New Orleans, Houston, Indianapolis), and locally for Salisbury faculty recitals, including New Music Salisbury.
Eric is a member of the Percussive Arts Society. He blogs regularly about music at
http://ericshuster.wordpress.com.
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David J. Pace
Drawing from experience as a guitarist, audio engineer and
woodworker, David J. Pace hand-builds concert guitars in his
Baltimore, Maryland workshop. His designs feature both
traditional as well as composite
double-top soundboards. Pace’s work was featured in the
March-May 2011 issue of the French magazine
Guitare Classique.
At the 2012 SU Festival, Pace will give a workshop on
“Understanding the Modes of Vibration as an Influence on Soundboard Design”
demonstrating modal vibration patterns on a guitar soundboard plate. Pace will
also discuss the practical implications behind the experiment in terms of how
classical guitar soundboards are braced and sculpted.
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Danielle Cumming,
Festival Director
dmcumming@salisbury.edu
410-677-3269
Classical guitarist Danielle Cumming is an active
performer, studio teacher and lecturer. She holds a Doctorate in Performance
from McGill
University
and a Masters in Performance from the University of Toronto,
where she studied with Norbert Kraft.
A native of
Canada, Danielle’s performances have been
broadcast on national television and radio. In addition to giving recitals in
North America, Danielle has performed in Europe and has served on international guitar competition
juries. After a year of study in Spain, Danielle released her solo
CD, postcards, a recording of 20th century repertoire with world music
influences. She continued to pursue her interest in issues of exoticism in
classical and popular guitar music in her doctoral paper, Led Zeppelin and Carlo
Domeniconi: Truth Without Authenticity?
In addition to teaching guitar and popular music history
at Salisbury
University, Danielle is
also a certified yoga instructor, and has created and taught yoga programs to
help musicians prevent injuries and handle performance anxiety.
Danielle is a D’Addario artist.
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Chris English
was born and raised in Salisbury, Maryland
and started playing guitar at age 11. His older brother introduced him to
the blues in the late 1960’s, during his high school years. Chris concentrated
on slide guitar and harmonica at this time teaching himself, using open tunings.
Chris is now primarily performing as a solo act, playing traditional
and acoustic blues. He has an authentic style of playing. Over the years he has been true to
his art learning the subtleties that make each blues special. His performances are both
intense and spiritual releases; dad calls him preacher man; Delta style is his forte, singing,
playing guitar and harp, stamping out the time on an old wooden coca cola crate, creating the
subtle polyrhythms and powerful vocals that comprise this elusive form. He also uses vintage
guitars from the ‘30’s to replicate the sound and feeling of the blues he has studied and loves.
Chris released his second CD, “Lowdown in the House”, in July 2004. This is a live,
solo, collection of traditional and original blues. His first CD, recorded in 1996, “Live at the Avalon”,
is a combination of solo and band work. His three-piece band, Brother Lowdown, was formed in 1986. Both
CD’s were co-produced and engineered by Jim Smith of Muddy Hole Studios.
Currently, Chris is teaching a course in blues, that he created, at Salisbury University,
Salisbury MD, titled “Blues, the Roots of Rock and Roll”. This lecture course explores the social and economic
climate that shaped the music as well as the musicians that crafted the music. The course includes live performances
to demonstrate different styles of blues, and will serve to further Chris in his own education of the blues.
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Duane Large
is active as a performer in nearly every style of music on guitar, mandolin, lute, bass,
piano, and percussion. Duane is also an educator and a scholar. He has appeared with such groups as The
Philadelphia Orchestra, The Royal Ballet and The Pennsylvania Ballet. Duane has performed in several cities
in the US including, Philadelphia, Baltimore, New York, New Haven, Boston, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, and
New Orleans, and in Europe in Leipzig, Germany, Tampere, Finland, in the Arriège region of southern France,
throughout the island of Sardinia, and throughout the Puglia region of southern Italy, where he is now a docent
with the Salento Guitar Festival. He has also worked closely with local Philadelphia groups including, Orchestra
2001 in 2005 for Tan Dun’s Circle of Trios; Germantown Friends Choir in 2008 for a tour of southern American
cities (guitar) and again in 2011 in Puerto Rico (percussion); and playing lute with Quidditas in 2008 with
composer, Kile Smith.
Duane is also involved with new music in Philadelphia. In 2006, he performed guitar
along with Swedish guitarist, Patrik Karlsson, in Duo con Forza for the group
Chamber Music Now, performing
works by such composers as Jan Krzywicki (Network for New Music) and Jay Riese (Penn). He has also performed
works by Alexander deVaron, Heide Jacobs and Brian Ciach. Duane himself is a composer and has had his works
performed at recitals and local salons. Duane is the artistic director of a new group based in Philadelphia
and Baltimore called Philmore Ensemble. This group had its premier concert on January 9th, 2010 at the Ethical
Society of Philadelphia. In May of 2011, the Philmore Ensemble released their premier CD,
Duos and Trios from
Five Centuries. Duane is not just involved with contemporary and classical music, he has worked for several
years with The Cat’s Pajamas playing electric guitar, mandolin, bass and drums.
Duane received his Bachelor’s degree in guitar performance (summa cum laude) under the tutelage
of Allen Krantz as well as two master’s degrees in both guitar performance and musicology from Temple University.
Duane has continued his studies abroad studying nineteenth-century performance practice in France and Italy with
the Accadamia l’Ottocento under the direction of Carlo Barone, as well as master classes in Germany with Dale
Kavanagh, John Dearman, Giampaolo Bandini, Martha Masters, Laura Young, Hans-Werner Huppertz and Daniel Cumming.
Duane recently released his premier solo CD, Plucked String Theory.
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Jason Balish
Classical Guitarist Jason Balish is an active teacher and performer based in New York City. He holds a B.A.
in Music from Salisbury University where he studied with Dr. Danielle Cumming, and has performed in master classes in the United
States and Europe for such renowned guitarists as David Leisner, Thomas Kirchhoff, Michael Newman, Gerald Garcia, and Hans-Werner Huppertz.
As a performer Jason is an advocate for new music having premiered new ensemble works by composers Jerry Tabor and Robert A. Baker.
He and guitarist Robert Adler have recently formed the Manhattan Guitar Duo with the goal to play and arrange new pieces, including upcoming premieres of works by Mark Delpriora and Giovanni Piacentini.
Jason is currently pursuing his Masters of Music Degree in Performance at the Manhattan School of Music under the tutelage of Mark Delpriora.
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