Benefit concert performers

cott Tennant is considered one of the world’s premiere guitar virtuosos and is a favorite guest artist of orchestras, music series and major festivals worldwide. He is a founding member of the Grammy-winning ensemble L.A. Guitar Quartet, now in its 30th year. He has made numerous solo recordings on the GHA and Delos labels, and with members of the LAGQ he has recorded for GHA, Delos, Sony Classical, Windham Hill, Deutsche Grammophon and Telarc. The Telarc release “LAGQ Latin” was nominated for a Grammy, and it was their Telarc title “LAGQ’s Guitar Heroes” which won a Grammy as best classical crossover recording of 2005. Scott is well known as a teacher and author, currently with eight books to his name. His first, “Pumping Nylon,” is an advanced book on classical guitar technique and is used in most of the world’s major guitar programs. Scott lives in the Los Angeles area and is on the faculties of the USC Thornton School of Music and the Pasadena Conservatory of Music.

orn in Los Angeles, Gregory Newton began study of the guitar with Vahdah Olcott Bickford and attended the University of Southern California School of Music on scholarship, where he studied with Pepe Romero and from which he received B.M. and M.M. degrees with honors. His background also includes work with John Duarte, José Tomás, Alirio Diaz, classes with Andrés Segovia, Flamenco studies with Luis Maravilla and jazz studies with Laurindo Almeida and Lee Ritenour. In 2007 he completed a doctoral degree under the direction of Dr. Peter Yates at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Newton is on the faculties of Los Angeles City College, Los Angeles Valley College and Glendale College. He is also the classical guitar instructor on videoguitarlessons.com, a new educational Web site, and is president of the American Guitar Society.

avid Grimes was first introduced to the guitar when he was a junior math major at Caltech and heard a recording of Andrés Segovia. He completed his degree in mathematics and subsequently worked at JPL in Pasadena for several years while he pursued his guitar studies with Guy Horn and Oscar Ghiglia. As a soloist he has performed extensively throughout North America and Europe, and recent concert tours have taken him to Mexico, Greece, Bulgaria, Spain, Denmark, France, Malta, Belarus, Serbia and Montenegro. He is frequently in demand at music festivals as a conductor and as a competition judge. Highly respected as a teacher and coach, David is presently Director of Guitar Studies at California State University, Fullerton, where he has developed one of the nation’s leading centers of guitar instruction.

tuart Green studied with Terry Graves, a founding member of the internationally acclaimed Falla Guitar Trio. Stuart also had additional studies with Kenton Youngstrom and classes with Dusan Bogdanovic, Juan Serrano, Christopher Parkening and John Holmquist. Some of you may remember his appearances in 2001 and 2003 at La Guitarra California. An active performer, Stuart enjoys a busy schedule both as a soloist and as a member of the Cabalo/Green Guitar Duo with Eric Cabalo. His recitals have taken him across California, Arizona and New Mexico. In early 2008 Stuart released his second CD, the first of three that will be the complete suites for guitar by Robert de Visee, French Baroque guitarist/composer — the first time these works have been recorded in full.

he scholarship was delighted to host noted Flamenco guitarist Chris Burton Jácome, who provided a wonderful introduction to Flamenco for the scholarship's classical audience. From his Web site:

Chris began playing guitar in 1986. While living in Sevilla, Spain, Chris studied Flamenco guitar with some of the greatest Flamenco performers of this era. Since his return from Spain, he has been performing more than 200 shows a year and has played many sold-out performances throughout the U.S. and Canada.

dward Trybek - classical guitarist, composer and winner of several awards - has garnered rave reviews for his musicianship. At the prestigious 49th Tokyo International Guitar Competition, Edward’s silver-medal performance impressed his critical audience and judges with masterful technique and superb musicality. Edward was the first American to have medaled in this competition with the exception of his mentor, LAGQ founding member Scott Tennant, who won gold in 1989. Having studied with Maestro Tennant since age 14, Edward has been mentored to use his unique gift to amaze and inspire audiences with his captivating performances.

outhern California native David Isaacs has been playing guitar since 1988, and has studied classical guitar since 1995. David has performed throughout the U.S. and in Greece as a soloist, in a guitar duet, in a guitar-and-voice duet (as part of Chanson du Soir), and as part of the California State University Fullerton Guitar Orchestra. He has been a featured performer for the Pacific Guitar Festival, the Hermoupolis Guitar Festival, the Ventura County Classical Guitar Society, the Long Beach Classical Guitar Society, the Orange County Guitar Circle, the Dayton Classical Guitar Society and many other venues. David earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Classical Guitar Performance at California State University Fullerton under David Grimes.

riada combines the unique talents of Bulgarian brothers Nikola, Petar and Vasil Chekardzhikov, forming one of the most brilliant guitar ensembles now performing. Established as a trio in 2001, the three are former members of the guitar quartet “Four of a Kind” with their sister Petya. Since coming to the United States, the trio has performed in California, Wisconsin, Indiana, Colorado, Texas and Hawaii. In 2004, Triada won first prize in the Third Annual Guitar Ensemble Competition in Brownsville, Texas. The three brothers studied guitar from early childhood with professor Ljuben Haralambiev in Varna, Bulgaria. In America they completed graduate studies at Cal State Fullerton with David Grimes.

lassical guitarist James Edwards has been a performer, teacher and recording artist for more than 25 years. He not only plays the rich and varied traditional repertoire, but his own compositions and contemporary styles as well. James also plays historical instruments of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, such as the five-course guitar and ten-course lute. James’ performance credits include the 1999 La Guitarra California Festival, soloist with the Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, the Santa Barbara Arts Festival, Richard Schneiders’ Lost Mountain Guitar Festival and many other collaborations. James discovered the guitar at age 14; inspired by Christopher Parkening, with whom he later studied, James also has worked with Ray Reussner, one of Andrés Segovia’s most devoted pupils. Other teachers have included Manuel Barruecco and Michael Lorimer.