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Lily Afshar, guitar

Fri, February 2nd, 2007
9:00 pm

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Hailed by The Washington Post as “remarkable, impeccable,” and winner of the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical Guitarist, Lily Afshar will present a varied program featuring the world premiere of UNEXPECTED PASSAGES: Dances and Laments for Solo Guitar by David Kechley.

Program:

Enrique Granados Andaluza
(1867-1916)

Kamran Ince MKG Variations
(b. 1960)
(arr. Lily Afshar 2001)

Reza Vali Gozaar (Calligraphy No. 5) (2003)*
(b. 1952)

Carlo Domeniconi Koyunbaba, op.19 (1985)
(b. 1947) Andante
Mosso
Cantabile
Presto

~~Intermission~~

Asik Veysel Kara Toprak (Black Earth)
(1894-1973)
(arr. Ricardo Moyano)

Augustin Barrios Mangoré Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios
(1885-1944)

Leo Brouwer Danza del Altiplano
(b. 1939)

David Kechley UNEXPECTED PASSAGES: Dances and Laments
(b. 1947) for Solo Guitar (2002)**

* (written for Lily Afshar)
** (World Premiere)

Ms. Afshar is the Head of the Guitar Program at the University of Memphis where she was awarded the 2000 Eminent Faculty Award. Other awards include the Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Award in Music, the National Endowment for the Arts Recording Award, Top Prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Grand Prize in the Aspen Music Festival Guitar Competition, and First Prizes in both the Music Teachers’ National Association and the American String Teachers’ Association Guitar Competitions.
Guitarist Lily Afshar was chosen as “Artistic Ambassador” for the United States Information Agency to Africa, she is the winner of the Tenth, Eleventh, and the Twelfth Annual “Premier Guitarist” awards respectively, awarded by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.

She was chosen as “Artistic Ambassador” for the United States Information Agency to Africa, she is the winner of the Tenth, Eleventh, and the Twelfth Annual “Premier Guitarist” awards respectively, awarded by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, Inc.

Lily Afshar was among the twelve international guitarists selected to play for Maestro Andres Segovia in his master classes held at the University of Southern California at which time Maestro Segovia predicted that “she will be a beautiful celebrity.” She then appeared in an interview on the NBC Nightly News.

Her interest in contemporary music has led to premiers of new works by Reza Vali, Garry Eister, Gerard Drozd, Loris Chobanian, Arne Mellnas, Kamran Ince, Barbara Kolb, Marilyn Ziffrin, Salvador Brotons, among others. She has given numerous concerts in the US, England, Ireland, Canada, France, Iran, Jordan, Denmark, Italy, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and South America. She has performed at the Wigmore Hall in London, the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Aspen Music Festival, Banff School of Fine Arts, the Menton Music Festival in the South of France, and the American Academy in Rome.

Lily Afshar’s articles on “Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Goya” are published multi-lingually by Gitarre & Laute, Guitar Review, and Il “Fronimo”.

Born in Tehran, Lily was 10 years old when she began learning the guitar. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music degree in guitar performance from The Boston Conservatory and the New England Conservatory of Music. At Florida State University, Lily became the first woman in the world to gain a Doctorate of Music in guitar performance. She has studied at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts and the Aspen Music Festival. She received Diplomas of Merit from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy.

Lily Afshar’s recordings of 24 Caprichos de Goya by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and A Jug of Wine and Thou are available on Summit Records (CDs #167and #236). Her Five Popular Persian Ballads are published by Mel Bay Editions, INC. Her two CDs Possession and her latest CD Hemispheres are available on Archer Records.

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