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Event
Alex de Grassi in Concert
Solo acoustic guitarist Alex de Grassi, just recently returned from teaching and performing at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, is a very busy man, but not too busy to say yes to a request from his friend George Husaruk, a board member of the Ukiah Symphony Association, to schedule a benefit concert for the symphony on October 26th at 3:00 p.m. at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church at 640 South Orchard Avenue in Ukiah.
Board president Jean Stirling explains the need for fundraising. "When I first joined the board in 2011, I had no idea of the costs involved in creating first-class symphony concerts. I soon learned that $10,000-18,000 was the norm for each concert set, even with most musicians volunteering all or part of their services. Expenses are only partly covered by ticket sales; sponsors, donors, advertisers in our program and fundraising events keep our symphony's future alive."
De Grassi, known primarily for his fingerstyle, steel-string guitar playing is no stranger to an orchestra, having played the Rodrigo Guitar Concerto, a composition for classical guitar and orchestra, with the Ukiah Symphony some years back. He was co-commissioned with Jeremy Cohen to write a piece entitled "Three Themes for Guitar and Strings," performed it as a benefit concert with Quartet San Francisco at Herbst Theater in 2007 and followed with a performance the next year in Ukiah. "Playing with an orchestra," he says, "is like riding a huge wave."
Performing a fairly typical Alex de Grassi solo program, he will incorporate original compositions from his album "The Water Garden" including the title piece, a slow ballad, and "Cumulus Rising," a tone poem using a variety of timbres and textures.
Applying his fingerstyle playing and unique, non-traditional arrangements to American folk standards, his interpretations are recognizable as melodies, rhythmically and harmonically changed, contextually more contemporary. Expect jazz, reggae, rhythm and blues from old standards such as "Single Girl," "Bury Me Not" and "Oh Susanna."
Included in the evening of solo pieces will be an eclectic arrangement of jazz standards such as Thelonius Monk's "Around Midnight," George and Ira Gershwin's "It Ain't Necessarily So," anonymously written folksong "St. James Infirmary," Charles Mingus' "Goodbye Porkpie Hat"; and Jimi Hendrix's "Angel."
"What I try to do in the course of a concert," he says, "is bring a lot of different musical traditions into this microcosm of solo guitar."
In addition to his steel string guitar he will be performing with a sympitar, a six-stringed guitar with 12 additional fine strings attached to the underside of the soundboard creating a secondary sound akin to a sitar and with a guitar harp that has six additional strings pitched below the normal guitar.
He is presently working on an album of duets with other guitarists and continuing to prepare material for his next solo recording and a tour of the Pacific Northwest. Come next spring he will be performing in Switzerland, Germany, and Italy.
Tickets will be sold online at www.brownpapertickets.com and at the door: $25 for adults and $5 for children/
students under 18 with ASB card. For further information call 707 462-0236.
Press Release by Karen Rifkin, Oct. 4, 2014
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LocationHoly Trinity Episcopal Church
640 Orchard Avenue
Ukiah, CA 95482
United States
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| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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