• Competitors are required to check in and confirm their competition time and master class schedule.

• If you are unable to be here in person to check in, please other arrangements can be made via e-mail.

• The winner of the first ever Leo Brouwer International Composition Competition, Amy Brandon, will present her life and works in a public presentation where her winning piece will be performed. Performance by Emma Rush. 

Sergio Assad & Chris Ladd

•  This Lecture/Concert Performance will open with a presentation of the life and achievements of Sergio Assad, a truly prolific composer who has solidified himself in history. Following this presentation will be a program performed by Christopher Ladd in tribute to Maestro Assad. 

Warm up space will be provided for all competitors. Please check in 30min prior to competition time. 

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If you have any issues please contact us at greatlakesguitarsociety@gmail.com

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Preliminary Round Schedule

Collegiate Competitoin: 9:00AM - 2:30PM

Youth Competition: 3:00PM - 5:30PM

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Seconda Prattica Composition Competition

Second Round: 9:00AM - 2:30PM

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Conducted by Ricardo Saeb, the youth orchestra will be comprised of students from the Buffalo area as well as participants in the GLGS Youth Competitions. The orchestra will be providing the opening performance of the Saturday night concert.

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If you have any questions regarding the Youth Orchestra, please feel free to contact us at greatlakesguitarsociety@gmail.com

• After sharing his expertise with us the night before, Maestro Assad will be applying his abundance of guitar literature to performers in this public masterclass. 

Presenter: Anthony LaLena

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• Description: During the Spanish Silver Age (1898-1936) the very cultural and political foundations of the Spanish nation were challenged by a succession of unstable and contentious governments, regional factionalism, and a loss of empire that prompted philosophical debates over the essence of Spain. As intellectuals and politicians debated about Spain’s true essence, composers constructed their visions through historical retrospection, the use of folk music, and the adoption of foreign compositional techniques. During this era the guitar became an even more powerful symbol of Spanish identity as flamenco music and the classical guitar garnered international esteem; yet most musicological research on the Spanish Silver Age prioritizes issues of exoticism in the orchestral works of Manuel de Falla. As a result, there is a surprising lack of critical engagement with the guitar works of this era even though the instrument provides perhaps the most fruitful medium through which to musically analyze the complex negotiations of Spanish identity. This lecture-recital contextualizes musical aesthetics with the sociopolitical negotiations over Spanish national identity through a critical analysis of folkloric and avant-garde musical features in the first guitar works of prominent non-guitarist composers such as Adolfo Salazar, Rodolfo Halffter and others. The guitar functioned as an ideal medium through which to express Spanish identity precisely because of its ubiquity in Spanish culture. I argue that Spanish composers had to directly engage with the negotiations over national identity when writing their first pieces for such a volatile instrument in an equally volatile socio-political landscape.

Presenter: Orlay Alonso

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Jeffery Mcfadden and Ken Meyer

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Concert programs performed by critically acclaimed artists Jeffery Mcfadden and Ken Meyer. 

Masterclasses will take place with festival Artists: Amy Brandon, Matthew Slotkin, Ken Meyer, Emma Rush, Anthony Lalena, Chis Ladd, Jeffery Mcfadden, Rupert Boyd.

Masterclasses are open to the public

Assad in Buffalo 2020 will close with the finals of both the Youth and Collegiate Guitar Competitions. adjudicated by a panel of artists with Sergio Assad as the President of the jury or both competitions.

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12:30PM - 1:15PM - GLGS Youth Competition

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1:30PM - 2:45PM - GLGS Collegiate Competition

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3:00PM - 4:00PM - Seconda Prattica Composition Finals

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Following the final round of competition, Representatives of Seconda Prattica, Great Lakes Guitar Society, and the festival artists that have joined us throughout the weekend will present the final prize to the competition winners.

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