22nd Annual Conference

5th – 7th August 2011

Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre

1046 Bristol Road, Birmingham,

B29 6LJ

A comfortable, grade 2 listed house, set in 10 acres of organically-managed gardens and formally the residence of the Quaker chocolate-maker, George Cadbury. Excellent home cooked food with vegetarian cooking a speciality.

Woodbrooke provides a tranquil space within a city setting for our

annual conference.

Residential £160 – Includes all talks, workshops and concerts, meals and accommodation. All rooms have tea / coffee making facilities and the majority are en-suite.

Special Guest Recitalists Saturday 6th August:8 pm

Ian Watt and Matthew Wilkinson

Sunday 7th August 2011 2.15 pm

Craig Ogden

Talks and presentations byGordon Crosskey, Gordon Dunn,James Eisner, Gerald Garcia, Barry Russell and Peter Wrieden

NYGE will be performing at the Adrian Boult Hall as part of the conference proceedings on Friday 5th August

22nd EGTA Conference Agenda

Once again we have an exciting mix of talks, workshops and concerts. There is something for everyone to enjoy and as you can see we have some inspirational personalities joining us which will make it extra special indeed. Brian Whitehouse will once again bring his shop from The Classical Guitar Centre and Kent Guitar Classics will visiting us on Saturday morning too. Whether you are a regular or a first timer to the conference EGTA hopes that you will make every effort to join us for what promises to be a weekend to remember.

Friday 5th August 2011

3.15 Arrival and Tea

3.30 Welcome and notices

4.00 Barry Russell – Composing: Starting points, stages on the journey, possible destinations

5.30 Dinner

6.30 Travel to Birmingham *

7.30 NYGE with guest soloist Gordon Dunn at Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham

Saturday 6th August 2011

7.45 Breakfast

9.30 Composers forum with Gerald Garcia and Peter Wrieden

10.45Coffee

11.15 Gordon Dunn – Hands on workshop exploring the use of extended and percussive guitar techniques (bring guitars)

1.00 Lunch

2.15 Gordon Crosskey “I can talk ‘till the cows come home!”

4.00Tea

4.30 AGM (with elections for committee posts)

6.30 Dinner

8.00 Recitals 1st Ian Watt and 2nd Matthew Wilkinson

Sunday 7th August 2011

7.45 Breakfast

9.15 Resources (planning, short pieces, exercises, musical games etc. (open forum with members being encouraged to bring something along to share and perhaps publish on the website to all EGTA members as a useful resource)

10.45 Coffee

11.15 James Eisner “What’s in a comma? – Tuning systems and temperaments”.

1.00 Lunch

2.15 Afternoon recital with special guest Craig Ogden

3.15 Tea and Close of conference

* EGTA has booked transport to the Adrian Boult Hall.

The Guests

Barry Russell

has devised and led Composer in Schools projects for Avon, Buckinghamshire, Bradford, Birmingham, Calderdale, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Hampshire, Isle of Man, Kent, Kirklees, Leeds, North Yorkshire, Oldham, Sefton, Staffordshire, Thanet and Wakefield Education Authorities.

He has also devised and directed education projects for BBC Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Holland Symfonia (Amsterdam), London Philharmonic Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Philharmonische Orchester Hagen (Germany), Philharmonische Orchester Bielefeld (Germany) and the South Bank Sinfonia.

His book of composition projects for GCSE The GCSE Composition Course (with Tony Harris) is published by Peters Edition and is designed to be compatible with all exam board syllabi. He has also contributed widely to texts for music education including:The New Edexcel GCSE Anthology of Music (2006 and 2009), The AQA GCSE Anthology of Music 2008, Goldfinger in Focus (overview of the film score and related issues for AS level Music Technology) and articles in Classroom Music magazine (Teaching the 32-bar pop song at Key Stage 3 and GCSE Composition – New Ideas for Rock Guitarists).

His talk will look at Ideas, strategies and techniques for developing and extending simple ideas to make larger scale pieces. Starting from small ideas (melodic and rhythmic cells) Barry Russell will demonstrate effective ways to develop and expand material to make a duet piece for two guitars. The workshop will also look at different possible structures (forms) using the same material in different ways.

Gerald Garcia “

Garcia has always been a characterful guitarist ; his musical intelligence and perception are to be treasured in an age where bland fluency seems to carry off the major prizes.”- Classical GuitarMagazine.

Gerald has over fifteen CDs in circulation which have sold more than 30,000 copies worldwide. In addition, he has performed with other musicians including John Williams, Paco Pena and John Renbourn. Gerald is also known as a composer, particularly for his Etudes Esquisses for guitar, recorded for Naxos Records by John Holmquist. He is musical director of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble. He lives in Oxford, where, according to his website, he enjoys “cooking, computer music, Taoist Yoga and conducting the odd chamber orchestra!”

Gordon Dunn

is one of the UK’s leading and most versatile young guitarists who specialises in extended and percussive guitar techniques. At the age of 16, he was accepted to study music at university as a full-time student where he supported Bad Attitude on their UK jazz tour in 1998. He was a finalist in the 1999 Admira Young Guitarist of the Year and has a Master of Music (performance) from the Birmingham Conservatoire. He currently teaches at the University of Warwick.

Gordon has performed across Europe as a recitalist, concerto soloist and member of the

opera/classical/jazz/pop/rock fusion group String Theory which he co-formed with the exceptional platinum selling ex-Apartment26 rock bassist Louis Macan.

Past performances and teaching positions have included Birmingham Symphony Hall, Coventry Cathedral, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, London Guitar Festival, South Bank Centre, Bath International Guitar Festival, Henley Festival, Woodstock Live Festival, Royal Academy of Music, Leeds College of Music, Jacqueline du Pre Centre, Bolivar Hall, Latin Quarter, Warwick Arts Centre, Michael Tippett Centre, Guitar France, Lalinde International Guitar Festival, Alkmaar Conservatoire, and on stage performances with David Tennant (Dr. Who), Patrick Stewart (Star Trek) and Oliver Ford Davies (Star Wars) in Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Gordon Crosskey.

EGTA’s founder and first chairman, is one of the world’s most respected guitar tutors. He has been senior guitar tutor at the Royal Northern College of Music since it’s inception in 1973 and before that he was guitar tutor at the Royal Manchester College of Music. He actively seeks to “improve the standards of guitar tuition and the position of professional guitarists within the world of mainstream music”. He has an internationally renowned reputation for having trained a considerable number of the most successful concert guitarists of the younger generation. His talk will give members the opportunity to discover some of his secrets and meet with a man who has inspired many to greatness.

Ian Watt.

Since making his recital debut in 2005, Ian has given many recitals and has performed at major cultural festivals including the International Guitar Festival (London), Dundee Guitar Festival and the Aberdeen International Youth Festival.

As well as the United Kingdom, Ian has performed in the USA, China, Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Estonia, Norway and Belgium and as a concerto soloist, he has recently performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia and the Scottish Philharmonic Orchestra. Ian has achieved many international awards and prizes, including 1st prize at the ‘Westfalian Guitar Spring’ International Competition 2010 in Germany, silver medal at the Parkening International Guitar Competition 2009 in Malibu and 2nd prize and the Vienna International Guitar Competition ‘Homage to Karl Scheit’ 2010.

His endeavours into the performance of contemporary music have included collaborations with Scottish composers John McLeod, Gordon McPherson, Rory Boyle and John Maxwell Geddes. In March 2010, he premiered John McLeod’s Guitar Concerto (of which Ian is the dedicatee), the composer’s first work for the instrument, in Edinburgh. In November 2009, Ian took part in the Peter Maxwell Davies 75th birthday celebration concerts in Glasgow, giving a performance of the rarely heard ‘Dark Angels’ song cycle for voice and guitar in the composer’s presence. He also regularly performs in a guitar duo with Kristiina Jalakas and occasionally with guitarist Sean Shibe.

As well as his performances on BBC Radio, Ian was featured in a BBC 2 documentary which included a performance of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez, His performances have also been seen and heard on television and radio stations in the USA, Austria and Holland.

Matthew Wilkinson

is a diverse guitarist who has been playing since the age of 8. From private beginnings and school performances, he went on to become a member and leader of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble, performing with artists such as Antonio De Innocentis, the Eden-Stell guitar duo, John Williams and Victoria Walker. Matthew won the Christine Flint Bursary in 2005 to further his musical education, and later gained a major entrance award before starting his studies at the prestigious RNCM in Manchester in 2006.

Currently undertaking his fourth year of undergraduate studies, Matthew performs regularly both as a soloist and chamber musician. His playing has taken him to venues such as the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Bolivar Hall in London, the Holmfirth Arts Festival and many more. Matthew plays both classical and electric guitar and has performed in many exciting ensembles, including recitals of Steven Mackey’s Measures of Turbulence, Callum Dewar’s Concertina for Amplified Guitar and Guitar Ensemble, and Louis Andriessen’s Nine Symphonies of Beethoven for Orchestra and Ice Cream Bell.

As a soloist, Matthew performs around Manchester and the UK and has given many full-length recitals for various occasions. He has taken part in master classes with Julian Byzantine and Ricardo Iznaola, and is currently being taught by legendary guitarists Craig Ogden and Gordon Crosskey. Matthew recently performed for Julian Bream and further to that, was given a Postgraduate Performance Award, administered by the Musicians Benevolent Fund in order to continue his studies at the RNCM.

James Eisner

was a latecomer to the classical guitar, beginning with the piano at the age of 5 in the United States. He started teaching himself chords and some classical pieces on the guitar at age 16, and only began having lessons at age 22. In the meantime he was taking singing lessons and singing semi-professionally in a harmony group called English Tapestry. He later founded the Silkworm Guitar Network with his then partner, Ellen Lee. His lessons with John Hunt (a colourful character with a superb technique and tone, pupil of William Gomez) continued for many years, and he finally achieved Guildhall Grade 8 at age 34 (with honours). He began singing self-accompanied art songs, and in 1998 recorded a CD called ‘Songs Through the Centuries’.

James has been interested in tuning systems for many years, regularly discussing the subject with his father (a physics professor) on questions like “what divisions of the octave other than 12 can give a good fit for the major third and perfect fifth?” This talk will address this and other questions!

Craig Ogden

Craig Ogden is one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. His debut solo album for Classic FM, ‘The Guitarist’ went straight to Number 1 in the classical charts. His brand new album ‘Summertime’ is out now.

Craig Ogden studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of thirteen and in 2004 he was honoured by the Royal Northern College of Music with a Fellowship in recognition of his achievements. He is the youngest instrumentalist to have received this award from the RNCM. He regularly appears as soloist and chamber musician at the major London venues including the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Wigmore Hall and the Barbican and collaborates regularly with many of the UK’s top artists and ensembles. Craig Ogden is Principal Lecturer in Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music.