This Thursday, January 8, the Arts Council of Central Louisiana will host classical guitarist John De Chiaro for Romantic Sounds of Classical Guitar. The first of four concerts this spring in the great new chamber music series Abendmusik Alexandria, Romantic Sounds will also be the first local music event of the new year.
Thursday’s Abendmusik will be a great way to start the new year for music lovers. Guitarist John De Chiaro – already an Abendmusik veteran having given excellent concerts in September and November – is one of Central Louisiana’s leading musicians. An expert guitarist who has given recitals at Carnegie Hall, the Vatican, and elsewhere around the world, John De Chiaro now lives locally where he shares his musical talents with the students of his Alexandria Youth Orchestra. In the past month alone, he has performed with the Rapides Symphony Orchestra, at the Alexandria Rotary Club, and in other venues.
John De Chiaro has an exciting concert planned for audiences this Thursday. The majority of the pieces he will play are by Spanish or Latin American composers including favorites by Francisco Tárrega and Isaac Albéniz as well as a piece by contemporary Cuban composer Leo Brouwer. Plus, De Chiaro will showcase two of his own transcriptions of famous works by Schubert and Offenbach. For more information about this repertoire, read my program notes. Appetizer plates will be catered by Southern Creations and feature their signature pasta jambalaya. Plus, Southern Creations will offer a cash bar to those interested, including warm beverages considering the frigid weather forecast.
If you have not joined the Arts Council for an Abendmusik yet, make this your concert! Great music in a casual setting… that’s the concept, and so far the positive audience response has exceeded our expectations each concert. Romantic Sounds of Classical Guitar this Thursday will be no exception to this great string of successes!
JSH 15.01.05
About Jackson. Jackson Harmeyer is a music scholar and composer. He is a graduate of the Louisiana Scholars’ College – Louisiana’s designated honors college – where he completed an undergraduate thesis entitled “Learning from the Past: The Influence of Johann Sebastian Bach upon the Soviet Composers.” He has followed classical music around the world, attending the BachFest Leipzig in Germany, Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival, and many concerts across Louisiana and Texas. Resident in Alexandria, Jackson works with the Arts Council of Central Louisiana as Series Director of the Abendmusik Alexandria chamber music series. He also writes the program notes for the Rapides Symphony Orchestra. As his day job, Jackson serves as Operations Manager of TicketCentral.