Welcome

It is a pleasure to welcome you to the sixth annual Boston GuitarFest dedicated to the theme BELL’ ITALIA!

Ever since I first set foot in Italy 36 years ago, it has been for me a magical place and a source of renewal and unending delight. I love the language, the people, the sense of design, and of course the food and the wine! The unbelievable wealth of Italy’s past is complemented by the dash and creativity of its present: it is a country that knows how to integrate the majesty of what has been with the verve of what will be. Present and past mingle there in a delicious, ongoing counterpoint that perhaps only a Fellini could really capture.

Despite the many difficulties that can present themselves to a visiting concert artist such as myself, somehow everything always seem to turn out all right, the inconveniences dispersed by the effervescence of the people and the infinite resources of their culture.

For me personally, Italians and here in America people of Italian descent have been critical to my development. As a boy in Philadelphia my guitar teacher was an engineer at IBM named William Viola; at Yale University a wonderful mentor was Prof. Joan Panetti and all of my life first as teacher and later as colleague the great Oscar Ghiglia has been an inspiration.

Oscar Ghiglia, Special Guest (Read Eliot Fisk’s Oscar Ghiglia at 70: A Tribute)

So it is with great pride that GuitarFest VI welcomes Maestro Oscar Ghiglia, the great virtuoso, teacher and artistic force, to Boston for a landmark series of master classes. Oscar’s influence on generations of guitarists has been lasting and profound. He is the embodiment of the master musician: an artist of impeccable integrity and endless imagination.

Oscar will be joined at Boston GuitarFest VI by a group of artists who at one time or another made the pilgrimage to study with him either at the Aspen Music School or at his famous classes at the Academia Chigiana in Siena, Italy: Adam Holzman, Richard Savino, Michael Newman, Laura Oltman, Alex Dunn, Zaira Meneses and I myself are all former students, and we come together once more to celebrate Oscar’s legacy as well as to offer the fruits of our own labors in the field.

Boston GuitarFest VI will once again offer its two guitar competitions, for adults and for young people, as well as a scintillating series of seminars, classes, and concerts in a cross disciplinary fashion.

Among non-guitarist guests will be the brilliant harpsichordist John Gibbons in a program of Frescobaldi, Scarlatti and Bach works in the the Italian style.

Finally, we will be paying a visit to some of the places in the City of Boston that are associated with Italy, from the celebrated collection at the Museum of Fine Arts to the famous North End where the many restaurants and pastry shops of “Little Italy” await.

Let the fun begin!

Sincerely,
Eliot Fisk
Artistic Director, Boston GuitarFest

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Welcome from the State Offices:

Music brings people together and I am so proud we hold this festival here in the Bay State.

—Deval L. Patrick
Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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GuitarFest has become a wonderful summer tradition in Boston. Audiences come to learn more about different cultural traditions and to enjoy the extraordinary musical performances.

—Edward M. Kennedy
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

Boston GuitarFest is a perfect example of music’s ability to traverse geographic, cultural and ethnic boundaries and as a confirmed amateur guitarist I know it will also be a lot of fun. I encourage musicians and everyone who appreciates their work to become involved in this important cultural celebration and I thank NEC and Eliot for making Boston GuitarFest a reality.

—John Kerry
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

I welcome Boston GuitarFest as it continues to showcase the cultural advantages of the City of Boston, and to provide us all with the opportunity to hear wonderful music played at its best.

—Barney Frank
U.S. Representative from Massachusetts

To my friends at Boston GuitarFest - Good luck with the festival. Thanks for unifying people through music!

—Scott Brown
U.S. Senator from Massachusetts

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Welcome from the Italian Consul General

Guitar represents a symbol of Italian musical tradition and I welcome this year’s edition of Boston GuitarFest with special guest Oscar Ghiglia.

The festival is for musicians and music lovers alike who wish to celebrate the power of music and its universal means of human expression.

Join this wonderful experience of art and entertainment and, as a popular Italian song goes “Lasciatemi cantare con la chitarra in mano, lasciatemi cantare sono un italiano” (Let me sing with the guitar in my hands, let me sing I am Italian).

—Giuseppe Pastorelli
Italian Consul General