UW News

February 2, 2011

‘Guitar Ensemble: Four and More at Brechemin Auditorium Feb. 11

Bryan Johanson

Bryan Johanson

Students of Michael Partington will present a program of music arranged or composed for large guitar ensemble in Guitar Ensemble: Four and More, at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 11, in Brechemin Auditorium.

The program will include Passacaglia from George Frideric Handel’s Suite No. 7; Sonatas K175 and K421 by Domenico Scarlatti; Sinfonia Veneziana, by Antonio Salieri; Valse Triste, by Jean Sibelius; and excerpts from Bryan Johansons Little Suite. Johanson also will be guest conductor for the evening.

A native of Portland, Ore., and professor of music at Portland State University, Johanson is an award-winning composer and rooted in the Pacific Northwest and intent on communicating the textures of Oregon in his music. He takes inspiration from sources as varied as poets Sappho and Samuel Beckett, medieval physiology, ancient Roman history, as well as his own personal experience.

Performed, recorded and published nationally and internationally, Johanson’s work has won major awards from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Music Festival, The Kennedy Center, UCLA and the Esztergom International Guitar Festival. Johanson studied composition with Charles Jones and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. His

Johanson’s catalogue of more than 80 compositions features symphonies, concertos for violin, cello and piano, numerous chamber works, song cycles and choral works, as well as compositions for solo instruments. In recent years he has focused largely on writing chamber music that includes guitar.

Also a prominent guitarist and recording artist, Johanson has performed with orchestras, chamber music groups and choirs and in solo recitals throughout the United States and Canada.

Tickets are $5, cash or check at the door. For more information, call 206-685-8384 or visit the School of Music online.