Saturday, May 20, 2023, at 7:30 PM
Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street, New York City
Acclaimed Canadian guitarists Steve Cowan and Adam Cicchillitti, expanding the world of paired guitars with an emphasis both on contemporary works and on Impressionists Debussy, Tailleferre, Jolivet, and others
“The arrangements that the duo have written are amazingly effective and give new life and new sonorities to these masterworks.” – Chris Wolf, Classic 107 FM, Winnipeg
Program:
DEBUSSY Prelude No. 5
RAVEL Sonatine
CHRISTINE DONKIN Distracted by Stones on the Path
MOMPOU Excerpts from Musica Callada and Impresiones Intimas
ANDREW STANILAND Choro: The Joyful Lament for Villa-Lobos
GERMAINE TAILLEFERRE Sonata for Harp
HARRY STAFYLAKIS Focus
Steve Cowan and Adam Cicchillitti are respected and acclaimed guitarists, quickly establishing themselves on both the guitar circuit and concert stages across Canada and abroad. Classical Guitar Magazine calls Cicchilllitti a “superb Canadian guitarist” and Cowan “one of Canada’s top contemporary classical guitarists.” Together, they form the dynamic ensemble Cicchillitti-Cowan Duo, a guitar partnership that focuses on expanding the guitar duo idiom through collaborations with living composers, while also performing popular duo works and their own arrangements of impressionist works from 20th-century France and Spain.
Two long-time friends and musicians, Cowan and Cicchillitti toured Eastern Canada under the auspices of Debut Atlantic in 2018 and are currently on tour with Prairie Debut in 2020-2021. The Cicchillitti-Cowan Duo presents intriguing programs and has recently released an album of Canadian guitar premieres on the Analekta label. Their next album, featuring original arrangements of 20th century music written in Paris, will be released with Analekta in the spring of 2021. In 2022, they will premiere six new commissions for two guitars and orchestra with Ottawa-based chamber ensemble 13 Strings, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.
