Friday, February 23, 2001

WILMINGTON -UNCW's Department of Music will present a series of concerts featuring classical guitar during the week March 12-16. Bryce Masterson performs on Monday, March 12; Frank Bongiorno and the Ryoanji Duo on Wednesday, March 14; and Duo Firenze on Friday, March 16. All concerts are in Kenan Auditorium and begin at 8 p.m. These concerts are part of the Department of Music's Artist Recital Series. Admission to one will be honored for all three.

On Monday evening, Bryce Masterson, competition winner and UNCW alumnus, performs his debut concert since graduating with his master's degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music. Bryce will perform guitar solos written by the great contemporary masters of the classical guitar. Wednesday's concert will feature saxophonist Frank Bongiorno. Pianist Ellen Robison and guitarist Robert Nathanson will join Frank performing recently commissioned works as well as new and standard repertoire for the saxophone. UNCW Professors Bongiorno, Robison, and Nathanson are well known to Wilmington audiences, having performed in the Cape Fear region for many years. The series is capped off on Friday with a performance by Duo Firenze. Pamela Trent, fortepiano, and Robert Trent on antique guitar are a major force in the discovery and authentic performance of early 19th-century music for guitar and fortepiano in duet. Touring in Europe and the United States with their own period Viennese fortepiano and an authentic nineteenth-century guitar gives audiences a rare visual and sonic experience.



Bryce Masterson grew up in Wilmington, N.C., and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Guitar Performance in May 1996 from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington while studying with Robert Nathanson. In April 1995 Bryce won first prize in the Virginia Commonwealth University Regional Guitar Competition and was the 1995-96 recipient of the UNCW Adcock Scholarship Award for music excellence. Bryce has also studied with renowned guitarist and pedagogue Michael Lorimer and has performed in masterclasses with several of the leading classical guitarists in the world today. In May of 1998, Bryce received his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of John Holmquist.



Frank Bongiorno is an active recitalist, orchestral soloist, jazz artist, and clinician throughout the United States and abroad. He has recorded two critically acclaimed solo compact disc recordings and has over 50 articles, reviews and other publications in such journals as the Saxophone Journal and Jazz Player magazine, as well as transcription arrangements for saxophone published by Southern Music, Schirmer, and Dorn Publications. In addition to his performance schedule, Bongiorno is professor of music and chair of the Department of Music at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he teaches saxophone as well as jazz studies. He has numerous publications including saxophone transcriptions of "Classical" music, original compositions for jazz combo, paper presentations, as well as over 50 articles and reviews.



As champions of new music, The Ryoanji Duo (saxophone and guitar) has commissioned award-winning composers such as David Kechley, Marilyn Shrude, Daniel Worley, Ernesto García de León, and others to write for this unique chamber ensemble. In addition to their search to further expand their repertoire, the duo has transcribed and published select well-known classics by Mozart, Handel, Villa-Lobos, Ravel, Fauré, and other significant composers of the past.



Duo Firenze was formed in 1990 after a discovery of works for the medium of guitar and fortepiano duo. They take their name from the Italian city of Florence, the birthplace of the fortepiano and where the six-stringed guitar flourished. Duo Firenze was the prize winner in the Concorso Inter-nazionale „Arturo Toscanini‰ for chamber music in Italy. Since that time, Duo Firenze has not only dedicated themselves to giving revival performances to this once forgotten art, but have also succeeded in delighting audiences in the United States and Europe.



For information call the Department of Music at 962-3390 or 962-3445. Information can also be found at http://www.uncwil.edu/music/. Admission is $10, $5 for faculty and staff of UNCW, and free for students with a valid UNCW ID.