Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Wilmington, N.C. - The University of North Carolina Wilmington Department of Music presents renowned classical guitarist Lily Afshar at 7:30 p.m., Friday, Feb. 9 in the new Cultural Arts Building Recital Hall.

Afshar, who has been praised by Public Radio International as "one of the world's foremost classical guitarists," and hailed by the Washington Post as "remarkable, impeccable," lends her talents to a diverse program of contemporary selections, including the North Carolina premiere of a piece commissioned, in part, by a UNCW professor.

Unexpected Passages: Dances and Laments for Solo Guitar, composed by David Kechley, was commissioned by the American Composers Forum and UNCW professor of classical guitar Robert Nathanson. Nathanson, who has performed and recorded several of Kechley's works, decided to coordinate the premiere as part of UNCW's 2006-07 Year of the Arts celebration.

"Kechley is such a great composer," said Nathanson, "and to have a musician like Lily Afshar perform this piece in the new Recital Hall is really quite a treat."

In addition to the Friday evening concert, Afshar will conduct a master class for UNCW music students at 3:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 8 in the Cultural Arts Building choral rehearsal room.

Tickets for the Feb. 9 concert will be available at the Cultural Arts Building Box Office one hour prior to the performance. Admission is $5 for the general public and free for UNCW students with a valid ID. Observation of the Thursday afternoon master class is free and open to the public.

For more information about UNCW's 2006-07 Year of the Arts celebration or to find out more about this concert please visit www.uncw.edu/arts.

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This concert is part of a year-long celebration of the arts on the UNCW campus. The Year of the Arts was initiated in September 2006 with the re-opening of a newly renovated Kenan Auditorium and performance of Mood Indigo: A Tribute to Duke Ellington. The celebration continues in January 2007 with the grand opening of the new Cultural Arts Building and will conclude in July with Carolina Ballet's new Summer Dance Residency and a premiere performance by the internationally acclaimed dance ensemble.

Biography, Lily Afshar

Guitarist Lily Afshar is the winner of the 2000 Orville H. Gibson Award for Best Female Classical Guitarist. Chosen as "Artistic Ambassador" for the United States Information Agency to Africa, she is the winner of the tenth, eleventh and the twelfth annual "Premier Guitarist" awards, awarded by the Memphis Chapter of the National Academy of Afshar is the head of the Guitar Program at the University of Memphis, where she was awarded the 2000 Eminent Faculty Award. Other awards include the Tennessee Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Award in Music, the National Endowment for the Arts Recording Award, top prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Grand Prize in the Aspen Music Festival Guitar Competition, and first prizes in both the Music Teachers' National Association and the American String Teachers' Association Guitar Competitions.

Her interest in contemporary music has led to premiers of new works by Loris Chobanian, Arne Mellnas, Kamran Ince, Barbara Kolb, Marilyn Ziffrin, Salvador Brotons, among others. She has given numerous concerts in the U.S., England, Canada, France, Iran, Italy, Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and South America.

Born in Tehran, Afshar holds degrees in guitar performance from the Boston Conservatory of Music, the New England Conservatory of Music and Florida State University. She has studied at the Banff Centre for Fine Arts and the Aspen Music Festival. She received the Diplomas of Merit from the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy.

Afshar's recordings of 24 Caprichos de Goya by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and A Jug of Wine and Thou are available on Summit Records (CDs #167 and #236). Her Five Popular Persian Ballads are published by Mel Bay Editions, Inc. Her latest CD, Possession, is available on Archer Records.

Media Contact
Courtney Reilly, UNCW Office of Cultural Arts (p) 910.962.2082 / (e) reillyce@uncw.edu