APSU to host annual GuitarFest event

Clarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University and the Center of Excellence for the Creative Arts present the annual APSU GuitarFest, which will feature guest artist concerts, lectures and workshops.

The concerts take place on Monday, February 16th and Tuesday, February 17th at 7:30pm in the Music/Mass Communication Building’s Mabry Concert Hall and are free and open to the public.

The first concert features multi-competition winner and APSU alumnus Gary Stewart in a recital of 19th century music for solo guitar. The second concert features the Hanser-McClellan Duo in a performance of music for two guitars.

A Kentucky native and a graduate of the APSU guitar program, Stewart has been a top prize winner in such competitions as the Rantucci International Guitar Competition (New York), the Southeastern Guitar Congress (Alabama) and the Stroud Guitar Competition (Ohio). In addition to his undergraduate studies at APSU, Gary received a graduate assistantship at the University of Akron and a doctoral teaching fellowship at the Shenandoah Conservatory of Music.

He has performed and recorded with the Cleveland Baroque Orchestra, the Cleveland Opera and with the internationally acclaimed early music group Apollo’s Fire on their recent Classical Billboard top 10 recording “Come to the River”. His program will include a selection of rarely heard period guitar arrangements of music by Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin.

Consisting of award-winning St. Louis guitarists John McClellan and Kirk Hauser, the Hauser-McLellan Duo are regarded by audiences and critics alike as one of the top guitar duos in the US.

Their recordings include discs dedicated to South American music, recordings of music written and dedicated to the duo and an appearance on the CD “Slightly Above Below Average”, a tribute to their mentor and friend, Chet Atkins, on which they perform alongside such guitar luminaries as Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), Vince Gill and Tommy Emmanuel.

Their wide-ranging program will include music by Handel, French guitarist Ida Presti, Brazillian guitarist Paulo Bellinati and recent works written for the duo by Roger Hudson, Kim Portney and APSU alumnus Jeffery R. Comas.

For more information about APSU GuitarFest, please contact APSU professor of music Dr. Stanley Yates by email at YatesS@apsu.edu or the APSU Department of Music by phone at 931.221.7351.