The Classical Guitarathon

Saturday, May 20, 2023
7:30 pm

This event is past.

Duo Mirić consists of twin sisters Darka Kooienga (née Mirić) and Tanja Mirić from Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They began their classical guitar training at the age of eight, and received several first prizes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. They moved to the US to study with Dr. John Ingwerson at Hinds Community College and Mississippi College on full scholarships. Among their musical achievements were first place awards at the MMTA, MFMC and Mississippi Guitar Festival competitions, and First Prize at the University of Texas at Brownsville Ensemble Festival in 2006. They both hold MM degrees from Southern Methodist University, where they studied with Robert Guthrie; and DMA degrees from the University of Minnesota, where they studied with Jeffrey Van, Dr. James Flegel, and Maja Radovanlija. Duo Mirić has performed for the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society, the University of Minnesota’s annual Collage Concerts Showcase, the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series, the Fort Worth Guitar Guild, and the Ensemble Showcase at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention. Duo Mirić are published arrangers, with over a dozen arrangements between them available from Mel Bay in the US and Lathkill Music Publishers in the UK.

Joan Griffith is a well-known, Twin Cities-based multi-instrumentalist (guitar, mandolin, and bass), as well as an award-winning composer and educator. Her compositions have been heard in many venues and nationally and they reflect her life-long love affair with the music of Brazil. She conducts the Jazz Band at Macalester College She has taught at the University of St. Thomas and St. Catherine University, and elsewhere.

Jacob Jonker is a St. Paul native and got his start on electric and acoustic fingerstyle guitar before focusing on classical technique. He studied with Joe Hagedorn at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and subsequently with Jeffrey Van at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he received his master’s degree. In 2008 he began training in Suzuki Pedagogy and moved Duluth, where he now teaches for the University of Minnesota-Duluth and University of Wisconsin-Superior, and in his own private studio (Duluth Guitar Academy). He has provided guitar work in a variety of styles and settings for Lyric Opera of the North, Twin Ports Choral Project, The Duluth -Superior Symphony Orchestra, and numerous other musical acts covering a wide variety of styles. He is especially interested in projects that challenge him to expand his skill set and versatility as a musician.

Nikola Korovljev began playing the classical guitar at age 11. He finished elementary music school at the Petar Konjović School in Bečej (Serbia), while he attended secondary music school at the Isidor Bajić School in Novi Sad (Serbia) and studied with Rasko Radović. He won first and second prizes at domestic and international competitions and attended courses with many eminent guitar pedagogues including Goran Krivokapic, Vojislav Ivanovic, Zoran Dukić, Marcin Dylla, Pavel Steidl, and Anabel Montesinos, He finished his bachelor’s degree at the University of Music Art in Belgrade (Serbia), where he studied with Vera Ogrizovic. He finished his master’s degree in classical guitar performance at the University of Minnesota School of Music and studied with Maja Radovanlija, where he is currently pursuing a Doctor of Music Arts degree.

The MacPhail Guitar Quartet members are all students in the studio of Alan Johnston at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. They range in age from 14 to 16 years old and have all been studying since about the age of 5. They each attend middle or high school in the Twin Cities, also play other musical instruments, and, in addition to music, participate in various activities including skiing, soccer, swimming, debate, and math. This coming summer, they will travel and perform in Germany for eight days with the MacPhail Suzuki Tour Group.

Austin Wahl is an internationally acclaimed performer and teacher. With nearly thirty competition prizes, including ten first place finishes, he is among the most successful of today’s American guitarists. He embraces traditional and unusual repertoire in performance and competition, ranging from well-known works of Bach, Sor, and Tarrega, to lesser known masterpieces by composers including Gary Ryan, Roland Dyens, and Hans Werner Henze. Wahl premiered his groundbreaking solo transcription of Aaron Copland’s Rodeo Suite (originally for orchestra) in February 2021, and is currently composing a solo guitar suite based on notable international events of the Cold War. Wahl is a dedicated teacher across multiple genres. He strongly believes in the power of the guitar to transcend the style in which it is played, and to spark student interest in crossing between genres. Wahl teaches Suzuki and traditional classical, acoustic, and electric guitar, as well as folk and classical mandolin, at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. Wahl began his guitar studies at age five at MacPhail with Alan Johnston, a founding member of the Minneapolis Guitar Quartet. He holds bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, as well as a performer’s certificate, from the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Nicholas Goluses.

SundinAnn WempnerJanuary 11, 2019Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University