The Village Trip GuitarFest I – “Bowery Haunt” In Memory of Scott Johnson

GuitarFest ’23 begins with a tribute to Scott Johnson, with his “Bowery Haunt”, for two electric guitars. It will be performed by the Cygnus guitarists William Anderson and Oren Fader, for whom the piece was composed in 2005.

Scott Johnson’s New York Times obit highlights “Johnny Somebody”, an early technical marvel, turning recorded speech into rhythms and musical motives —

Johnson was very proud of “Johnny Somebody”, but his genius went far beyond that technical achievement. He built-up downtown and experimental idioms into a megalopolis — his New York City. “Bowery Haunt” is a great example, beginning with murky thuds on the low strings and developing into a powerful rock tune, subsiding into a lyrical inner section before a rock-out ending.

Marti Epstein’s “for guitars and cello” was written in the 80’s, at around the same time that she attracted the attention of Hans Werner Henze at Tanglewood, leading to a commission to write a puppet opera for the Munich Biennale.

And first peformances —

Gary Philo’s Meditation, Homage à Larry Coryell was written as a kind of remembrance of an extraordinary performance by jazz guitarist Larry Coryell. Philo had been listening to Larry Coryell for many years, and some years ago, he had the great fortune to hear him play in a little place in Larchmont, The Water Cafe, which is now defunct. It was an icy winter night, and there were only about 10 people in the place. “He was magnificent - one of the best musical experiences I've had.”

Amy Reich’s “Three Simple Songs” for piccolo and guitar, performed by Liz Hogg and Denis Savelyev, and other new works by Frank Brickle, Christian Carey.

The program will end with a guitar orchestra version of David Amram’s exquisite film music for Elia Kazan’s Splendor in the Grass.

Composers

• Scott Johnson
• Frank Brickle
• David Amram
• Christian Carey
• Marti Eptstein
• Amy Reich
• Gary Philo

Performers

• Kevin Gallagher
• Liz Hogg
• Dan Lippel
• Oren Fader
• William Anderson
• Denis Savelyev
• Peter Argondizza
• Pascual Araujo
• Rianne Mision
• Chris Rispoli
• Noam Beili
• Jack Ward
• Daniel Zapata
• Adriana Valdez
• Jessica Bowers

Guitar Ochestra Members

G1
Dan Lippel
Noam Beili
David Chidsey
Kevin Robert
Adam Negrin

G2
Daniel Conant
Neil Beckmann
Alejandro Castellano
Pascual Araujo
Diego Andrade

G3
Ebin Samuel
R Mision
Chris Rispoli
Oren Fader
John Chang

G4
Jack Ward
Neil Beckmann
Daniel Zapata
Peter Argondizza
Kyle Miller