– Press Release

Following the success of its first five seasons examining the many aspects of the guitar’s musical personality, and with rave reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Jazz Times, the New York Guitar Festival announces its sixth season of concert performances, January 14 though February 8. The festival boasts over 20 performances, by some 60 exceptional guitarists of jazz, classical, rock/pop, traditional and avant garde styles.

Participating venues will include Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Joe’s Pub, the 92nd Street Y, the World Financial Center’s Winter Garden, Flushing Town Hall, The American Youth Hostel Concert Chapel, and The Monkey. Featured artists will include Daniel Lanois, Bill Frisell, Jorma Kaukonen, Vernon Reid, Taj Mahal, Pepe Romero,
Eliot Fisk, Toshi Reagon, Sonny Landreth, Rory Block, Cindy Cashdollar, Jesse Harris, David Tronzo, Bill Morrissey, Laura Cantrell, Brandon Ross, Gary Lucas, Chocolate Genius, Alvin Youngblood Hart, The National, Mark Eitzel, Dan Zanes, Martha Wainwright, Michelle Shocked, among many others. Concerts will range from an all-day Guitar Marathon focusing on the guitar’s history in Spain, to eclectic tributes to Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, Elizabeth Cotten, Charley Patton, and Bruce Springsteen, to multi-media performances combining film, animation and live music.

The New York Guitar Festival, a not-for-profit arts organization, was founded in 1999 by musician and producer David Spelman, who serves as its Artistic Director. The Festival’s goal is to broaden the public’s appreciation for the guitar by fostering emerging talent, supporting innovative collaborations among outstanding artists, and commissioning new works. In addition to producing eclectic concerts and radio broadcasts, its Guitar Harvest series of recordings supports outreach programs in New York City public schools. The Festival is presented with support from Apple Computer, The D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts, Avalon Guitars, WNYC Radio, WFUV Radio, WBJB-90.5 The NIGHT, Guitar Player Magazine, Frets Magazine, Relix Magazine, flavorpill.net, Guitar.com, and Brooklyn Brewery.

“The original idea behind the Festival was to put guitars into the hands of New York City school students with no strings attached,” says Spelman, “We’re proud to have started that process in partnership with the Lucy Moses School at Kaufman Center. Because the guitar is used in so many genres of music and by so many cultures, it has a unique potential to bring together disparate communities. The New York Guitar Festival was established to raise money to fund scholarships to provide guitars and musical training free of charge. In the process, we aim to encourage hope and inspiration through music making at a time when arts education has fallen prey to so many budgetary cutbacks.” The beneficiaries of the New York Guitar Festival’s scholarship programs are young students enrolled at an innovative elementary school on Manhattan’s upper west side.

Website: http://www.newyorkguitarfestival.org/