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Stephen Marchionda
Guitar |
"You'll have to go a long way to hear anyone perform as convincingly as
Marchionda."
Classical Guitar Magazine (England)
Impeccably musical and wonderfully deft...
Financial Times
Stamped as much with romantic ardour as intellectual rigour.
The Times (London)
A star on the international classical guitar
stage. Classical Guitar Magazine
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Press Kit |

Stephen Marchionda has emerged as a unique presence on the
international concert scene, his performances are characterized by flair,
technical facility and musical individuality- “...he turns in vibrant
performances...energetic and vital, with a great sense of momentun and
flow...cohesive and highly charged.”American Record Guide.
H e has been featured at Weill
Recital Hall/Carnegie Hall (Aranjuez Series), where Sounboard Magazine
wrote that “Imbued with depth and passion, Marchionda played
engagingly and with a sense of drama...deftly played.” Also in NY, he
performed in recital at Lincoln Center and the Frick Collection. Elsewhere in the USA he has appeared at Kennedy Center, Aspen
Music Festival, Cleveland and San Diego Museum’s of Art; the Cleveland
Institute and San Francisco Conservatory of Music; MIT, Columbia, Yale and
George Washington Universities. In Europe he has given acclaimed
performances for the UK’s BBC Radio 3, “a sans souci elegance”, the
Royal Opera House, Wigmore Hall and the inaugural concert at the David
Josefowitz Recital Hall, (Royal Academy of Music). As well the National
Radio of Spain, in Rome, Madrid, London, Granada, Athens, Copenhagen,
Oxford University, Cardiff, Scotland and Birmingham, where the Post and
Mail said he had the “sublime eloquence of a virtuoso”.
With famed British tenor Philip Langridge and flutist Sebastian Bell,
he appeared recently at the Cheltenham Festival (England), premiering
"Today Too" by Sir Harrison Birtwistle, (written for the trio) and his
arrangement for solo guitar of "Tango” from Nicolas Maw’s “Sophie's
Choice"; Les Soirees Des Junies Festival, (France) in collaboration with
Nicholas Maw; with mezzo-soprano Laurie Monahan. Recently he also
premiered his arrangement / realization for guitar and tenor of Henry
Purcell's 'Incidental Music to Thomas d’Urfey’s play “A Fool’s
Preferment”, (he realized Purcell's 'A Comic History of Don Quioxte' - 2005
was the 500-year celebration of Cervantis’ “Don Quixote”,
a huge celebration in Spain).
A
strong advocate of contemporary music, he is also acclaimed for his
performances of more standard repertoire and is developing an already vast
reservoir of solo concert music, as well as an impressive repertoire for
concerto and chamber music. He “embraces the Spanish idiom like a
native...flying scale passages graced with ease and style... a true
virtuoso” Cleveland Plain Dealer. Of a recent recording of the
complete variations by Manuel Ponce for ASV/ London, the
DeutschlandRadio Magazine Berlin says: “With this recording,
Marchionda maintains his reputation as one of the best masters of the
guitar”.
In a special collaboration with Philip Langridge, Mr. Marchionda
recorded (Chandos) music by Britten and Nicholas Maw that was released in
April 05. This is the premiere
recording of Maw’s masterpiece "Music of Memory" for solo guitar,and "Six
Interiors for tenor and guitar along with Britten’s "Nocturnal, after John
Dowland for Solo Guitar" and the "Songs from the Chinese" for tenor and
guitar. British Music Magazine names it Record of the
Month for July 2005 and says of Mr. Marchionda's playing:
...a guitarist who can obtain such a range of colour and expression
that 74 minutes doesn't seem a second too long...a compelling soloist..."
Mr. Marchionda is top prize winner at several international competitions;
among these are the Guitar Foundation of America’’s International Solo,
the Segovia International, and the Manuel de Falla. A graduate of Yale
University’’s School of Music, and the Cleveland Institute of Music, he
was affiliated with the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1991, where he
received classes with the celebrated guitarist Julian Bream, who called
him a ““strong, spirited performer””. Born in New Mexico, raised in
Denver, he has lived in both New York City, where he taught at Columbia
University’’s College of Performing Arts, and in London.
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