GuitarSarasota

Educating · Celebrating · Performing

2007/08 Season included three internationally known musicians

The just-completed 2007/08 Season included performances by three international classical guitar soloists from France, Germany and the United States of America.

In addition to this highly selective program roster, GuitarSarasota also presents a joint concert with local artists and community high school students.

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January 19, 2008: Thomas Müller-Pering, a German guitar virtuoso. Thomas is one of only a handful of guitarists that have won a prize at the prestigious German Television (ARD) classical music competition in Munich. His other prizes include a first-prize at the Concurso Internacional de Música 1983 in Vina del Mar, Chile; and the Young Artist's Award 1983 from Nordrhein-Westfalen in Germany.

Müller-Pering has toured as a soloist in numerous countries throughout Europe, North and South America. In Japan he released two solo-CDs and in 1988 became one of the first classical guitarist to produce a 60-minute video recital. In 1991, he recorded the Danzas Españolas by Enrique Granados in collaboration with Manuel Barrueco for the EMI label. In 1997, Thomas was appointed professor of guitar at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany.

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February 16, 2008: The final concert of GuitarSarasota’s 2007/08 season presented an appearance of young French guitar virtuoso Thomas Viloteau. Thomas Viloteau has been the winner of the Guitar Foundation of America international guitar competition in 2006.

Watch Viloteau perform on this YouTube video.

As part of the first-prize, Thomas is currently touring the United States, Canada and Mexico. GuitarSarasota is proud to present this tremendously talented young performer during his tour of the Americas that takes him to over 50 cities.

Born in Paris, France in 1985, Thomas Viloteau began his musical education at age twelve. In 1998, he entered the Escuela de Música Juan Pedro Carrero in Barcelona, Spain, where he also participated in numerous master-classes with Alvaro Pierri. In 2001, Thomas received a scholarship of the Fondation Zigmund Zaleski to study under the direction of Alberto Ponce at the Ecole Normale in Paris, where he graduated with a Diplôme Supérieur de Concertiste in 2004. Thomas Viloteau has been the winner in several international music competitions, including the Salou guitar competition in Spain; the Segovia competition in Linares, Spain; the Ville d’Antony international competition in France and the Mottola competition in Italy.

GuitarSarasota membership is open to all who are interested in the guitar. Contact: Thomas Koch, president of GuitarSarasota at 941.362-2991 or email: thomaskoch.artofguitar@verizon.net. For press information contact Jennifer Ahearn-Koch at 941.362.2991 or email: j.ak@verizon.net.

Local sponsors this year include: Bradenton Press, Lester King Fire and Safety, Inc., IMS Claim Services, Inc., Mattison’s Catering Company, David Bland, CPA, Siesta Key Guitars and Elysian Fields.

GuitarSarasota is a non-profit organization that promotes the education, appreciation and cultural significance of the classical guitar as a solo and chamber music instrument. Our mission is three fold: Educating - Celebrating – Performing.

* St. Paul’s Lutheran Church is at 2256 Bahia Vista Street in Sarasota.