This was one of the most meaningful events in the 20 year history of my studio. Matthew Greene, Gabriela diBattista and Adrienne Gendron became the first group of Suzuki guitar students to graduate together from my program, as high school seniors, having played together in groups and ensembles for twelve years.
For their final performance, in May 2012, the families collected photos of the kids growing up, alone and together, with and without guitars; my wife, Susan Thomas, projected them as a slide show that she created while the group played “Farewell to Stromness” by Peter Maxwell Davies, with accompaniment by students Isabella Crema, Ethan Wold and myself.
The slide show is a little cut off at the top, but I think the overall effect is still there. I’m happy to have this very special moment recorded – it was beautiful, and everyone cried!
I have been fortunate to be a part of the Colorado Suzuki Institute for a number of years now, and to be able to perform with the other guitar faculty there. This year we presented one of my more advanced guitar ensemble pieces – a suite for three guitars with contrabass guitar in three movements: Joy, Java and Jump-Jive.
Many thanks to my great friends and colleagues Kevin Hart, David Madsen and Joseph Pecoraro for their excellent work and good humor – and special thanks to David for sending the video along. For those who are interested, the score and parts will be available in the website Store in September 2013.
