Guitar Trek in concert. Wesley Music Centre, Saturday 7.30pm, Tickets at the door: Adults $35, Concession $25, Students $15, Under 12 free.
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When noted guitarist Tim Kain formed Guitar Trek in 1987 he had in mind a chamber music ensemble comparable to a string quartet, a reinvention of the guitar quartet medium using classically constructed, different-sized guitars.
Kain had already built up an impressive reputation as an outstanding musician, travelling the world, winning competitions such as the Third International Guitar Competition in Alicante in Spain and playing in Attacca, the seven-piece group formed by John Williams with whom Kain subsequently formed a guitar duo. The Mantis and the Moon was their international best selling CD on Sony Classics.
While head of guitar studies in the 1980s at the Canberra School of Music Kain had established the Canberra Guitar Ensemble and had incorporated a baritone guitar made by luthier Graham Caldersmith into the ensemble. Visiting the school, John Williams enthused about acquiring a complete guitar family of instruments – bass, baritone, standard and treble – and so, with the help of an Australia Council grant, Caldersmith crafted baritone and bass instruments and standard and treble guitars were made by Greg Smallman and Eugene Philp. The first Guitar Family concert was presented in 1987 and so popular was the blended sound of these instruments that the quartet, Guitar Trek, was formed. It is now regarded as Australia's premier guitar quartet and has charmed audiences throughout Australia and internationally. Limelight magazine describes their music as "a tour-de-force of sound painting."
There's a chance to hear the ensemble on Saturday evening, August 30, at Wesley Music Centre playing not only the original four instruments but also a steel string Dobro and 12-string guitars to extend the effects of a diverse program of music.
"This combination of instruments was entirely new, so we had to generate repertoire," Kain says. "Commissioning new Australian works was the first concept. The Australian music aspect just seems to be a natural thing for me – to bring it to life for the first time."
The program will feature Australian composer Phillip Houghton's Nocturne, which was written for Guitar Trek, and will also include some works by Nigel Westlake: Six Fish (scored for the original combination of two classical guitars, 12-string guitar and Dobro) and his early Guitar Trek work, Winter in the Forgotten Valley, commissioned by the group with Australia Council assistance in 1989. This piece was the first that Westlake had written for the guitar but was followed by a number of further commissions. Altogether Guitar Trek has commissioned about 40 pieces from Australian composers.
The ensemble will also play an arrangement of Tchaikovsky's Waltz of the Flowers, a work by Venezuelan guitarist-composer Alfonzo Montes and Kain's arrangement for guitar quartet of Joaquin Turina's piano work, Danzas Fantasticas. Programs for other concerts in Adelaide, at the Sydney Opera House and in Yass and Dubbo will include works by Ross Edwards and Elena Kats-Chernin.
Joining Kain in the ensemble are Minh Le Hoang who has been with the group for 12 years and Bradley Kunda and Matt Withers who joined four years ago to replace Daniel McKay and Harold Gretton.
The ensemble travels with nine instruments "and the big bass weighs 9 kilos," Kain remarks. Overseas tours are mainly to Asia but also sometimes to the US and Europe.
"I don't have a particular favourite musical genre," Kain says. "It's the emotional aspect that appeals. The music has to be evocative, rousing and vital. The real core of a tour is the pleasure of playing together and sharing the music with audiences."