Festival of Four kicks off Community Concert series

The 2002-2003 season of Havre Community Concerts kicks off with a performance by a quartet with world-wide acclaim.

The Festival of Four, consisting of three guitarists and a flutist, will play at the Havre High School auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. Admission is by Community Concert season ticket only.

The quartet was formed by guitarist Richard Patterson to perform on university campuses and for concert associations. The members of the quartet are accomplished international performers, with sparkling reviews in publications like the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Guitar International.

The performances generally consist of folk and classical music from around the world.

"The only thing the works had in common was that they were all delightful. The performance never lacked a sense of joy and a genuine love for the music. They proved that classical guitar recitals do not have to be grimly serious to be good," the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram is quoted as saying on the quartet's Web site.

Patterson holds a master's degree in music and has studied with guitarists from around the world. He has headed the guitar department of Notre Dame since 1982 and is director of the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts Guitar Series in San Francisco.

Flamenco guitarist Guillermo Rios joined the quartet after spending 17 years performing and touring throughout the world with some of Spain's leading flamenco guitarists. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras and held recitals throughout the country, including at Carnegie Hall.

Classical guitarist Marc Teicholz has a master's degree from the Yale school of music and a a juris doctor from the law school of the University of California, Berkeley. He has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Russia, Portugal, Spain, Hawaii and California, and is on the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory and at California State University at Hayward.

Flutist Viviana Guzman, a native of Chile, performs more than 80 concerts around the world with Festival of Four, with Performers of the World, a traditional and original music ensemble, and as a solo artist. A winner of the 1991 Young Artists Auditions of Artists International, her first New York recital was at Carnegie Hall.

Tickets for the 2002-2003 Community Concert season were mailed out about two weeks ago. Anyone thinking they should have received a ticket but did not should contact Ruth Carlson at 265-4223.