Artist

Michael Partington is one of the most engaging of the new generation of concert players. Praised by Classical Guitar Magazine for his "lyricism, intensity and clear technical command," this award-winning British guitarist has performed internationally as a soloist and with ensemble to unanimous critical praise.

Mr. Partington has appeared throughout the USA, UK, Canada, Russia and Scandanavia in solo recital, with orchestra and in chamber ensembles. His North American appearances include the first solo guitar recital in Seattle's Benaroya Hall, as well as Town Hall and Meany Theater in Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles, New Haven, Phoenix, Portland, Reno, San Francisco, Vancouver and many others. Concerts in England and Wales have included Blackheath Halls, the Royal College of Music, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and St. James', Piccadilly in London; the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff; St. Mary in the Castle, Hastings; Bristol Music Club; Russell-Cotes Museum, Bournemouth; Brewery Arts Centre, Kendall; Trinity Arts Centre, Tunbridge Wells; Nottingham; Carlisle; Derby; and others. He has performed live on BBC Radio 3's In Tune, BBC Radio Bristol, BBC Wales and Great Western Radio in the UK, as well as St. Paul Sunday on National Public Radio in the US.

An advocate of new music, he has commissioned and premiered works by Stephen Goss, Bryan Johanson, Toshio Hosokawa, Angelo Gilardino, Tom Baker, Kevin Callahan and others. His recordings are available on the Rosewood Recordings, Present Sounds and Cadenza Music labels. He currently lives in Seattle where he is director of the Guitar Program at the University of Washington.

Transport

Jack Straw Productions and Washington Composers Forum present

Michael Partington

Sunday, Jan. 8 @ 7:30pm

Wechkin/Shainin House

6114 12th Ave NE in Seattle map

Tickets: At door. $5-$15 siding scale.

Praised by Classical Guitar Magazine for his "lyricism, intensity and clear technical command," this award-winning British guitarist performs the world premiere of Bryan Johanson's 24 Preludes.

The concert is followed by a reception.

Award-winning composer Bryan Johanson takes inspiration from sources as varied as poets Sappho and Samuel Beckett, medieval physiology, ancient Roman history, and the grain of his personal experience. A native of Portland, Oregon, Johanson is an artist rooted in the Pacific Northwest and intent on communicating the textures of Oregon in his music.

Performed, recorded and published nationally and internationally, Johanson's work has won major awards from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Aspen Music Festival, The Kennedy Center, UCLA and the Esztergom International Guitar Festival. Johanson studied composition with Charles Jones and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer William Bolcom. Johanson's catalogue of over eighty compositions features three symphonies, concertos for violin, cello and piano, numerous chamber works, song cycles and choral works, as well as compositions for solo instruments. In recent years he has focused a major portion of his creative energy on writing chamber music that includes guitar.

A prominent guitarist and recording artist, Johanson studied with Alirio Diaz, Christopher Parkening and Michael Lorimer. He has performed with orchestras, chamber music groups, choirs, and in solo recitals throughout the United States and Canada.

Johanson is a Professor of Music at Portland State University, where he founded PSU's successful guitar studies program and the Guitar Recital Series in 1978, and is the chair of the music department. In 1991 he established the popular Portland Guitar Festival, which he organizes annually.

Supporters

Co-presented by Jack Straw Productions, the series is co-sponsored by 4Culture and the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs.