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CD Review: Gideon Whitehead, classical guitar — Russian Romance

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by Daniel Hathaway

WHITEHEAD-Russian-Romance-CDClassical guitarist and Cleveland Institute of Music alumnus Gideon Whitehead has produced his debut CD, Russian Romance, a project funded by a modest KickStarter campaign and apparently produced on a shoestring (the proposal included the purchase of recording equipment, another member of the Whitehead clan was the recording engineer and the album was recorded in a Michigan church). Though charmingly homegrown, Russian Romance sparkles with professionalism and introduces unusual repertoire that will be of interest both to guitarists and lovers of classical guitar music.

Whitehead wrote at the beginning of that project, “For me, it is much more than simply recording an album of music that I love to play — it is a means for me to introduce some really incredible music that has (as far as I can tell) been almost completely ignored by musicians outside of Russia. I know of only a few guitarists who are familiar with this repertoire and I know of absolutely no musicians outside of the guitar community who have ever heard of all but a couple of these composers.”

So right. Those composers include Andrei Sychra, Sergei Rudnev, Nikita Koshkin, Grigori Korchmar and S. Osipov, and they’re all names new to these ears. [Read more…]

Review: Classical Guitarist Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge (March 17)

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by Daniel Hathaway

Gideon WhiteheadA classical guitar concert of mostly Russian music held on St. Patrick’s Day in a rustic lodge in a national park —with stuffed bison heads staring down at you! Disconnects sometimes make for really successful concerts, as they did last Sunday when guitarist Gideon Whitehead performed at Happy Days Lodge in Cuyahoga Valley National Park under the joint auspices of Music by Nature and the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society.

Whitehead, a Michigander who studied at CIM and is now pursuing an artist diploma at the Curtis Institute with Jason Vieux and David Starobin, appeared as part of CCGS’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series.

Each half of his cleverly-constructed program began with a suite (Sylvius Leopold Weiss’s real baroque Partita in g and Paul Lansky’s witty modern knock-off, Semi-Suite), proceeded to an evocative set of variations, Sergei Rudnev’s on The Old Lime Tree, or a narrative work, Nikita Koshkin’s Usher Waltz, and ended with a tone poem, Grigori Korchmar’s White Nights Serenade and Agustin Barrios Mangoré’s La Catedral. [Read more…]

Preview: Music by Nature & Cleveland Classical Guitar Society join to present Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge

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by Mike Telin

WHITEHEAD-GideonOn Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.

Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music.

We reached Gideon Whitehead by telephone in Philadelphia. [Read more…]

Preview: Music by Nature & Cleveland Classical Guitar Society join to present Gideon Whitehead at Happy Days Lodge

by

by Mike Telin

 

On SundayWHITEHEAD-Gideon, March 17 at 3:00 pm, classical guitarist Gideon Whitehead returns to Northeast Ohio for a performance at the Happy Days Lodge in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Mr. Whitehead’s performance is part of The Cleveland Classical Guitar Society’s Local Artists and Rising Stars Series and is presented in conjunction with Music by Nature. The program features works by Weiss, Rudnev, Korchmar, Lansky, Koshkin and Barrios Mangoré.

 

Gideon Whitehead began playing the guitar at age 14 in his native Michigan. Mr. Whitehead has had much success at competitions including top prizes at the 2011 James Stroud Guitar Competition and at the 2010 and 2011 University of Louisville International Guitar Competition. He holds a Bachelor of Music degree in guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music and is currently pursuing and Artist Diploma at the Curtis Institute of Music. [Read more…]

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