RSC Guitar Weekend

10:00 a.m. | Bradley Hall, Room 300
Technique Workshop: Jhon Alvarado will lead students through a classical guitar technique workshop demonstrating efficient practice methods to ensure healthy long-term growth and technique development. This workshop will teach students how to build and grow on the basics of major and minor scales to pinpoint the aspects of their personal playing technique they would like to work and develop. Students will leave the workshop with the knowledge to develop their own practice and warm-up routines that maximize their technique growth. Topics covered will include, left and right hand legato, tremolo, staccato, rest stroke, free stroke, fretboard knowledge and tension awareness. Additionally, there will be space for discussion to allow students to ask questions regarding classical guitar technique.

11:00 a.m. | Bradley Hall, Room 300
Lecture on Spanish Impressionism (Instructor: Fred Springer)

12:00 p.m.
Break

1:00 p.m. | Rivera Recital Hall
Faculty Concert (Performances by Jhon Alvarado, Fred Springer, and Catherine O’Kelly)

2:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. | Bradley Hall, Room 300
Master Class with Giulia Ballaré
To reserve a performance spot, please email Catherine O’Kelly at c.okelly@rivers.org to reserve your spot. Space is limited to six performers. There is no additional cost to perform in this master class.

4:15 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. | Bradley Hall, Room 300
Ensemble Rehearsal (Catherine O’Kelly)

10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | Rivera Recital Hall
Master Class with Gaëlle Solal
Each performer will have 30 minutes to work with Gaëlle Solal. If you wish to perform in this master class, please email Catherine O’Kelly at c.okelly@rivers.org to reserve your spot. Space is limited to six performers. There is an additional fee of $75 to perform. After confirming with Catherine O’Kelly that you’ll be performing in the master class, please write a $75 check to: “The Rivers School Conservatory.” On the memo line, please write “Gaëlle Solal Master Class.”

1:00 p.m.
Break

2:00 p.m. | Rivera Recital Hall
Concert: Giulia Ballaré

3:30 p.m. – 4:15 p.m. | Bradley Hall, Room 300
Ensemble Rehearsal (Catherine O’Kelly)

4:30 p.m. | Rivera Recital Hall
Guitar Weekend Recital
Performances by the Guitar Weekend Ensemble and open to ALL Guitar Weekend participants.

Daughter of music aficionados, Gaëlle Solal discovered the classical guitar at the age of five and enrolled in the Marseille Conservatory the following year. At only 16 years of age, she entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris.

After three years, she completed the CNSM with the 1st prize for guitar unanimously and a great willingness to learn more. Playful, ambitious and eager not to miss any challenge, she took part in international competitions in parallel with her Master degree at the Hoschule für Musik in Cologne. In 1998, she became the first French to win one of the most renowned classical guitar competitions, the Concorso di Alessandria. An honorary laureate to numerous foundations, she also won twelve prizes in national and international competitions.

In the early 2000s, Gaelle Solal moved to Andalusia where she got a position as Associate Professor at the Superior Conservatories of Cordoba and Seville. During these seven years of teaching, she never stopped learning and attented masterclasses around the world. In 2006, after a ten year collaboration with the Astor duo, Gaëlle resumed her solo career winning the second prize at the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America and performing in over forty countries.

In 2009, an unexpected escapade in Brazil made her career take a new turn. On her return, she devoted herself fully to her innate love for the stage to create a unique program for each season to further the guitar concert experience and elevate it to new heights not seen before since Segovia. More attached to freedom than dogma, Gaëlle Solal moves seamlessly from the solemn solo recital in a long dress to the clownish duo Crazy Nails with Boris Gaquere, Bach to the Beatles, from contemporary to baroque.

Committed and supportive of her colleagues, she fights for the presence and visibility of women in the guitar world via the association Guitar’Elles of which she is the founder. She has been living in Brussels since 2011 and has been appointed guest professor at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent.

Giulia Ballaré started playing guitar at nine years old and graduated in 2012 from the conservatory in Novara. She has been invited to perform in prestigious venues, such as the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Concert Hall of Gnessis in Moscow, Gosser Ehrbar Saal in Wien, the Aula Magna of University “La Sapienza” in Rome, the Hall of Mirrors in Bratislava, Kurfurstliches Schloss of Koblenz, and many others. She performed as soloist with Alessandria’s Orchestra (Italy) and Musica Viva’s Orchestra of Moscow (Russia). She has won more than 30 prizes in international competitions, including: Andrès Segovia (Linares, 2018), Ciudad de Coria (Spain, 2017), Forum Gitarre Wien (Austria, 2016).

Guilia is professor at Conservatoire de Musique de Genève (Switzerland) and Conservatorio “A. Vivaldi” in Alessandria (Italy). In 2019 she founded the “Gauthey Ballarè Duo” with the French guitarist Pauline Gauthey. In 2023 they released their first album ” Lo Que Vendrá” with the label JSM Guitar Records.

Jhon Alvarado re-energizes the classical guitar repertoire with captivating contemporary performances of world renowned 20th and 21st century composers. Jhon has premiered chamber works for renowned composer and Berklee College of Music faculty, Beth Denisch. Jhon has performed on world stages including, Jordan hall, David Friend Recital Hall, the Frederick Loewe Memorial Hall and Boston GuitarFest. He received his MA in Classical Guitar Performance from the New England Conservatory in 2021 where he studied under Maestro Eliot Fisk and Dr. Jerome Mouffe.

As a music educator, Jhon is inspired by his studies at the New England Conservatory and believes that “Music in education plays an essential role in the early stages of a child’s development by fostering a growth mindset that rewards and praises students based on effort put forth rather than test score or innate ‘talent.’” Jhon has been faculty at Boston University Tanglewood Institute and guest faculty at Northeastern University. Currently located in Boston, MA, Jhon sits on the board of directors for the Boston Classical Guitar Society and is the Guitar Department Coordinator at the Berklee College of Music.

Fred Springer is an artist dedicated to sharing music and art with the world through performance, outreach, and education. Having performed on three different continents in countries including Argentina, Canada, Switzerland, and the United States, Fred has developed a compelling way to share his passion for the classical guitar with audiences across different cultures. He has been awarded top prizes in international guitar, ensemble, and mixed instrument competitions. He graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music and minor in Art History from the University of Texas at Austin, and summa cum laude with a Master of Music from Columbus State University where he served as a graduate assistant in the Schwob School of Music.

Fred now resides in Boston, MA, performing often as a soloist and with a variety of chamber ensembles locally and abroad. He serves as Faculty, Boston Program Coordinator, and Administrative Support for Kithara Project, a non profit offering tuition-free classical guitar education to underserved young people, and as Senior Guitar Faculty and Outreach Coordinator at EKS Music School. In addition, Fred arranges and transcribes music for guitar and has a passion for film and visual art.

Classical guitarist Catherine O’Kelly performs both as a soloist and as a member of Tedesco Duo with flutist Arielle Burke. A former Suzuki student at The Rivers School Conservatory, she is delighted to now be teaching Suzuki guitar at Rivers.

Catherine earned her BA in music and philosophy from Vassar College in 2011, graduating with honors, and earned her MM in guitar performance in 2013 at The Hartt School, where she studied classical guitar with Richard Provost. Currently Catherine is pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in classical guitar performance at The Hartt School in West Hartford, CT. She earned a position with The Hartt School’s Honors Chamber Music Program, Performance 20/20, providing her a full scholarship for her doctoral studies.

In addition to creating Guitar Weekend, Catherine has performed and taught at many local music festivals, including The Connecticut Guitar Festival and The Latin American Music Festival. She frequently collaborates with other local musicians and groups such as Boston’s Cantata Singers, and she serves on the board of the Boston Classical Guitar Society.