The final concert in the Salida Aspen Concerts series will feature the beautiful sounding combination of classical guitar and string quartet at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, August 14 at Held Auditorium, Salida High School, 10th and D Streets.
Benjamin Pila is the only young guitarist chosen to be a Presidential Scholar in the Arts. He will be joined by Boulder, Colorado’s Tesla Quartet in “Quintet No. 4 for Guitar and Strings by Luigi Boccherini.” Then the quartet will play Antonin Dvorak’s beloved “American Quartet.”
Mr. Pila has performed in Alice Tully Hall and Avery-Fisher Hall in New York and at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He performed at the September 11th Commemoration Ceremonies at Ground Zero in New York City and has been featured on the Today Show on NBC and National Public Radio’s program From the Top. Pila studied guitar under the tutelage of Sharon Isbin at the Juilliard School. Currently he is pursuing his Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Southern California under Scott Tennant of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet.
The Tesla Quartet has been making a name for itself since it formed at the Juilliard School in 2008. Members are violinists Ross Snyder and Xian Meng, violist Megan Mason and cellist Kim Patterson.
The ensemble currently holds a fellowship as the Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Colorado-Boulder, where they study with the world-renowned Takács Quartet. Tesla Quartet members also serve as string mentors to the Boulder Youth Symphony and have public school residencies in Aspen and Vail.
Pila’s solo pieces on the first half of the program include two works by Joaquin Ridrigo: homage to Spanish composer Manuel de Falla and “Tres Piezas Espanolas”. Pila will also play three traditional Celtic folk songs, selections from “Appalachian Dreams” by John Duarte and “Sunburst” by contemporary composer Andrew York.
A pre-concert talk with the artists begins at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are $15.00 (students $3.00) at the door or online at SalidaAspenConcerts.org.
This concert concludes the 34th annual Salida Aspen Concerts season produced in partnership with the Aspen Music Festival and School
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