Long Island Guitar  Festival '97
Tilles Center's Hillwood Recital Hall 
C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Brookville, NY 
Harris Becker, Festival Director
Schedule | Home

Guitar enthusiasts, professionals, amateurs and the general public are invited to attend the Fifth Annual Long Island Guitar Festival on Saturday, May 3 and Sunday, May 4 at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, Northern Boulevard (Route 25A) in Brookville.

In the past the Long Island Guitar Festival has proudly presented such distinguished artists as Eduardo Fernandez, Mark Elf, Eliot Fisk, Chieli Minucci, Jerry Willard, Howard Morgen, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Pat O'Brien, Pasquale Bianculli, Ben Moran, Dennis Cinelli, John Zaccari, David Starobin, Benjamin Verdery and Harris Becker.

This event is sponsored by C.W. Post's School of Visual & Performing Arts and the D'Addario Foundation, Augustine Foundation, Benedetto Guitars, D 'Aquisto Strings and Thomastik-Infeld Strings.


Becker/BianculliHarris Becker is the director of the guitar program and founder of the Long Island Guitar Festival at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. He has an active career as a soloist, chamber musician and teacher. Performing has taken him through the United States, Europe, Mexico and Canada where he has premiered many new works for guitar. Brooklyn's Pasquale Bianculli has performed in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Caribbean. In 1981, he performed for Andres Segovia in Granada, Spain. He is on the faculty of the United Nations School in New York City.

Becker/Bianculli, Guitar Duo, 10 a.m.
Saturday, May 3
Ensemble Master Class with Pasquale Bianculli
11:30 a.m., Saturday, May 3


Michael LorimerMichael Lorimer - a favorite protégé of Andres Segovia who describes him as "one of the most talented young guitarists of these times and is the one I appreciate the most" - caught the attention of American audiences in the early 1970s through tours arranged by the great impresario Sol Hurok. His popularity quickly extended beyond the shores of America when he became the first American guitarist invited to perform in the former Soviet Union. He has also appeared throughout Europe, Israel and Cuba and most major North American recital series.

He is the first world-class guitarist to regularly feature the baroque guitar in recital. Twenty years ago, long before the present vogue in original instruments, Michael Lorimer was a pioneer bringing attention to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century predecessor to the modern instrument.

Michael Lorimer, Classical and Baroque Guitar
The Legacy of Segovia, Performance and Discussion,
3 p.m., Saturday, May 3


Howard Alden was born and raised in Southern California and began playing at age 10, inspired by recordings of Armstrong, Basie and Goodman. Alden's skills, both as soloist and accompanist, were quickly recognized and sought after for appearances and recordings with such artists as Ruby Braff, Joe Williams, Warren Vache and Woody Herman.

Alden has been playing the Benedetto guitar exclusively since 1992. The seven-string guitar imparts a greater range and harmonic richness to his musical style. Howard Alden was voted "Best Emerging Talent - Guitar" in the first annual Jazz Times critics' Poll, 1990, and "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" in the 1992,1993 and 1995 Down Beat critics' poll.

Howard Alden, Jazz Concert/Workshop 
3 p.m., Sunday, May 4
Sponsored by Benedetto Guitars 

More about Mr. Alden


Manuel Barrueco was born in Santiago de Cuba in 1952 and began playing popular Latin-American music by ear at the age of eight. His New York debut came at Carnegie Recital Hall in 1974 after becoming the first guitarist to win the prestigious Concert Artist Guild Award.

Guitarist Manuel Barrueco's versatility extends from his superlative performances of works by the Spanish masters, Bach and Mozart, to music by jazz greats Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett and his latest recordings of music by Lennon and McCartney. Barrueco performs in major music centers on four continents each season, has a world-wide exclusive contract with EMI/Angel, and has television appearances such as the Lexus commercial.

Manuel Barrueco, Classical Guitarist
11 a.m., Master Class; 8 p.m., Concert, Sunday, May 4

More about Mr. Barrueco


Guitar Festival Home Page