75TH SEASON

OF CONCERTS

SEPTEMBER 15-18, 2016 • NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART
NGA GuitarFest

It is a great pleasure to present the National Gallery of Art's GuitarFest. The festival

explores the diverse music of Spain and Latin America through the guitar, an instrument

central to the culture of these areas and almost as intrinsic to the people as the Spanish

language itself.

In the early nineteenth century, the guitar and Spanish classical music began to

take the form most recognized today, with virtuosos such as the guitarist Dionisio Aguado

leading the way. Aguado's compositions took Spanish dance music, like the fandango, and

incorporated it into northern European dance forms, such as the minuet and the polonaise, 

which are exemplified in his Introduction y Rondo. Later in the century, composer-pianists

Isaac Albeniz and Enrique Granados continued this tradition of celebrating Spain's dance

music, creating entire cycles to chronicle the diverse regional styles that will be heard

throughout the festival. The music of both Albeniz and Granados, while composed primarily

for piano, was so suggestive of guitar music that Francisco Tarrega and Miguel Llobet 

almost immediately arranged it for that instrument.

Throughout Latin America a greater embrace of folk music emerged, while at the

same time musicians continued the use of standard European forms, such as the sonata.

Venezuelan Antonio Lauro (1917-1986) was known for his use of stylized folk songs, while

simultaneously composing a much more rigid sonata. Argentinian Alberto Ginastera,

Lauro's contemporary, combined the folk song with the sonata form in his Sonata for Guitar,

op. 47 (1976), creating an incredibly evocative sonata that embraced the European form

while pushing an aggressive deceleration of his beloved folk music.

The Jewish Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968), who sought

safety in America during World War II, created his strongest and most unique compositions

when writing for the guitar. He was constantly inspired by Spanish culture, composers,

musicians, and especially Spanish art with his last major work, Caprichos de Goya, inspired

by Francisco Goya's prints. Later in the twentieth century, the Argentinian composer Astor

Piazzolla would riff on Vivaldi's Four Seasons, while also creating wholly original pieces, as

in his work Cinco Piezas.

This continuous cross-pollination of culture has made music from Spain and the

Americas a dominant force across the globe. The guitar —an instrument of choice for so

many countries and cultures, being both accessible and portable —has played a major role

in the development of this music.

Program notes by Robert Hanson

75th Season • 3
12:10 • West Building, West Garden Court

Celil Refik Kaya, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

Vaises poeticos

Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)

Cataluna from Suite Espanola, op. 47

Jorge Morel (b. 1931)

Sonatina

Allegretto

Lento espressivo 

Allegro

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Selections from Goldberg Variations

Aria

Variation 1

Variation 5

Variation 7: Al tempo di Giga

Variation 10: Fughetta

Variation 21: Canone alia Settima

Variation 18: Canone alia Sesta

Aria

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999)

Toccata

4 • National Gallery of Art

1:10 • West Building, West Garden Court

Gohar Vardanyan, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Dionisio Aguado (1784-1849)

Introduccion y Rondo, op. 2, no. 2

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

Verano Porteno

Primavera Portena

Isaac Albeniz (1860-1909)

Cordoba from Cantos de Espana, op. 232

Sevilla from Suite Espanola, op. 47

Joaquin Rodrigo (1901-1999)

Invocacion y Danza

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

“Chanson du Feu Follet," from El Amor Brujo

Dance No. 1 from La Vida Breve
12:10 • West Building, West Garden Court

Scott Borg, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Enrique Granados (1867-1916)

La Maja de Goya

Danza Espanola No.5

Intermezzo from Goyescas

with Adam Kossler, guitar

Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco (1895-1968)

Selections from Caprichos de Goya

No. 1, Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Pintor (Francisco Goya y Lucientes, painter)

No. 2, Tal para qual (Two of a kind)

No. 3, Nadie se conoce (Nobody knows oneself)

No. 6, El amor y la muerte (Love and death)

No. 13, Quien mas rendido (Which of them is more overwhelmed)

No. 18, El sueno de la razon produce monstruos (The sleep of reason produces monsters)

6 • National Gallery of Art

1:10 • West Building, West Garden Court

Adam Kossler, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Erik Satie (1866-1925)

Gymnopedie No. 1*

Gnossienne No. 7*

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937)

Pavane pour une infante defunte*

Claude Debussy (1862-1918)

La fille aux cheveix de lin**

Andantino from String Quartet in G Minor; op. 10***

with Scott Borg, guitar

Manuel de Falla (1876-1946)

Tombeau de Claude Debussy

Manuel Maria Ponce (1882-1948)

Sonata III

Allegro moderato

Chanson: Andantino molto espressivo 

Allegro non troppo

‘Arranged by Adam Kossler

“Arranged by Jack Marshall

“‘Arranged by John Kossler
3:00

• West Building, West Garden Court

Jorge Caballero, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Ernesto Garcia de Leon (b. 1952)

El Viejo, op. 15

Sonata no. 1, op. 13, "Las Campanas"

Dialogos Criollos

Cancion

Son

Astor Piazzolla (1921 -1992)

Cinco Piezas

Campero

Romantico

Acentuado

Triston

Compadre

Intermission

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

Selections from the Twelve Etudes

No. 1, Allegro ma non troppo

No. 2, Allegro

No. 3, Allegro moderato

No. 6, Poco allegro

No. 7, Tres anime

No. 9, Tres peu anime

No. io, Tres anime

No. 11, Lent — anime — poco meno

No. 12, Anime

Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983)

Sonata for Guitar, op. 47

Esordio

Scherzo

Canto

Finale 8 • National Gallery of Art

3:30• West Building, West Garden Court

Pablo Sainz Villegas, guitar

Presented in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month

Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)

Five Preludes

No.1 inE Minor

No.2 inE Major

No.3 inA Minor

No.4 inE Minor

No.5 inD Major

Luiz Bonfa (1922-2001)

"Passeio no Rio" (samba)

Pedro Elias Gutierrez (1870-1954)

"Alma llanera" (joropo)

Roland Dyens (b. 1955)

Tango en Skai

Agusti'n Barrios Mangore (1885-1944)

Un sueno en la floresta

Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990)

From West Side Story

"I Feel Pretty"

"Maria"

"America"

Antonio Lauro (1917-1986)

"Seis por Derecho" (joropo)

75th Season•9
Scott Borg

Praised as having "enormous facility on the guitar, a fluent technique, [and] panache and

artful spontaneity," Australian classical guitarist Scott Borg performs extensively as a soloist

and chamber musician and is known for his colorful, refined, and daring performances. Borg

has appeared in concert halls and festivals around the world, including the Merida Festival

Internacional de Guitarra (Mexico), Instituto Cultural Peruano Norteamericano Guitar

Festival (Peru), the Shell Darwin International Festival (Australia), New York's Apollo

Theatre and Alice Tully Hall, and the Kennedy Center. Borg's Carnegie Hall debut was

described as "well balanced, gracefully presented, and expertly played ...each note was

purposeful and focused, as was each rest." His performances have been broadcast on

Australian and American radio stations, including ABC Classic FM and National Public Radio.

Borg began his guitar studies at the age of seven with his father, Victor Borg, and

soon after was accepted into the young artists program at the Sydney Conservatorium

of Music. Borg received an artist diploma from Yale University, a master of music degree

from the Juilliard School, and a bachelor of creative arts from the University of Wollongong.

Currently he is a doctoral candidate at the New England Conservatory, under the tutelage

of Eliot Fisk.

Jorge Caballero

Guitarist and composer Jorge Caballero is the youngest musician and the only guitarist

to win the prestigious Naumburg International Competition Award. Caballero is known for

his dazzling virtuosity, his intense musicality, and his spellbinding performances. New York

Times critic Allan Kozinn called him a "superb young guitarist" with the rare combination of

"a deft, powerful technique and a soft-spoken interpretive persona."

A native of Lima, Peru, Caballero comes from a musical family. His mother is a

well-known singer, and as a child Caballero spent many evenings sitting backstage at her

concerts. He learned to play guitar from his father and had already absorbed much knowledge about the instrument listening to his father giving lessons. Growing up at a time when 

terrorists in Peru bombed electrical stations, he became expert at practicing in the dark.

Caballero began his professional training at the National Conservatory in Lima,

studying with Oscar Zamora. He later studied in the United States at the Manhattan School

of Music. He is the recipient of top prizes at the Tokyo International Guitar Competition,

the Luis Sigall Competition, and the First Latin American Guitar Competition, in addition to

the Naumburg, which he won in 1996 at age nineteen. He has performed as a soloist with

75th Season • 11
many orchestras, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestra of St. Luke's, the

New York Chamber Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, and the Presidential Symphony 

of Ankara, Turkey. His recital appearances include performances at New York's Alice Tully

Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Library of Congress, the Palace of Fine Arts in

San Francisco, the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles, and other venues in the United States

and abroad.

Celil Refik Kaya

Born in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1991, Celil Refik Kaya began his interest in classical guitar at the 

age of six with his father, Dr. Mehmet Refik Kaya. When he was nineteen, Kaya earned his

bachelor's degree of music from the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University State Conservatory

in Istanbul and was granted the "Excellence'' scholarship from the Turkish Educational 

Foundation. While an undergraduate, he studied composition with the Turkish composer

Mehmet Nemutlu.

As a concert soloist, Kaya has collaborated with such orchestras as the Buffalo 

Philharmonic, Istanbul State Symphony, Hilton Head Symphony, Brevard Festival Orchestra,

Lake Placid Sinfonietta, and the Bilkent Symphony. He is an avid educator and teaches 

master classes at music festivals and universities throughout the United States and Europe.

Kaya has premiered concertos by Roberto Sierra with the Buffalo Philharmonic

Orchestra; Derwyn Holder with the New Jersey Baroque Orchestra; and both Leonard

Handler and Suleyman Alnitemiz with the Istanbul State Symphony. Kaya is currently a

doctoral candidate at the University of Texas at Austin's Butler School of Music.

Adam Kossler

Adam Kossler is a top prizewinner in a number of national and international guitar competitions, including the Boston GuitarFest, Columbus Guitar Symposium, and East Carolina Guitar

Competition. His international performances have taken him to venues throughout the United

States, Canada, and Central America. He has been a featured artist with numerous concert

series, including the Isle Newell Concert Series and the Seven Hills Guitar Series. His concerts

have been broadcast on Classical WETA's Front Row Washington.

Kossler is also in demand as a teacher and clinician and recent engagements have

brought him to Denver, Guatemala, and Alaska, among other places. In 2014, he released

his first solo recording, Guitar Recital, which was received with enthusiastic responses

from critics and audiences. In 2015, he released his second solo record, Ekloge, an album 

of twentieth-century music that features works by Rodrigo, Ponce, and CastelnuovoTedesco, as well as his own new transcriptions of music by Jean Sibelius. Kossler began

his musical studies with his father, William Kossler, and received his doctorate of musical 

arts from Florida State University.

12 • National Gallery of Art

Gohar Vardanyan

Widely admired for her technique and artistry, Armenian guitarist Gohar Vardanyan has

performed throughout the world, including with the Juilliard Opera Center, the Great Lakes

Chamber Orchestra, and the Panama National Symphony Orchestra. Vardanyan has

appeared on National Public Radio in the United States and Radio Nacional in Argentina.

Vardanyan began studying the guitar in her native Armenia at the age of five under

the careful guidance of her father, Vardan Vardanyan. At the age of eight, she gave her

first public performance and also appeared on Armenian National Television. She performed in numerous concert venues in Armenia, including Komitas Chamber Music Hall

and the Small Philharmonic Hall. She went on to study with Antigoni Goni in the PreCollege Division of the Juilliard School. In 2001, Vardanyan studied with John Wunsch at

the Interlochen Arts Academy. She was awarded the Young Artist's Certificate from

Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Harold Randolph Prize in performance from the

Peabody Conservatory of Music.

Vardanyan holds a master of music degree from the Juilliard School, where she

studied with Sharon Isbin, and a bachelor of music degree from the Peabody Conservatory

of Music, where she studied with Manuel Barrueco. In addition to her performing career,

Vardanyan frequently teaches master classes and workshops during her concert tours. She

is the author of three books from Mel Bay Publications.

Pablo Sainz Villegas

Critics have hailed Pablo Sainz Villegas as one of the world's leading classical guitarists and

as a natural ambassador of Spanish culture, with performances in more than forty countries

since his auspicious debut with the New York Philharmonic under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos.

The New York Times has written that his "beautifully rounded guitar tone" and

"soulful rendition" make him one of the most sought-after soloists by today's leading

orchestras, conductors, and festivals. A champion and supporter of new repertoire for

guitar, he performed the world premiere of Rounds, the first guitar piece to have been

written by five-time Academy Award-winning composer John Williams.

Villegas has performed as soloist with international orchestras, including the

Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and the Boston

Symphony at Tanglewood. He has appeared at such prestigious venues as the Philharmonie

in Berlin, Carnegie Hall in New York, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Philharmonic

Hall in St. Petersburg, Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco, the Sala Verdi in Milan, and

the Vienna Musikverein.

Villegas has received numerous prestigious awards, including El Ojo Critico, making

him the first guitarist to win Spain's top classical music honor. Prior to winning the famed

Parkening International Guitar Competition, he was already the recipient of more than thirty

international awards, including the Francisco Tarrega Award and the Andres Segovia Award.

Villegas was born in La Rioja, Spain, and is currently based in New York City.

75th Season • 13
Upcoming events of the SeventyFifth Season of The William

Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot

Belin Concerts

No BS! Brass Band

September 25,12:00, 2:00

Mall Steps

Vicky Chow, piano 

Tristan Perich, Surface Image

Presented in honor of Los Angeles to

New York: Dwan Gallery, 7959 - 7977

September 30,12:30

East Building Auditorium

Yves Klein's Symphonie —

"Monotone-Silence"

Presented in honor of Los Angeles to

New York: Dwan Gallery, 7959 - 7977

October 1, 4:00

East Building Auditorium

Philip Glass

Creativity and the Collaborative Spirit

Performance and discussion on art

and music

October 2, 2:00

East Building Auditorium

General Information

Admission to the National Gallery of Art

and all of its programs is free of charge,

except as noted.

The use of cameras or recording equipment

during the performance is not allowed.

Please be sure that all portable electronic

devices are turned off.

Concerts are made possible in part

through the generosity of donors to the

National Gallery of Art through The Circle. 

Reserved seating is available in recognition

of their support. Please contact the

development office at (202) 842-6450 or

circle@nga.gov for more information.

www.nga.gov

www.instagram.com/ngadc

www.twitter.com/ngadc

www.facebook.com/nationalgalleryofart

The department of music produced these

program notes. Copyright © 2016 Board of

Trustees, National Gallery of Art, Washington

Cover Auguste Renoir, Young Spanish Woman

with a Guitar (detail), 1898, National Gallery of

Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection

Inside Cover Francisco de Goya, Dios se lo pague

a vsted (May God Repay You) (detail), c. 1804,

National Gallery of Art, Washington, Rosenwald

Collection

Back cover West Building, Constitution Avenue

entrance, viewed from Sixth Street NW, 1941, National

Gallery of Art, Washington, Gallery Archives