2021 URI Guitar Festival returns with live performances and full hybrid format
SOUTH KINGSTOWN — The pandemic forced the URI Guitar Festival online in 2020, but audiences are back this year as the festival offers a hybrid mix of live and virtual performances by an international lineup that spotlights four female virtuosos.
Artistic Director Adam Levin said he’s thrilled to be putting on the festival for a live audience again after last year’s virtual format, while also making this year’s edition more versatile than ever. It takes place from Oct. 14 to 17, with performances at the university's main campus in Kingston, as well as at St. Augustine's Church and Pump House Music Works.
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“The University of Rhode Island Guitar Festival was created with the vision of providing artists, students, aficionados and music lovers from around the world the opportunity to exchange ideas, inspire novel musical approaches and perpetuate love for the guitar and its diverse and culturally varied music,” said Levin, who has curated the event since 2015.
“The guitar is perhaps the most universal instrument on the planet," he said, "and we harness its popularity and appeal to unite the Rhode Island, New England, domestic and international communities."
This year’s festival is fully hybrid — with all performances and programs available live and online — to ensure maximum accessibility for concerts, master classes and lectures, he said.
The program will feature a global slate of performers, including four master female guitarists — American phenom Kaki King, Brazilian innovator Badi Assad, Armenian troubadour Gohar Vardanyan, and Poland's Katarzyna Smolarek, winner of the 2020 festival's Rising Stars young artist competition.
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“Guitar, unfortunately, has been a male-centric world," said Levin. "In curating the festival, I wanted to showcase the dynamic and impressive female virtuosi of our time.”
Also featured will be Belgian soloist and chamber musician Jerome Mouffe and New York City composer, educator and producer David Veslocki, among others from such countries as Israel, Romania, Cuba, Iran, Australia and South Africa.
"This is my first time performing at the University of Rhode Island Guitar Festival, and I'm really looking forward to teaching and performing there,” Vardanyan said. “I'm also excited to meet the other guitarists. It looks like an incredible lineup of artists this year.”
“I love it when I'm invited to play at guitar festivals that are concerned with diversifying genres and styles,” Assad added. “Besides, I'm very happy to be able to play in person. For us artists, who spent all these months away from the stage and the live audience, being able to feel the immediate communion of energy exchanges is a blessing. So, thanks to the University of Rhode Island Guitar Festival for the invitation.”
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Coinciding with the festival will be a Rising Stars Virtual Guitar Competition with two categories, youth (ages 12-18) and young artists (ages 18+). The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony Oct. 17 at 7 p.m. at URI's Fine Arts Center.
The festival will also present a bonus concert on Monday, Oct. 18, at 7:30 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church, 15 Lower College Rd. That day, the musicians will rehearse and record an album, “Sessions,” before the night’s show. The album will be released in the spring by Frameworks Records.
If you go ...
What: URI Guitar Festival
When: Oct. 14-17
Where: University of Rhode Island, Kingston
Tickets: $20 general admission, $10 students
COVID safety: Proof of full vaccination required, except for those age 12 and under. Masks must be worn for all indoor events.
Information: uriguitarfestival.org