David Burgess, world-renowned guitarist and musical performer, will play a guitar concert on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 p.m. in LeBaron Recital Hall on the campus of the University of Montevallo. Sponsored by the UM Concert and Lecture Series committee and the UM department of English and foreign languages, the event will be part of the 11th annual International week events at the university. In addition to the concert, Burgess will host a master class on the afternoon of Nov. 7, also in LeBaron Recital Hall, from 1–3.
Praised by critics for his polished technique and flamboyant style, Burgess has established a reputation as one of today’s outstanding guitarists, winning top honors in a number of international music competitions including those in New York, Mexico City, Toronto and Munich. He has performed at Carnegie Recital Hall and Lincoln Center as well as throughout North and South America, Europe and the Far East.
Burgess began studying guitar at the Estudio de Arte Guitarristico in Mexico City with the pre-eminent Argentine guitarist, Manuel Lopez Ramos. He later earned a Diploma di Merito while receiving a full scholarship at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy. After earning a bachelor of music degree at the University of Washington, he was appointed guitar instructor at both the University of Washington and the Cornish Institute of the Arts in Seattle. In 1984, he was selected as the first recipient of the Andres Segovia Fellowship, after which he periodically received classes from Maestro Segovia until the maestro’s death in 1987.
During the past 10 years, Burgess has taken numerous trips to South America, rediscovering guitar music from the past, as well as finding many progressive contemporary Latin American works. The program at UM will begin with the oldest known guitar music, written in Spain during the time of Columbus, and will include works by the Spanish composer, Isaac Albeniz, along with a variety of Latin American works including pieces imitating the Venezuelan harp and Brazilian percussion instruments along with music of the Inca Indians, rhythmic Cuban works and Argentine tangos.