University of Florida Performing Arts

presents

California Guitar Trio and

Montreal Guitar Trio

Friday, February 1, 2013, 7:30 p.m.

University Auditorium

About California Guitar TrioCalifornia Guitar Trio (CGT) is a band of three guitar players founded in 1991. Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah; Bert Lams of Affligem, Belgium; and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo, Japan first met in England at one of Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft Courses in 1987.

After completing several of these intensive courses, the three toured worldwide with Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists. They continued working together in Los Angeles, founding The California Guitar Trio in 1991, to create original compositions, surf covers and classical re-workings. Making use of a wide range of instrumental styles fusing European classical music, rock, blues, jazz, world music and surf music, CGT emphasizes technical virtuosity and humor.

The Trio’s music was featured during the television coverage of the 1998 and 2000 Olympic Games, and on CBS, NBC, CNN WorldBeat and ESPN TV programs. They performed on the 2003 Grammy Awards-nominated track Apollo on Tony Levin’s CD Pieces of the Sun; and CGT music was sent into outer space as wake-up music for the crew aboard NASA’s space shuttle Endeavour.

Through frequent touring, CGT has shared the stage with many performers such as King Crimson, John McLaughlin, David Sylvian, Tito Puente, Leftover Salmon, Taj Mahal, Steve Lukather, Simon Phillips, Adrian Legg, Adrian Belew, Jon Anderson and many more. When schedules permit, King Crimson members Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto regularly join them for live shows.

In August 2004, CGT released Whitewater, produced by Levin. It features mainly original works of the CGT, offset by a puzzle-work arrangement of a Bach lute suite and a mashup of (Ghost) Riders in the Sky with The Doors’ Riders on the Storm. This was followed in 2008 by Echoes, an album composed entirely of covers, and 2010’s Andromeda, the band’s first release to consist entirely of original material. The 2012 release Masterworks is an all-classical music compilation featuring music by Beethoven, Bach, Vivaldi, Rossini and Part. Chicago guitar virtuoso Fareed Haque plays on Vivaldi’s Winter. Tony Levin plays upright bass and cello on four tracks.

www.cgtrio.com

About Montreal Guitar Trio When it comes to bridging diverse genres of music, Montreal Guitar Trio (MG3), which CBC described as “the hottest guitar ensemble in Canada,” has quickly established itself as a force to be reckoned with. For more than 14 years, the trio’s virtuosity, rigor, creativity and dynamic stage presence — they are noted for the wit and warmth of their interactions with audiences — have been winning applause around the world. They won the 2011 Opus Prize for concert of the year in the jazz/world music category. They have performed hundreds of concerts in prestigious venues in North America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia,

including the BB King Blues Club in New York, the Rundetårnet in Copenhagen and the legendary Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

MG3 (guitarists Glenn Lévesque, Marc Morin and Sébastien Dufour), released their fourth CD, Cambria (©2011), after four years of international touring. The product of a long period of musical introspection and the Trio’s most accomplished and personal work yet, this album contains six original tracks and three covers — including the legendary While My Guitar Gently Weeps by George Harrison and The Mexican by Babe Ruth. With all the influences which over the years have marked the Trio’s eclectic and original music, Cambria takes listeners on a journey through the worlds’ many cultures — strains of flamenco and Argentinean tango blend with Cuban music. Nordic music mixes with Brazilian samba and progressive rock. The sounds of the orient subtly blend with those of Californian surf guitar, and modern pop. Once again, MG3 sails past the formulaic boundaries that usually limit guitar trios, while charming ears and capturing hearts of seasoned critics and ever-expanding audiences.

www.mg3.ca

About California Guitar Trio and Montreal Guitar TrioCGT+MG3 features all six virtuoso guitarists from California Guitar Trio (CGT) and Montreal Guitar Trio (MG3). Representing four countries (Japan, Canada, Belgium and U.S.), they fuse more than 40 years of combined performing experience into one unique six-by-six-string “phenomensemble.” In a pleasantly surprising way, CGT’s steel stringed-guitars blend naturally with MG3’s nylon-stringed guitars, as each trio’s fret boards chase the others’ original compositions and new arrangements of progressive rock, world, jazz and classical music.

Inspired in 2010 by an impromptu studio session together in Montreal, CGT and MG3 have proceeded to release a live recording (2011), land showcases at numerous arts presenter conferences and sustain frequent co-bill touring throughout North America; from the Iridium in New York City, to Montreal Jazz Festival (twice), to Napa Valley Opera House. The two trios tour again in 2012-13, visiting 20 cities (and counting) in the United States and Canada.