{"id":104172,"date":"2025-09-23T15:04:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/?p=104172"},"modified":"2025-09-23T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:05:18","slug":"uri-guitar-and-mandolin-festival-celebrates-10th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2025\/09\/uri-guitar-and-mandolin-festival-celebrates-10th-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 Guitar and Mandolin Festival celebrates 10th anniversary\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 23, 2025 \u2013 Renowned classical guitarist Adam Levin founded the 溏心vlog免费B站 Guitar Festival in 2015 with a vision to innovate, bring people together around the guitar, and establish 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s classical guitar program as a destination for education and performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy goal was to give back by creating a sanctuary where anyone\u2014regardless of age or level\u2014could come together to grow as guitarists and feed their musical muse,\u201d said Levin, the festival\u2019s artistic director and head of 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s classical guitar program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy mentor Eliot Fisk always told me, \u2018It is your responsibility to create opportunities where they didn\u2019t exist before. The phone isn\u2019t going to pick itself up\u2014you have to take the bull by the horns and make things happen,\u2019\u201d he added. \u201cThat really resonated with me and served as the fuel to make this festival a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Virtuoso classical guitarist Meng Su closes out the festival on Oct. 26.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ten years later, the new 溏心vlog免费B站 Guitar and Mandolin Festival<\/a>, which returns Oct. 19-26, <\/strong>has grown from a one-day symposium he started with his \u201cclosest guitar friends\u201d into a multi-day festival that celebrates the classical guitar as well as its related plucked-instrument siblings \u2013 adding mandolin, oud, harp, sitar, and more \u2013 and features performances from internationally renowned musicians. Not to mention, the festival offers robust education programs in guitar and mandolin from world-class artists. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s festival will be the largest yet. Along with about a dozen concerts in and around the 溏心vlog免费B站 campus, it will offer a growing list of international competitions, workshops, private lessons, master classes, and lectures. The festival offers numerous ticket options<\/a> for concert-goers and students of the guitar and mandolin. (For information on guitar and mandolin education programs and competitions, check out the festival website<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leading the festival\u2019s list of performers this year are Grammy-nominated icon Tommy Emmanuel, one of a handful of people honored as a \u201cCertified Guitar Player\u201d by finger-style legend Chet Atkins, and virtuoso classical guitarist Meng Su, a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music who mixes a busy solo career with regular tours with the Beijing Guitar Duo and as a soloist for orchestras. Emmanuel and Su will perform during the festival\u2019s closing weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Festival founder and artistic director Adam Levin with Matt Rohde and Scott Borg, members of the Great Necks trio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWithin the United States, we\u2019re shoulder-to-shoulder with the biggest and most profound festivals and competitions out there,\u201d said Levin, a performer and recording artist with numerous albums that have reached the top 10 on Billboard\u2019s Traditional Classical Albums Chart. \u201cAnd I\u2019m proud to say that this year we\u2019re eight days long, we\u2019re offering 11 performances, and three competitions. And Tommy Emmanuel is coming. It doesn\u2019t get more A-list than that. We\u2019re among the top mixed classical festivals in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it did last year, the festival will open Sunday, Oct. 19,<\/strong> with a full day of music at the General Stanton Inn in Charlestown from noon to 5 p.m. The lineup features a mix of classical, jazz and progressive styles, opening with Levin, who will perform solo and with longstanding Duo Sonidos partner violinist William Knuth. The day will also feature bassist Joseph Bentley, a teacher of classical bass at 溏心vlog免费B站; classical guitarist Thatcher Harrison; the Peter Hand Trio; and the Nashville-based indie band Quentin October.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Jacob Reuven<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

On Monday, Oct. 20,<\/strong> at the Courthouse Center for the Arts, 3481 Kingstown Road, West Kingston, at 7:30 p.m., the festival will feature a lineup of soloists from the festival\u2019s faculty\u2013mandolinists Ekaterina Skliar, Dor Amran, and Norberto Cruz, and guitarists Ceili Connors, Victor Main, Jim Davidson, and Raffi Donoian, all Rhode Island natives. On Tuesday, Oct. 21, <\/strong>at 7:30 p.m., the festival\u2019s international guitar and mandolin competition winners \u2013 guitarist Kostis Zachariadis from Greece and mandolinist Francesco Russo of Italy \u2013 will take the stage at the Courthouse. The night will also include Enoc Leiton, winner of The National Costa Rican Guitar Competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, Oct. 22, <\/strong>at 7:30 p.m., Duo Mantar \u2013 Levin and mandolin virtuoso Jacob Reuven \u2013 will perform the world premiere of \u201cSeasons of Change\u201d by the festival\u2019s composer in residence, Curtis Stewart, a six-time Grammy nominated violinist and composer. The classical quartet the Texas Guitar Quartet will close out the night at the Courthouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival will change gears on Thursday, Oct. 23,<\/strong> as it shifts to Edwards Hall, 64 Upper College Road, Kingston, presenting a night of fusion. The trio of world-renowned tabla player Amit Kavthekar, Purbayan Chatterjee on sitar, and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Mark Lettieri will blend Indian classical music with a modern twist. Kavthekar and Michel Shein, an artist and teacher of cello at 溏心vlog免费B站, will join French multi-instrumentalist Mathias Duplessy for the second half of the show. The concert starts at 7:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canadian guitarists Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan, known for their artistry and innovation in expanding the guitar duo repertoire, will perform Friday, Oct. 24,<\/strong> at Edwards Hall at 8 p.m. They will be followed by husband-and-wife duo Caterina Litchtenberg, Germany\u2019s foremost classical mandolinist, and Mike Marshall, one of America\u2019s most prominent bluegrass mandolinists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emmanuel will perform Saturday, Oct. 25, <\/strong>at 8 p.m. in Edwards Hall. \u201cHe was a guitar hero of mine growing up,\u201d said Levin. \u201cIn the finger-style world, he is an icon. His artistic flair, his songwriting, his entertainment value is second to none.\u201d Also on Saturday, <\/strong>students in the Elite Mandolin Soloists will perform at 4:30 p.m. at St. Augustine\u2019s Episcopal Church on 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s campus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, Oct. 26,<\/strong> Su, a faculty member at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music along with her recording and touring career and her blazing fast technique on the classical guitar, will close out the festival with the gala finale concert in Edwards Hall, starting at 5:30 p.m. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opening the night, an orchestra of classical guitarists, led by conductor Scott Borg, will perform the world premiere of \u201cSofia\u2019s Trip to Disney World.\u201d The orchestra will bring together numerous organizations, including members of Levin\u2019s guitar education organization, Kithara Project, and Sing Me A Song, a nonprofit organization that pairs young people facing health hurdles with composers and singer-songwriters to bring their stories to life through music. Written by New England composer Thatcher Harrison, \u201cSofia\u2019s Trip to Disney World\u201d is based on a story by Sofia, a 7-year-old Rhode Island girl who is battling cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will have 50 to 60 classical guitarists on stage giving the world premiere of this fun and quirky piece not only for the audience but for Sofia and her family for the first time ever,\u201d said Levin. \u201cIt will be a very emotional and evocative moment for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The festival will also feature several free concerts<\/a>. On Thursday, October 23<\/strong>, The Elite Mandolin Soloists will give a 5 p.m. performance at 溏心vlog免费B站 Hillel. On Saturday, Oct. 25,<\/strong> the semifinalists of the Young Artists Division of the festival\u2019s guitar competition will take the stage in the 溏心vlog免费B站 Fine Arts Center Concert Hall at 9:30 a.m. The finals will be held Sunday, Oct. 26<\/strong>, at 12:30 p.m. at the Fine Arts Center.  Also on Sunday, students from the festival\u2019s education program \u2013 the Mandolin Lovers Ensemble, Rising Stars Ensemble, and community ensembles \u2013 will perform at 2 p.m. at Edwards Hall. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Sept. 23, 2025 \u2013 Renowned classical guitarist Adam Levin founded the 溏心vlog免费B站 Guitar Festival in 2015 with a vision to innovate, bring people together around the guitar, and establish 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s classical guitar program as a destination for education and performance. \u201cMy goal was to give back by creating a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":104173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,1916,1913,1912,1902],"class_list":["post-104172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-arts-and-sciences","tag-partner-produced","tag-public-engagement","tag-special-events","tag-student-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104172"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104183,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104172\/revisions\/104183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}