Join this intimate evening of live music, featuring three excellent performers, each with a distinct take on the versatility and expressive potential of the classical guitar.
Featuring…
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Rachel Hansbury
Rachel Hansbury is a vocal artist and educator based in Asheville, NC. She has performed as a soloist with chamber music groups including the Asheville Choral Society, Gateway Chamber Orchestra, and Music City Baroque, with whom Nashville Arts Now described her performance as "The highlight of the night…angelic, yet full of human emotion.”
Always curious about the human voice, Rachel has completed studies and masterclasses with artists such as Judy Collins, the King's Singers, and Meredith Monk, and educators such as Clifton Ware, Jeannie LoVetri, and Sharon Mabry.
Currently she performs as half of the guitar and voice ensemble Demeler as they perform their blend of French café music and global art song throughout the Southeast.
Andy Jurik
Guitarist, arranger, and educator Andy Jurik actively explores the intersection of classical and popular music. His research in classical/jazz fusion has been presented as lectures and performances at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention, Dublin Guitar Symposium, Radford University International Guitar Festival, Clemson Guitar Festival, Southern Guitar Festival, and Carnegie Mellon University.
His debut album, strive, featuring solo guitar arrangements of works by Ernesto Nazareth, Radiohead, the Beatles, and others, has received acclaim from Acoustic Guitar magazine, Soundboard, and Classical Guitar magazine. In 2023 he released Satie 3, 2, 1 featuring arrangements of works by French composer Erik Satie.
Andy teaches at the University of North Carolina Asheville and Western Carolina University, and directs the Asheville Classical Guitar Society.
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Laura exhibits a poetic and technical depth that has garnered comparisons to Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones, and Nick Drake. She writes intimate folk music with classical influence that has been described as meditative, transcendental, and within the "chamber folk" genre (Asheville's Mountain Xpress). Along with being a singer-songwriter, Laura has a degree in classical guitar performance and studied piano from a young age. She views music as a bridge to human connection and vulnerability, as well as a powerful tool for fostering community. The multi-instrumentalist has self-released three albums, Counting Eyes (2014) Fall Away (2017), and WellSpring (2022) and two EP's, Place to Be (2021) and Live Sessions: Nashville (2023). Laura teaches private music lessons at The Black Mountain Center for the Arts.
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After 3 and 1/2 decades of teaching guitar, both privately and at the collegiate level, David Stevenson has retired! Unstructured days often begin with walks in the woods and hills behind his house nestled on the banks of the Ivy River in Madison County. Days also include building guitar supports for which he has received two U.S. Patents -www.aframeguitarsupport.com. Playing the guitar now is purely for pleasure.
As a composer, David has released 2 full length CD’s. “My writing tends to be rather simple harmonically - major and minor chords, some 7ths too, basic arpeggios and scales. Though I’m definitely trying to say something unique, the musical language is rather straight forward. To use a visual arts analogy: I’m using primary colors and recognizable lines and shapes, but definitely willing to color outside those lines! . . . . a new recording is in the works featuring much of the music you’ll hear tonight.
“His arpeggios gurgle like a thawing spring, or volcano in rivulets of double or triple time. May Arise is a tour de force of strong bass, speedy arpeggios and forceful, slashing harmonics.” - Daily Courier, Forest City, NC
“His intelligent, pictorial music portrays Thoreau-esque inner landscapes in shadowy muted tones. Stevenson’s playing is open, but forceful in a quiet way. It’s not intentionally showy, but just delivers what each composition requires. His special talent is for creating moods that take you places you probably haven’t been before.” - Acoustic Guitar Magazine
“Stevenson plays a nylon string guitar with a strong right hand and displays an unusually original compositional bent. He creates his own to good effect.” - Fingerstyle Guitar Magazine
This event is presented by the Asheville Classical Guitar Society.