Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra in Concert at the Academy of Music

Northampton, MA—Composer, performer and guitar innovator Peter Blanchette directs his popularly acclaimed Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra (“HVGO”) in concert at the Academy of Music Theatre on Friday, April 23 at 7:30 p.m. The performance is the culmination of a week-long residency at the Northampton Center for the Arts that includes two master-classes for young guitarists, a participatory rehearsal, and a special program for preschoolers.

HVGO is comprised of more than 20 talented, local musicians who play acoustic and electric guitar from widely varied traditions. Together, they create new and beautiful music that could only come from such an eclectic mélange. The post-modern orchestra provides an opportunity for guitarists of diverse backgrounds to work together and for audience members to enjoy both contemporary and legacy composers.

The April concert could be characterized as a program of “Tales Told Large,” from the vast Wild West to the drama of the High Romantic. The genre-busting repertoire includes: a full-ensemble fantasy on the Armenian Huseyni Saz with Oud soloist Kevin Germain; romantic orchestral pieces from Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt; the main theme and climactic finale (The Ecstasy of Gold) from the classic Sergio Leone film The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly; and more of the Bartok and Satie arrangements that so thrilled audiences during a November 2009 inaugural concert at the Center for the Arts.

Though known as a Bach specialist, Blanchette has a repertoire of unusual and celebrated musical arrangements that run from medieval to contemporary to ethnic styles. He is a veteran performer in such high profile venues as NPR’s “A Prairie Home Companion” and The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. As a composer, Blanchette has contributed to HBO’s “Sex and the City” and the PBS series “Inside the Tuscan Hills.”

Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for students and $8 for children under 12. They are available online at www.hvgo.org, at State Street Fruit Store and at the door.

The residency and performance are presented by the Northampton Center for the Arts and are supported by a grant from the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts. The concert is sponsored by 88.5 FM-WFCR, NPR News and Music for Western New England and 640AM-WNNZ, News and Information for Western New England.

Contact: Penny Burke: (413) 584-7327, Northampton Center for the Arts
Contact: Madeline Weaver Blanchette: (413) 259-5966, Happy Valley Guitar Orchestra