Guitar masters plan to entertain

12th September 2005

There will be more plucking guitars in Masterton than at a Mexican mariachi convention come the weekend of September 22-24.

Spring Strings, Festival of Guitar Music, is bringing a bevy of nimble fingered maestros to perform at various locations around the town.

Two internationally renowned classical guitarists from Masterton's sister city in Australia, Armidale, are taking top billing for the three day line-up. Stephen Tafra and Stephen Thorneycroft make up the duo EphenStephen.

Organiser Jan Gerritsen said the duo decided to come to their sister city on the New Zealand section of their Australasian tour.

"They thought it might be quite nice to include Masterton in their tour, and someone contacted Matthew Marshall and they wanted to come too and it went from there," she said.

Local musician Stefan Brown with his band will perform at Cafe Cecille on Friday night and Blackberry Jam is playing at Cafe Strada the same evening.

"So people can really feast out on guitar. What we're trying to do is part of our Arts Culture and Heritage strategy for developing players to be exposed to expert playing and give them a bit of experience," Mrs Gerritsen said.

On Saturday morning The Music Warehouse is running guitar demonstrations, and in the afternoon St Luke's Church will resound to the sound of massed guitars.

Matthew Marshall and Gunter Herbig play St Luke's Saturday night. They will be playing the programme that they will be taking to London in October.

During the afternoon and later at night you can stroll around town to catch your favourite local guitar groups at Masterton cafes and bars.

Massey Conservatorium of Music's 14-strong guitar ensemble, under the direction of Matthew Marshall and Gunter Herbig, will also feature.

EphenStephen are based in Australia in the northern New South Wales town of Armidale, and have been performing, composing and arranging music together for over 15 years. Primarily they are a classical guitar duo playing a wide variety of music from "Bach to the Beatles".

Over the years the two Steves have also performed with orchestras, playing pieces such as Plague and the Moonflower and Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. They have also performed in rock, jazz and funk bands together.

In 2005 they will be performing, among other things, the Vivaldi double mandolin concerto (on mandolins) plus concerts throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Guitar students are being challenged to compose a tune for the festival. The music should be two minutes long. Entries will be accepted from any student residing in Wairarapa and will be judged by EphenStephen. The winning entry will be played by the dynamic duo at their concert during the festival.