Classical guitarist visits South Coast
FANS of James Grace will be pleased to know that the renowned classical guitarist will perform at the next Classics at Riverbend Concert at Riverbend Conference Centre on Friday, November 6.
An award-winning musician, James is recognised as one of South Africa’s leading concert artistes. In recent years he has appeared with the Cape Philharmonic, the KZN Philharmonic, the Johannesburg Philharmonic and the Free State Symphony Orchestras.
A regular performer at the major arts festivals and concert series, James’s schedule frequently takes him all over Southern Africa and to many foreign countries. He was the soloist in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Cape Philharmonic Orchestra and with Pieter Daniel at Kirstenbosch’s Summer Concert Series. Subsequently he joined forces with Jonathan Crossley to give the South African premiere of Rodrigo’s Concierto Madrigal for two guitars with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and Alessandro Crudele.
After studying at the Royal College of Music in London as a foundation scholar with Carlos Bonell, he became the first guitarist in the history of the college to receive the Tagore Gold Medal, an annual award presented to the most outstanding student.
Having spent two years in Doha, in the Arabian State of Qatar, where he taught guitar at an International Music Centre, James returned to South Africa and was appointed head of classical guitar studies at the University of Cape Town. He has recently released his fifth solo album, ‘World Café’, under his own record label, Stringwise Records.
His previous two releases, ‘Sevilla – Music of Spain II’ and ‘Café Latino’, both topped the Classic FM Top 20 South African Charts and earned James SAMA nominations for Best Popular Classical Album and Best Instrumental Album respectively.
James is in the final stages of setting up the Stringwise Young Artist’s Trust, with the aim of assisting young artistes across the country to produce their own albums and to offer them bursaries for overseas study. James’s CDs will be on sale at Riverbend. A free wine tasting, at 5.45pm, will precede his performance, which will start at 7pm. Tickets, at R90, are available at the Riverbend shop.
