Concert Response

Concert Response Paper

April 20, 2016

Guitar performances have always been of interest to me. One of my friends told me about a concert at my former high school, that to my surprise was a guitar ensemble performance. I had the pleasure of attending the Guitar Ensemble performance on April 12th, 2016 at Addison Trail High School. The concert took place at the Addison Trail Black Box Theater located in Addison, IL.  This wonderful guitar ensemble consists of around sixteen performers.  The concert is close to an hour long and they performed different genre pieces.  Some of the songs played were: Opus 60 No. 7 in A minor by Matteo Carcassi, Dust in the Wind by Kansas, and Love Yourself by Justin Bieber.  

The Addison Black Box Theater located in Addison, IL holds about three hundred people. The audience consisted of the parents, faculty, staff, students, friends, and even former students interested in guitar. The room is not as big as most theaters but the audience was able to see every performer without difficulty. The performers were sitting on chairs with their music stands in a set of three rows. Bright lights were focused directly onto the young guitarists and their instructor. There was no charge for senior citizens or students and a five dollar charge for general admission. The school’s music program was kind enough to provide everyone with cookies and water at the end of the show. However, there was also a wide variety of drinks and snacks available for sale. Every person in the audience received a program including the names of the students and their role in the concert and the list of songs played by the performers.

The piece I enjoyed the most was Opus 60 No 7 in A minor. This piece was composed by the famous guitarist and composer, Matteo Carcassi. Carcassi was born in Florence, Italy in 1792 and passed away in 1853.  His works were all during the early romantic period in Italy. He managed to blend technical skills and brilliant romantic music...