By Marty Warburton, for Iron County Today
Cedar City Music Arts has once again pulled off another fantastic year of bringing stellar performances of musicianship to Southern Utah. Beginning last September with none other than the Utah Symphony, to the upcoming May 7th season finale featuring The VIDA Guitar Quartet from The United Kingdom. A winning season.
For 95 years, the volunteers of Cedar City Music Arts have worked, planned, schemed, prepared, outlined, devised, scheduled and presented artists of every musical discipline to the good people of Cedar City and it’s surrounding areas. The VIDA Guitar Quartet will take this season out in style.
The VIDA Guitar Quartet brings together four guitarists of exceptional artistry who share a passion for chamber music. Mark Ashford, Amanda Cook, both internationally renowned performers, and Mark Eden and Christopher Stell otherwise known as the Eden Stell Guitar Duo, one of the most innovative guitar duos in the world.
Since forming in 2007 VIDA has performed to critical acclaim in major UK venues including King’s Place (London), The Purcell Room (London), The Sage (Gateshead) and St George’s (Bristol). They are sought-after festival artists throughout the UK, Europe and North America. Since making their US débuts in Los Angeles and New York in 2012 they have appeared on some of North America’s most prestigious stages for classical guitar, including the Long Island Guitar Festival and the Allegro Guitar Series in Dallas, Fort Worth, and Las Vegas. Adding Cedar City, Utah, “The Festival City” to their performance resume is a hand well played.
VIDA was also chosen as the keynote performers for the 2015 Guitar Foundation of America Conference, and toured extensively with “Live on Stage” USA touring network in 2016. 2017 marked the quartet’s début in China as part of the Changsha International Guitar Festival where they were invited to play the closing night’s concert. 2019 was a busy year for VIDA with extensive tours across multiple US states, and a first tour of China performing in concert halls in Shanghai, Haian, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Dalian and Nanchang. ( and you thought Paragonah and Panguitch was a mouth full).
The VIDA Guitar Quartet is proud to present music from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story in one of their most exciting arrangements to date. Along with masterpieces by Schubert and Vivaldi, this concert promises to be a musical experience not to be missed, taking a fresh look at some of the world’s most loved music through the lens of four seasoned classical guitarists.
As special guests, opening for VIDA on May 7th will be the Classical Guitar Students from The Utah Arts Academy located in St. George, Utah. The students will begin their performance at 7pm prior to the evening’s featured artists. Come early and enjoy!
As has been proven over the last 95 years, CCMA continues to present a wide array of musical styles and genres to the citizens of Southern Utah both young and old. As has become tradition,The VIDA Guitar Quartet will host a special 10am Matinee for hundreds of Iron County School District students, courtesy of Cedar City Music Arts.
As a token of appreciation, all CCMA season ticket holders are invited to bring a guest at no charge. And, a season finale “Buy One – Get One” promotion is offered to the general public as well. For tickets, go to cedarcitymusicarts.org, call 435-865-2882, or purchase tickets at the Heritage Center Theater Box Office.
Onward to season #96!