尼基塔·柯什金，Nikita Koshikin
Nikita Koshkin - Composer & Guitarist
Composer-performers who write primarily for their own instruments plow
furrows narrow but deep. Paganini pushed back the technical limits of the
violin, gaining for the instrument a new range of musical possibilities.
Chopin’s music unleashed the expressive potential of the piano to the great
profit of later composers. The ambition of the Russian composer-guitarist Nikita
Koshkin in writing music for his instrument has been twofold: to expand the
vocabulary of effects on the guitar; and, more importantly, to develop means to
incorporate these into musical expressions.
Born in Moscow in 1956, Koshkin recalls liking the music of Shostakovich and
Stravinsky at age 4. His parents planned a diplomatic career for young Nikita,
however, and until he was 14, rock was his only musical interest. That year, his
grandfather gave him a guitar and a recording by Segovia, and his life was
changed. Composing for and playing the guitar became his double passion, and he
went on to study guitar with George Emanov at the Moscow College of Music, and
with Alexander Frauchi at the Gnesin Institute (Russian Academy of Music), where
he also studied composition with Victor Egorov. Koshkin’s composing profile
gained international stature in 1980, when Vladimir Mikulka premiered his suite
for guitar, The Prince’s Toys. Koshkin’s music, which includes scores for guitar
ensembles and works for guitar with other instruments and the voice, has since
been performed by artists such as John Williams, the Assad Duo, and the Zagreb
and Amsterdam Guitar Trios. Koshkin is also an active concertizer, with tours of
Russia, Central and Western Europe, Great Britain and the United States to his
credit. His first CD was made in Arizona through Soundset Recordings while he
was in the United States in 1997 as a featured artist of the Guitar Foundation
of America International Convention in southern California.
Kenneth LaFave
Frank Koonce, guitarist, has achieved international acclaim as a performer,
teacher, and writer. He holds degrees from the North Carolina School of the Arts
and from Southern Methodist University, Summa Cum Laude, and was a Fulbright
scholar and performer in Italy.
Mr. Koonce’s creative output includes a highly-celebrated guitar edition of
Johann Sebastian Bach’s complete solo lute works and the world-premiere
recording in English of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s "Platero and I" for narrator
and guitar. He recorded another album entitled "A Southwest Christmas" with the
Phoenix Bach Choir. As a founding partner of Soundset Recordings he has helped
produce other classical compact discs, including symphonic works performed by
the Russian Federal Orchestra of Moscow, a premiere recording of works by Alan
Hovhaness with the KBS Symphony Orchestra of Korea, and the first recording of
renowned Russian composer-guitarist, Nikita Koshkin.
A Professor of Music, Frank Koonce has directed the guitar program at Arizona
State University since 1978. He was Director of the Guitar Foundation of America
International Convention 1987 and now serves on the GFA Artistic Advisory Board.
Recent performances have taken him to England, Korea, Macedonia, Taiwan, Costa
Rica, Mexico, Spain, and throughout the United States.