Van Cliburn competition inspires guitar festival this week in Buffalo
Originally published in Current, June 11, 2001
By Steve BehrensThis weekend, public TV station WNED will launch what it hopes will be an annual summer treat for its region of upstate New York and lower Ontario: the Buffalo Niagara Guitar Festival.
With George Benson, Coco Montoya, a rock guitar competition, a classical guitar master class, other paid and free concerts and a guitar film series, the ambitious festival takes off from Ft. Worth's Van Cliburn International Piano Competition that's covered every four years by KERA, where WNED President Don Boswell worked for years.
If all goes well, says Boswell, the rock/jazz/classical guitar festival two years from now will feature what he wanted this year--a highly promotable concert by "The Three Guitars"--Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana and Jeff Beck. The rock stars couldn't all make the date this month but have signed letters of intent for 2003, he says. Clapton arranged to swing through Buffalo during the festival this year as part of his ongoing tour, according to Boswell, but the guitarist's June 15 concert isn't officially part of the festival.
Boswell expects the festival will yield TV programming and streaming audio on the Web and perhaps someday a guitar hall of fame in Buffalo.
WNED calls its event "four days of music bound together by a few thousand strands of tightly wound steel." The schedule this year:
June 8-17: A Buffalo multiplex has scheduled a series of guitar-related movies, including docs on Chuck Berry and Leadbelly and major superconcert films.
June 14: Concerts by the Jeff Healey Band, George Benson and Rik Emmett Band and club dates around the region.
June 15: Performances by Pat Travers, Natural Elements and the Charlie Hunter Trio, with more local club dates.
June 16: Master class by Grammy-winning classical guitarist Sharon Isbin, in WNED's studios.
June 16: Five expert amateur finalists--all from New York state this year--will play in WNED's first annual North American Rock Guitar Competition, co-presented by the SUNY Buffalo Center for the Arts. The winner will open the Great Guitar Gig the next afternoon.
June 16: Concert by Coco Montoya and his band.
June 17: Brunch recital by Sharon Isbin.
June 17: Great Guitar Gig and fireworks display along Buffalo's lakefront, with free admission.
June 17: Free park concert by Jimmy Ponder, co-sponsored with the local Juneteenth Festival.
Boswell's experience with the Van Cliburn competition in Texas was "instrumental" in his planning for the guitar event, he says. KERA takes a smaller role in them than WNED has in the guitar festival, however. The Van Cliburn Foundation runs the two-week event in Ft. Worth and hires the filmmaker (Peter Rosen this year) for the documentary that KERA presents nationally. This year's competition, the 11th since 1962, just ended June 10. Competitors are screened at recitals in seven U.S. and European cities, and about 30 compete in Ft. Worth. All three top medalists receive $20,000 prizes and concert engagements and management services. Performances appear live on Ft. Worth cable TV. The documentary will be distributed nationally in the fall.
Van Cliburn is a Texan but had no close connection to Ft. Worth before the competition began, according to foundation spokeswoman Suzanne Calvin. The competition named in the pianist's honor took root in Ft. Worth because local cultural activists made it happen there, and some 700 volunteers keep it going.
"What it does for that city is phenomenal," says Boswell. "I'm hoping for the same sort of synergy for Buffalo."
Next year, WNED's festival travels to the Canadian side of the border, to the nearby Niagara on the Lake.
Local and regional firms, including HSBC Bank, Verizon, Rite Aid, Blue Cross, the Labatt brewery and the state tourism agency signed as underwriters this year and Frito-Lay for the 2003 event.
Web page posted June 19, 2001
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