The 16th season of the Recital Series will begin on Oct. 6 featuring Nicolò Spera, Italian guitarist. He will perform works on the ten-string guitar from the 17th, 18th and 21st centuries beginning with Passacaglia by Heinrich Biber. The Passacaglia was composed for solo violin around 1676 and is often claimed to be the most impressive unaccompanied work before J.S. Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas. Nicolò has transposed the piece in order to accommodate the tuning and resonances of the guitar. Next on the program will be Suite de la Cappella degli Scrovegni composed by the young Italian composer Giacomo Susani and dedicated to Spera. The suite is based on the iconographic events represented in Giotto’s frescoes for the Scrovegni Chapel of Padua. The work includes eight movements that signify the seven vices and virtues represented below the main frescoes plus the eighth day that completes the journey of human spiritual growth. The recital will conclude with Ciaccona, the most monumental piece for solo violin by J.S. Bach from the Second Partita in D Minor. This work is one of the most often arranged compositions in the history of music. In his transcription for ten-string guitar, Nicolò has changed as little as possible. His goal has been to “preserve the simple beauty, sincerity and immeasurable profundity of Bach’s artistry.”

Nicolò has sustained a performance career in the USA and in Europe. He currently serves as Professor of Classical Guitar at the University of Colorado Boulder where he also received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree. You may purchase admission on our website or at the door by cash or check.