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THE AUCKLAND GUITAR SOCIETY
Date: Sunday, 8th October 2017
Venue: All Saints Church Hall, 284 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby
Time: 7.30 pm
Format: 1st Half : Open Floor 2nd Half:Guest Artist
Admission: $8.00 (Financial members – free)
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GUEST Artist
Maria Elena and students – A night of Flamenco Guitar and Dance!!!
Maria Elena, founder of Flamenco NZ, has dedicated her life to the Art of Flamenco from a young age, inspired by her guitar playing cousins Anthony and Charles Mandos, Manitas de Plata, the Gypsy Kings, Paco de Lucia and many more. She took guitar lesson with Humberto El Payo, who was a student of Nino Ricardo. Maria came to New Zealand in the eighties with New Zealand artist Darcy Lange, who studied Flamenco with legendary gypsy guitarist Diego del Gastor. Together they performed in many parts of New Zealand as well as in the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. One of the works, Aire del Mar, will be recreated and performed in Santander, Spain, in 2018, involving Spanish Flamenco artists. Maria was also a special resident at the Pena Flamenca in Jaen, Andalusia, in 1990, a cultural centre for Flamenco, a place where local Andalusian families get together to sing, dance and play Flamenco. Currently Maria teaches Flamenco guitar and dance at The Auckland Performing Arts Centre and she travels regularly to Spain where she spends time with Flamenco artists. Maria Elena is an accomplished Flamenco guitarist and plays traditional Spanish Flamenco guitar. She will be accompanied in a couple of songs by her students, Campbell He, Andries Meintjes, Agnes Sigley, Celine Buxton and Linda Chalmers.
Maria Elena
Performing Artist & Teacher
Ph: (+64) 9 550 2549; Mob: 021 962 742
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Sadder note
A long standing member and past president of the CGSA, Chris Marks. Chris passed away on Friday 22nd September at age 77.
Chris had been involved with the Guitar Society since the 1960’s and was president in the late 80’s and early 90’s. He was responsible in organising many guitar related events through this period. Chris will be missed by many of us.
Here is a posting by Bruce Paine on Face book last week:
It’s with sadness that I find myself now posting about the passing of a good friend (he would never allow me to say ‘old’!) and past president of the Classic Guitar Society of Auckland, Chris Marks. Chris ran the society from the late 1980s and early 1990s (his extraordinary head for details of events would have instantly narrowed that down to the precise dates and possibly even the times of day as well!) and his ability to present meetings efficiently gave the guitar society the impression of being professionally run. Chris was a wonderful, well mannered man who contributed far more for the guitar society than most people ever realised. They were exciting times, in the days when local players felt starved of concerts by international guitarists, few and far between. Chris helped create opportunities for young guitarists, such as myself at the time, to hear the work of visiting professional guitarists from the UK, Europe and South America and to participate in masterclasses. As well as one-off concerts and two-day ‘festival’ events, Chris helped organise a special tribute to guitar maker Louis Panormo, with a performance by UK guitarist John Mills and his duo partner Cobie Smit in rural Awhitu with TV news coverage of the event. There were also Auckland Summer Schools and perhaps the most memorable was held at Howick’s Fowey Lodge with visiting Icelandic guitarist Pétur Jonasson who wowed everyone with his exciting concerts featuring a world of music new and inspirational to all of us. It was through meeting and playing for Pétur that I began considering studying music and guitar at university level. It’s safe to say that without such opportunities brought about by Chris, I would not be doing what I do today.
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CGSA on facebook http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/275416659214874/
Our new website is up and running.
New Auckland Guitar Society website is….
http://cgsa.org.nz