Atlantic Guitar Quartet to Perform at CU-Bloomsburg
Bloomsburg, PA (04/15/2025) — The Atlantic Guitar Quartet, a contemporary music ensemble dedicated to promoting the work of living composers, will present a free concert at Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg on Saturday, April 26, at 3 p.m. in Carver Hall, K.S. Gross Auditorium. Admission is free. The concert will include music by guitarist-composers Olga Amelkina-Vera and Ronald Pearl, as well as premiere performances of new music written for the group by Douglas Lora (of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet) and Benjamin Verdery (Professor of Guitar at Yale University).
The quartet will also give a masterclass for CU-Bloomsburg guitar students in Carver Hall immediately following the concert. Both of these events are free and open to the public and are sponsored by the Commonwealth University Department of Music, Theatre and Dance.
Founded in 2010, each of the four members, Mark Edwards, James Keretses, Matthew Slotkin (CU-Bloomsburg faculty member), and Zoe Johnstone Stewart, have enjoyed extensive solo and chamber performing careers before joining the ensemble. AGQ has performed as part of the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society concert series, the Ulster Chamber Series, the Evolution Contemporary Music series, York College of Pennsylvania, Loyola University, Marshall University, and the Peabody Institute. They have been artists-in-residence at the Engineers Club of the Garret-Jacobs Mansion in Baltimore since 2010, and in 2018, AGQ was selected to be part of the Maryland State Arts Council Touring Roster. In addition to their performances, the quartet has also been invited to teach master classes and workshops at the Peabody Summer Guitar Intensive, Salisbury University, and the Mid-Atlantic Guitar Ensemble Festival.
AGQ has been proactive in expanding the repertoire of the classical guitar quartet by commissioning new works. With major institutional support from the Presser Foundation and the Peabody Conservatory, AGQ has premiered pieces by American composers Vid Smooke, Christopher Gainey, and Ronald Pearl. Several of these works, along with music by composer Olivier Bensa and Arvo Part, are featured on the quartet's debut CD (released in November of 2013).
The quartet's other world premieres include performances of works by Joshua Bornfield (written for AGQ and commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society), Judah Adashi, Olga Amelkina-Vera, Lewis Krauthamer (in performance with Gene Young and the Peabody Camerata), Julien Xuereb, Alan Thomas, Aaron Silverstein, and Jerry Tabor (in a premiere recording).
Media Attachments
From left: Matthew Slotkin, Zoë Johnstone Stewart, Mark Edwards, James Keretses.
Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania
Eric Foster, Content and Production Specialist, efoster@commonwealthu.eduShare this Story
Recent News
- CU-Lock Haven hosts 2025 Clinton County Police Camp Cadet
- Commonwealth University-Lock Haven announces Community Service Award winners
- Alumnus lights the way for future science educators at CU-Lock Haven
- Commonwealth University summer study abroad trip to Italy follows footsteps of Galileo
- CU-Lock Haven athletic training student completes full immersion experience at Milton Hershey School
- CU-Lock Haven's Boxing Club to participate in inaugural 'Summer Showdown'
- CU-Lock Haven to host summer preview day August 1
- CU-Bloomsburg holds teacher induction ceremony to celebrate new educators
- Media Advisory: Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg Students Contribute to Food Bank
- CU-Mansfield celebrates new educators during teacher induction ceremony