Athens Banner Herald: Georgia Guitar Quartet turns 10

by Chris J. Starrs

The Georgia Guitar Quartet points to Athens as its birthplace, and two members of the acclaimed classical ensemble still live in town, but the group has made fewer and fewer local appearances in the last several years.

"We haven't played here in a while," says Kyle Dawkins, who along with Brian Smith, Phil Snyder and Jason Solomon is part of the quartet, which came together under the eye and influence of John Sutherland, a music instructor at the University of Georgia's School of Music.

"We'd like to play here more, but it's hard right now because only two of us live here. We're getting kind of scattered around the state. We've been performing mostly out of state, but we like to check in now and then. You don't ever want to forget where you came from; we always want to play whenever we can around Athens."

The quartet, which formed in 1996 and still features the four founding members, will make its first appearance in the area in more than a year when it performs at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation in Watkinsville on Sunday.

"OCAF has a nice, friendly room," says Dawkins, a native of Clarksville. "It's nice to be able to play in a room where an acoustic guitar sounds so good. We've probably done this (show) for the last seven years in a row. It's a place we like to play."

The group's members have day jobs as guitar teachers at such locales at Gainesville College, Emmanuel College, the Mountain Park School of Music and LaGrange College. They'll play a number of concerts over the next several months in New York, Virginia, Wisconsin and California, leading up to a summer performance with the Utah Symphony at August's Deer Valley Music Festival in Park City.

"The piece we're playing is (Joaquin) Rodrigo's 'Concierto Andaluz,' which was written for orchestra and four guitars," says Dawkins, who with his colleagues has been honored five times by Flagpole Magazine as best classical artist in Athens. "We get one rehearsal, which will be the night before the concert. You really have to rely on the conductor for something like this."

Rodrigo is just one of the celebrated composers honored by the quartet's repertoire, which also includes pieces by Dvorak, Ravel, Vivaldi and Chopin, as well as Duke Ellington, Thelonius Monk and Sonny Rollins.

"There are a few pieces written for quartet," says Dawkins, whose own compositions include "Two Repaired Movements." "It's rare, so we find ourselves transcribing music written for other instruments. You've got to find something that works for guitar, and a lot of the selection process is trial and error. Part of the reason why we're writing our own stuff is that we know each other's strengths, so we take it upon ourselves to write."

During its 10 years together, the quartet has released three albums: "The Georgia Guitar Quartet" (1998), "A Live Portrait" (1999) and "Mosaic" (2004). The group is in the production stages of a new album - containing all original compositions - which should be released sometime in the next 18 months. The next projected release, "Puzzle," contains a title song written by Solomon that makes several appearances over the course of the album.

"We've really been too busy playing to record," says Dawkins. "We've got another album done, but we've been sitting on it. We just haven't had the time to edit and master the songs, but I'd like to get it out. We just need to find time to get back in the studio and wrap it up."

At its OCAF concert, Dawkins says the quartet will play a piece written by Smith and a composition by Alberto Ginastera called "Danzas Argentinas," which is the subject of Snyder's doctoral thesis.

While most of the group's repertoire focuses on classical and chamber performances, its members also experiment with more modern sounds, honoring the giants of jazz and songs by Sigur Ros, John Cage and Paul Simon. Additional material familiar to many in the area may soon make the quartet's set list.

"I've been working on arrangements of a couple of R.E.M. tunes, but they're not finished yet," says Dawkins. "We're trying to figure out ways to introduce more pop music, but we want to make sure it will work before we commit to it. It's something we're still thinking about."

March 16, 2006