Concert Review: Guitars & Poems @ The SkyVault

 Concert Review:
“Guitars & Poems”
Livestream from the The SkyVault

Saturday, October 9th, 2021

Held on October 9th at one of the best boutique venues in NYC, Gene Pritsker and Robert C. Ford kicked off the event by highlighting the street art of “Wall Street”, part of Robert’s art collection, which helped set the tone for the 1 hour program of performances, Co-presented by Composers Concordance.
     To start, Erik T. Johnson and Robert collaborated on a mixed prose/lyrical poem contemplating space/extraterrestrial issues, a most timely topic.
     Classical guitarist Sean Satin started the guitar portion of the program with a Kiss inspired New Music piece written by Gene that was energetic but at the same time delicate. Juxtaposing the New Music with a classical composition by Mauro Giuliani, no relation to you know who, Sean beautifully demonstrated the differences in chord and technical structure, hence variations.
     Greg Baker and Gene performed as a guitar duo, using an Austrian folk song as inspiration to great effect, turning between contemplative and whimsical.
     Birthday honoree Warren Nicholson, chiming in via zoom from Canada, performed 2 classical guitar pieces exquisitely. Charles Coleman, baritone, lead the audience in singing happy birthday. Very sweet.
     Robert and Erik contributed more observational poetry looking at gender roles and relationships, hard truths and all.
     The collaborations between the poets Erik & Robert with Gene continue to grow and are well worth keeping an ear out for.
     Special shoutouts were made to Milica Paranosic and Franz Hackl for their influences.
     Later this year SkyVault will host another in a series of low key chamber music events, similar to this past winter’s.
    - Thomas



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