RICHARDSON, Texas (Feb. 24, 2005) —The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) will host the 4th Annual Texas Guitar Competition March 17 to 19 in the Jonsson Performance Hall on campus with awards to the winners dramatically increased for this year’s event. The first-place guitarist is scheduled to receive $3,000, three times as much as last year, and $2,000 and $1,000 will be awarded to those in second place and third place, respectively.The preliminaries will be held Friday, March 18, from 1 to 6 p.m., and the finals will be the following day, starting at 2 p.m. In addition to the actual competition, there will be a master class with Carlos Molina, a free concert featuring last year’s winners and a concert by the San Francisco Guitar Quartet. The public is invited to attend the concerts.The events will kick off with the concert featuring the 2004 competition winners — David Buck, Rade Amanovic and Edward Trybek — on Thursday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Jonsson Performance Hall. Buck, who took second prize in 2003, returned to the competition last year and finished first. Buck also was a semi-finalist at the 2001 Guitar Festival America Competition and was a finalist in the Stevens and Sholin competition at the University of Arizona.
Amanovic, last year’s second-prize winner, has studied guitar from the age of nine and has won prizes at numerous competitions in the United States and other parts of the world. Last year’s third place winner, Trybek, won the first prize in the 2001 ASTA/Aron Gren Guitar competition and the grand prize in the 2002 ASTA California Guitar competition. He was a semifinalist in two competitions in 2003.
On Friday, March 18, beginning at 8 p.m., Cuban guitarist Carlos Molina will perform in the Jonsson Performance Hall. The finalists of this year’s competition will be announced during a break in the concert. Molina has been performing since 1969 and has played on tour in Cuba, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Sweden, France, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, Russia, Mexico, Martinique, the United States, Greece, Switzerland, Santo Domingo, Venezuela, Guatemala, El Salvador and Canada. Tickets for Molina’s performance are $10 for general admission and free to UTD students with valid student IDs.
Saturday, March 19, will feature two events. The finals for the 4 th Annual Texas Guitar Competition will begin at 2 p.m. in the Jonsson Performance Hall. Admission to the finals is free. At 8 p.m., the San Francisco Guitar Quartet, whose latest CD was named among the “Top CDs of 2003” by Acoustic Guitar Magazine, will perform in the same venue, and the Texas competition winners will be announced during that concert. Distinguished soloists Mark Simons, Christopher Hanford, David Dueñas and Patrick Francis combined their talents to form the quartet. Tickets for the San Francisco Guitar Quartet concert are $15 for general admission and free to UTD students with valid student IDs.
UTD ticket office hours are from 2 to 5 p.m. Mondays to Fridays and at the door one hour prior to show time. To purchase tickets using Visa, MasterCard or Discover, please call 972-883-2972.
For information about the many musical, arts, theatre, dance and other performances and exhibitions held throughout the year at UTD, please call 972-UTD-ARTS (972-883-2787), e-mail utdarts@utdallas.edu, or visit the School of Arts and Humanities’ Web site at http://ah.utdallas.edu/. Persons with disabilities needing special accommodations may call 972-883-2982, Texas Relay Operator: 1-800-RELAYVV.
About UTD
The University of Texas at Dallas, located at the convergence of Richardson, Plano and Dallas in the heart of the complex of major multinational technology corporations known as the Telecom Corridor, enrolls more than 14,000 students. The school’s freshman class traditionally stands at the forefront of Texas state universities in terms of average SAT scores. The university offers a broad assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs. For additional information about UTD, please visit the university’s web site at www.utdallas.edu.