In April of 2024, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Sarah Clarke at the biennial symposium held by the Cambridge Consortium for Guitar Research. The three-day event was convened at Magdalene College in the University of Cambridge. The topic of our discussion was women and the guitar in nineteenth-century England.
In early October of 2024, the Austin-Marie Collection of historical guitars hosted an event at the Belvedere Tiburon Library in Marin County, California. Collection curator Jeff Wells was joined by photographer David Bishop and guitarists Jon Mendle and Emilia Diaz Delgado who performed period music on selected instruments from the collection.
In July of 2024, I was joined by guitarist, author, historian, and collector, Randy Osborne, at the back of the San Anselmo Inn in Marin County, California. Randy is a recognized authority on the history of the guitar in Argentina and a well known figure in the San Francisco Bay Area guitar scene. Over the next hour, he shared his story as a rock guitarist in the turbulent 1960s, his passion for the blues and jazz and how he came to teach both, his transition to classical guitar, and his eventual turn to collecting and scholarship. In 2020, Randy co-authored, Annotations for the History of the Classical Guitar in Argentina 1822-2000, a comprehensive four volume work featuring biographies, media excerpts, concert programs, and pictorials. Randy is the proprietor of Fine Fretted String Instruments in the South Bay. Established in 1987, FFSI offers a wide selection of guitars as well as bowed stringed instruments: https://finefretted.com/
In the fall of 2023, an event showcasing the Austin-Marie Collection of historical guitars was held at the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, California. Guitar curator Jeff Wells spoke about the collection and was joined by guitarists Jon Mendle, Christopher Mallett, Carolyn Smith, and Richard Savino. The artists performed period music on selected instruments from the collection including seventeenth century guitars by Sellas and Voboam, the earliest extant guitar with six individual strings by Fabricatore, nineteenth century instruments by Lacote, Laprevotte, and Josset, and an 1834 C.F. Martin from Martin’s first year of guitar making in America.
In December 2021, I met with Dr. James Westbrook to discuss his newest book, “Guitar Making in Nineteenth Century London,” scheduled for publication in early 2023. We met at the back of the San Anselmo Inn in San Anselmo. California and were joined by Richard Savino, John Mello, Randy Osborne, Steve Stein, and others for an hour-long discussion on London guitar makers in the early nineteenth century.
The history of the guitar in the Americas is arguably a story still to be told. Europe is the birthplace of the guitar and where much of the classical guitar’s repertoire is drawn.
In 2019, I traveled to Churchill College in the University of Cambridge to interview three of the world’s leading guitar scholars, Christopher Page, James Westbrook, and Erik Stenstadvold in a three-hour-long symposium covering a wide variety of topics ranging from Francisco Corbetta at the Restoration Court, the ebb and flow of the guitar’s popularity over the last four centuries, and the nineteenth century’s fascinating guitar impresario and diarist, Nicolai Petrovich Makarov. The symposium proved that studying the history of the guitar can be interesting, educational, and all the while entertaining.
In April of 2024, I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Sarah Clarke at the biennial symposium held by the Cambridge Consortium for Guitar Research. The three-day event was convened at Magdalene College in the University of Cambridge. The topic of our discussion was women and the guitar in nineteenth-century England.
In early October of 2024, the Austin-Marie Collection of historical guitars hosted an event at the Belvedere Tiburon Library in Marin County, California. Collection curator Jeff Wells was joined by photographer David Bishop and guitarists Jon Mendle and Emilia Diaz Delgado who performed period music on selected instruments from the collection.
In July of 2024, I was joined by guitarist, author, historian, and collector, Randy Osborne, at the back of the San Anselmo Inn in Marin County, California. Randy is a recognized authority on the history of the guitar in Argentina and a well known figure in the San Francisco Bay Area guitar scene. Over the next hour, he shared his story as a rock guitarist in the turbulent 1960s, his passion for the blues and jazz and how he came to teach both, his transition to classical guitar, and his eventual turn to collecting and scholarship. In 2020, Randy co-authored, Annotations for the History of the Classical Guitar in Argentina 1822-2000, a comprehensive four volume work featuring biographies, media excerpts, concert programs, and pictorials. Randy is the proprietor of Fine Fretted String Instruments in the South Bay. Established in 1987, FFSI offers a wide selection of guitars as well as bowed stringed instruments: https://finefretted.com/
In the fall of 2023, an event showcasing the Austin-Marie Collection of historical guitars was held at the Marin Art & Garden Center in Ross, California. Guitar curator Jeff Wells spoke about the collection and was joined by guitarists Jon Mendle, Christopher Mallett, Carolyn Smith, and Richard Savino. The artists performed period music on selected instruments from the collection including seventeenth century guitars by Sellas and Voboam, the earliest extant guitar with six individual strings by Fabricatore, nineteenth century instruments by Lacote, Laprevotte, and Josset, and an 1834 C.F. Martin from Martin’s first year of guitar making in America.
In December 2021, I met with Dr. James Westbrook to discuss his newest book, “Guitar Making in Nineteenth Century London,” scheduled for publication in early 2023. We met at the back of the San Anselmo Inn in San Anselmo. California and were joined by Richard Savino, John Mello, Randy Osborne, Steve Stein, and others for an hour-long discussion on London guitar makers in the early nineteenth century.
The history of the guitar in the Americas is arguably a story still to be told. Europe is the birthplace of the guitar and where much of the classical guitar’s repertoire is drawn.
In 2019, I traveled to Churchill College in the University of Cambridge to interview three of the world’s leading guitar scholars, Christopher Page, James Westbrook, and Erik Stenstadvold in a three-hour-long symposium covering a wide variety of topics ranging from Francisco Corbetta at the Restoration Court, the ebb and flow of the guitar’s popularity over the last four centuries, and the nineteenth century’s fascinating guitar impresario and diarist, Nicolai Petrovich Makarov. The symposium proved that studying the history of the guitar can be interesting, educational, and all the while entertaining.
