2023 Festival Artists
Bokyung Byun
Bokyung Byun
In concert Saturday, June 17, 2023 7:00pm
Masterclass will be held: Friday, June 16
Korean guitarist Bokyung Byun enjoys a reputation as one of the most sought-after guitarists of her generation. Bokyung holds the distinction of being the first female winner of the prestigious JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition, where Falletta herself described Bokyung’s performance as "stunning, showcasing her gorgeous tone, immaculate technique, and sophisticated musicianship.” Other recent honors include the grand prize at the 2021 Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition and a 2023 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Born in Seoul, Korea, Byun began playing guitar at the age of six. At eleven, she took the stage for her first solo recital, leading to an early start in her teen years performing numerous concert tours around Korea, to enthusiastic response, including millions of views on YouTube. By her teen years, she had gained national attention for first-prize finishes in three renowned competitions: the Korea Guitar Association, the Music Association of Korea, and the Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition.
Bokyung soon moved to the United States, where she briefly studied in Los Angeles before moving to New York City, where she entered The Juilliard School at the age of sixteen. She holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from The Juilliard School and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California. Teachers and mentors include Scott Tennant, William Kanengiser, Chen Zhi, Tae-Soo Kim, and Sharon Isbin.
Bokyung is currently on the guitar faculty of California State University Fullerton. She is an Augustine Strings artist and plays a guitar by Dieter Mueller (2019)
Patterson/Sutton
Patterson/Sutton Duo
In concert: Friday, June 16, 2023 7:00pm
Masterclass will be held: Saturday, June 17
Praised by BBC Music Magazine for their “beguiling” sound and by The Strad for their "wit and imagination", the Patterson/Sutton Duo bring the rich cello and guitar repertoire to audiences around the world. The Patterson/Sutton Duo have been featured artists at the Guitar Foundation of America Convention and have an ongoing relationship with The Juilliard School as Juilliard Global Visiting Artists.
The Patterson/Sutton Duo are strong believers in the transformative power of educational outreach. Funded by the US State Department, the duo held a guest-artist residency at the Afghanistan National Institute of Music in Kabul in 2014, where they worked with the budding generation of Afghan musicians and gave a performance at the Canadian Embassy of Afghanistan. More recently, The Juilliard School has sent the duo to Bratislava, Budapest, Dublin, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and New York City as guest-artists to perform and teach at international schools as part of the Juilliard/Nord Anglia global intuitive.
Dr. Kimberly Patterson holds degrees from the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is currently Associate Professor of Cello at the University of Memphis. Dr. Patrick Sutton holds degrees from the University of Denver and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is on the guitar faculty at the University of Memphis and Arkansas State University.
nacha mendez
Nacha Mendez
In concert: Thursday, June 15, 2023 7:00pm
Opening acts: Ashley Melendres; Rio Manzaneres
Nacha Mendez grew up in the tiny border town of La Union, in southern New Mexico, where she began singing and playing the guitar at an early age. She learned traditional Ranchera canción from her grandmother and performed in border towns near El Paso with her cousins, the Black Brothers, sons of ex-Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black.
She went on to study classical voice and electronic music at New Mexico State University before moving to New York City, where she studied flamenco guitar with Manuel Granados of the Music Conservatory of Barcelona, Spain. In the early ’90s, she was a principal singer in Robert Ashley’s opera company, touring Europe and Japan and translated the libretto for Ashley's opera Now Eleanor’s Idea. She performed trouser roles in three of his operas throughout Japan, at the Avignon Music Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Strasbourg, France, Graz, Austria, and Berlin.
Nacha has also collaborated with celebrated composer Steve Peters who produced “Bodega de Amor” and “Volando.” “My Burning Skin to Sleep,” a song on the 2004 CD release Shelter by Steve Peters and distributed by the Cold Blue Label features the voice of Nacha Mendez. Her recordings include “Slowly Rising” (as Dueto Le Momo), and “Blue Silence,” “Bodega de Amor,” and “Volando” (as Nacha Mendez). Since 1990, she has worked on several projects with Steve Peters and has collaborated with composer Raven Chacon, writer Melody Sumner Carnahan, visual artist Harmony Hammond, filmmaker Catherine Gund, and Producer/Director Daresha Kyi.
Mendez/Cordero received a National Endowment for the Arts Award and a fellowship from Mutable Music in New York. In February 2011, she was honored by the New Mexico Committee of the National Museum of Women Artists. She was voted Best Female vocalist in Santa Fe, New Mexico in both 2009 and 2010. Voted Best Family Friendly Entertainer Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance 2012 Pride Alliance Awards and in 2013 she was awarded the Best Latin Production at the New Mexico Music Awards. She received a New Mexico Platinum Music Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018. She performs under her grandmother’s name, Nacha Mendez, touring regionally with her band, playing her original, eclectic pan-Latin-style songs. She also paints and sculpts and exhibits her work in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
chuck hulihan
Ensemble Conductor
Dr. Chuck Hulihan
2023 Guitar Orchestra Conductor
Join us on Sunday, June 18 at 2pm for a fantastic concert put on by our 2023 Festival Guitar Orchestra, led by the energetic and gregarious Dr. Chuck Hulihan! Concert repertoire includes the New Mexico premiere of Darin Au’s “Gavelbocken,” and works by Annette Kruisbrink, Francisco J. Munoz, and Takashi Ozawa.
Chuck Hulihan has enjoyed a career over the past three decades as a guitarist, educator, conductor, narrator, arts administrator, and as a classical music radio host. Chuck has directed the guitar program at Glendale Community College since 1999, where he is the Assistant Department Chair for Performing Arts, and in 2015 he was chosen by his peers to receive the GCC Gaucho Globe Award for Supporting Student Success. His work at GCC is highlighted by collaborations with composers whom have written new works for the GCC Guitar Ensembles, including Mark Houghton, Rex Willis, Jan Bartlema, Adrian Andrei, Frank Wallace, Andrew York, Vito Nicola Paradiso, Francisco Munoz, Aramis Silvereke, and Phil Moloso. Since 2000, his students have consistently won the Artists of Promise competition in both solo guitar and instrumental ensemble categories, and in 2014 the GCC Guitar Octet won the Guitar Foundation of America’s Ensemble Showcase Competition and went on to perform two world premieres at the 2014 convention.
Chuck’s work as a conductor has included over 120 concerts directing the GCC Guitar Ensembles and includes leading large orchestras comprising students from high school, college, and guitar society ensembles. He has he led the Arizona Guitar Orchestra (AZGO), a collaboration of musicians from across Arizona, in three statewide tours that featured Shingo Fujii’s Concierto de Los Angeles with soloist William Kanengiser, Brad Richter’s Once We Moved Like the Wind, and Andrew York’s By Chants with the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. He has been a featured guest conductor with the Clark County School District Honor Ensemble, the Vanguard University Guitar Festival Orchestra, the State College of Florida Guitar Ensemble, The Sonoran Desert Guitars Festival Ensemble, Austin Classical Guitar’s Guitar Curriculum National Teacher Training Summit and Guitar Ensembles Festival, as well as Florida, Virginia, and New Mexico All-State Guitar Ensembles. In 2019 Chuck conducted the world premiere of David Leisner’s Medanales Morning in Virginia with the All- Virginia Guitar Ensemble, Mark Houghton’s Guitarchestra no. 10 with the GFA Youth Guitar Orchestra in Florida, and Michael Keplinger’s Gale in Texas with the Austin Classical Guitar Ensemble Festival Orchestra. During the 2019 GFA Convention in Miami Florida, Chuck led an exclusive performance of music from the Netflix mini-series Godless, by Emmy-award winning composer Carlos Rafael Rivera, and collaborated with the composer on the arrangement for cello, guitar and guitar orchestra for this special performance.
He is the Director of the Guitar Foundation of America’s Youth Guitar Orchestra, Community Guitar Orchestra, and Guitar Summit. Chuck contributes to the field of music education as a conference clinician and presenter and serves as Western Division Representative for the National Association for Music Education’s Innovations Council, as ex-officio Guitar Chair for the Arizona Music Educators Association, and as an active board member of the Grand Canyon and Phoenix Guitar Societies.
Concert Schedule:
Wednesday, June 14, 7pm: GNM Youth Orchestra Solo Showcase
Thursday, June 15, 7pm: MAINSTAGE: Nacha Mendez with special guest Dani Garcia
Friday, June 16, 7pm: MAINSTAGE: Patterson/Sutton Duo
Saturday, June 17, 7pm: MAINSTAGE: Bokyung Byun
Sunday, June 18, 2pm: Festival Guitar Orchestra, conducted by Dr. Chuck Hulihan
REGISTER HERE
All events & concerts held at:
First Unitarian Church
3701 Carlisle Blvd, Albuquerque NM 87110
Workshops and masterclasses will be held June 14-18; see SCHEDULE for complete listing
Featured artists from previous festivals: Martha Masters, Johan Smith, Lynn McGrath, Paul Galbraith, Iliana Matos, Zoran Dukic, Evan Herschelman, Helen Sanderson, Michael Anthony Nigro, Bandini Chiacchiaretta Duo, Matt Palmer, SoloDuo, Michael Partington, Jeremy Mayne, Stephen Goss, Jorge Caballero, Tantalus Quartet, Andrew York, Rene Izquierdo, Roland Dyens, Scott Tennant, Benjamin Verdery, Marcin Dylla, Eden Stell Duo, Carlos Rafael Rivera, Michael Chapdelaine, Marc Teicholz, Carlos Perez, Thomas Viloteau, Genevieve Leitner, Lynn McGrath, Roberto Capocchi, Randall Kohl, New Mexico Guitar Duo, Benjamin Silva, Mickey Jones, John Truitt, Rio Grande Guitar Quartet, Anthony Mariano, Elliot Simpson, Adam Larison, Calvin Hazen, Craig Russell, Gwen-Marie Lerch, Patrick Cox, Petra Babankova, Brian Moore, and Cyro Delvizio