Štěpán Rak at the BCU

Štěpán Rak - genius of the guitar, will be performing a solo concert at the recital hall of the Birmingham Conservatoire on Saturday 22nd May, 2010. It is one of only two dates he will be playing in this country and this concert is being produced by the WCGS in association with the guitar department of the conservatoire.

"There is no real purpose in the course of this brief review for juxtaposing adjectives acclaiming his brilliance, technical mastery, and what-not. Those who have heard Rak 'live' in concert will know what I mean, while those who have not heard him in such a setting cannot fully appreciate the magic and wizardry involved. Go to his concert, listen with your ears and with your heart, and you'll understand."

David Norton, California 1990

Visit Štěpán Rak page for more details of the concert at BCU http://www.worcesterguitar.co.uk/acts/Rak/Stepan_Rak.php
You can reserve tickets for Štěpán Rak at BCU by calling 01886 832715 or by emailing us at tickets@worcesterguitar.co.uk

Download the poster » http://www.contact.worcesterguitar.co.uk/downloads/Stepan_Rak_poster.pdf

Please note that a limited number of seats are available and you should reserve your tickets early if you wish to avoid disappointment.

Štěpán Rak and Neil Smith at Whalley Abbey

This will be followed on the Sunday 23rd May with a 7.30 concert at Whalley Abbey in Lancashire in which Štěpán will team up with Neil Smith for a concert of two of Europe's most respected elder statesmen of the guitar.

The story goes that Štěpán contacted Neil and suggested they should do something special together to celebrate their 65th birthday's. For those of you who may remember Štěpán from his last visit to the UK at the West Dean festival almost a decade ago, and for those of you who will have heard Neil play in the meantime, you will appreciate the irony of imagining these two magicians of the guitar as anything like "retiring gentlemen".

If you are interested in attending the Whalley Abbey concert (as well, we hope) then please note that tickets will NOT be available on the door at Whalley Abbey and that they can only be purchased beforehand, directly from Neil.

You can find directions to Whalley Abbey here » http://www.whalleyabbey.co.uk/location.asp
Download the poster » http://www.contact.worcesterguitar.co.uk/downloads/Whalley.pdf

In the meantime please visit Štěpán's MySpace page which features several tracks including, 'Irish Tea' (in praise of tea), 'Saltarello' from 6 Early Dances, 'Song for David' and 'Digeridoo'... a small sample of this prodigous and highly imaginative composer's output.

You can buy tickets for Štěpán Rak and Neil Smith at Whalley Abbey by contacting Neil on 07818 431575 or by email at » guitarsmith@sky.com
www.myspace.com/stepanrak
http://www.guitaristuk.com/