Royal Academy of Music hosts world premiere of electronically-enriched

classical chamber work within orchestra concert

On the 14th October in the Duke’s Hall of the Royal Academy of Music, a double concert for
guitar, violin, and orchestra dedicated to the music of Paganini and Brouwer will take place.

The Royal Academy of Music sent guitar student Mircea Gogoncea to Cuba in preparation
for his large-scale final event, in order to better understand the music of living Cuban
composer Leo Brouwer, author of a majority of the works featured in the programme.

The highlight of the programme will be the world premiere of a chamber work for guitar and
violin by PhD student Rubens Askenar, which uses electronics in order to enrich the
possibilities of traditional classical instruments. The work is called “Arietta y Fandanguillo
after N. Paganini” and it explores the topic of virtuosity on the guitar and violin.

Soloist Mircea Gogoncea is a 24-year old Romanian guitarist based in Germany and currently
finishing his postgraduate Advanced Diploma degree at the Royal Academy of Music in
London. This event will constitute his final exam. Having performed on 5 continents in recent
years, he is considered the classical guitarist with the highest number of awards in the world.

Recent Academy alumnus Victor Jacob will be returning from France in order to conduct the
orchestra consisting of current Academy students. Spanish violinist Laura Custodio will
perform both as Gogoncea’s duo partner in chamber and orchestra works, and as part of the
award-winning Fitzroy Quartet during the second half of the programme.

The first half of the programme consists entirely of homages to the music of Paganini,
beginning with “Capriccio Diabolico: Omaggio a Paganini” (a solo guitar work by M.
Castelnuovo-Tedesco), followed by the premiere of Askenar’s work and the rarely-performed
Double Concerto for Guitar, Violin and Strings “Homenaje a Paganini” by Leo Brouwer.

The second half of the programme consists entirely of works by Leo Brouwer, including the
“Quintet” for guitar and string quartet he wrote at the age of 18, as well as his Concerto No. 3
“Concierto Elegiaco” for guitar and orchestra, premiered in London in 1974.

The concert begins at 19:30 and is expected to last for about 1 hour and 40 minutes, including
an intermission and applause. Tickets are £7.50 (concessions £5.50) from the Academy’s box
office, online or on 020 7873 7300.