Michael Chapdelaine at the Mainstay, March 22

Guitar virtuoso Michael Chapdelaine, who is based in New Mexico returns to the Mainstay in Rock Hall, Maryland on Saturday March 22 at 8:00 pm for a rare East Coast appearance. Admission is $15.

Michael Chapdelaine has won top honors in five international guitar competitions and is the only guitarist ever to win First Prize in the world’s top competitions in both the Classical and Fingerstyle genres: the Guitar Foundation of America International Classical Guitar Competition and the National Fingerstyle Championships at the Walnut Valley Bluegrass Festival in Winfield, Kansas. He has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts Solo Recitalist Fellowships and holds a Master of Music degree from Florida State University. He studied classical guitar with Andrés Segovia and has been Professor of Guitar at the University of New Mexico since 1985.

From New York’s Lincoln Center to the Cactus Cafe in Austin, from Milano to Bangkok, Chapdelaine enchants, dazzles and surprises audiences and critics alike as he redefines the modern acoustic guitar with his brilliant technique, “soulful” expressiveness, and versatility as a performer, composer and arranger/producer. His performances, played on both steel string and classical guitars, include musical styles ranging from blues to Bach to country to rhythm n’ blues. He wins his audiences’ hearts with his skill, his passion and the poetic magic of his original musical portraits and landscapes. He will be performing at the Mainstay in Rock Hall as he returns from a European tour.

His program will feature music from his 9 solo CDs of original compositions, popular music arrangements as well as traditional classical and Spanish guitar music, and some new material. He will perform on both classical and steel-string guitars.

Michael Chapdelaine’s teachers have included the great Spanish maestro Andrés Segovia. In 1992 he recorded the Sonata Romantica CD, which many critics and connoisseurs of classical guitar consider to be one of the definitive recordings for the instrument. Acoustic Guitar magazine wrote “… if I were marooned on a desert island with a limited selection of recordings, this one would be among my choices…I have seldom heard a more beautiful album. Other young guitarists have excellent technique, but few have such style and musicality, and Chapdelaine’s beautiful tone is the nearest to Segovia’s that I can recall.”

The release of “Sonata Romantica” brought Chapdelaine’s artistry to the attention of Time-Life Music. Turning his attention to pop music, he signed a contract for three double CDs, arranging, producing and recording a collection of romantic popular favorites. The first releases, called “Guitar by Moonlight” and “Romantic Guitar”, sold several hundred thousand copies in just the first two years of retail sales.

In 1998, he once again expanded his musical range and gained instant notoriety and credibility in the “acoustic music” world as a “fingerstyle” guitarist and composer, by winning the National Fingerpicking Championships at Winfield.

Chapdelaine is Professor of Music and head of guitar studies at the University of New Mexico, and has previously been on the faculties of the University of Colorado at Denver and Metropolitan State University. He has given master classes throughout the world including, China, Thailand, Malaysia, Peru, Venezuela, Taiwan, Indonesia and at institutions such as, University of Miami, Mannes School of Music, University of Texas, and California State University.

This concert is part of the Mainstay’s David Pike memorial guitar concert series.
David Pike caught the jazz guitar bug early. By high school he had 40 guitar students and was working at after-hours clubs in his home town of Cleveland as well as working at the Cleveland Press.

He paid his way through college with journalism and jazz, but ultimately chose journalism as a career becoming a highly respected legal journalist covering the Supreme Court. He became a very knowledgeable jazz fan with an impressive collection of recordings.

In retirement, he again took up the guitar, playing for himself, improvising on the guitar while listening to radio or CD. He also had an amazing ability to play and whistle improvisations at the same time and could name every musician heard on a recording after a few opening bars. He also played at the Open Mike Night at Andy’s in Chestertown, Maryland.

The Mainstay (Home of Musical Magic) is the friendly informal storefront performing arts center on Rock Hall’s old time Main Street. For information and reservations call 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.