Pierre Herrero with John Couch

On Sunday 9 January, more about Pierre Herrero showcased a dazzling array of wonderful classical guitars for the benefit of members of the Canberra Classical Guitar Society, doctor guitar students and teachers as well as the general public at the Wesley Centre in Canberra. It was a last minute decision by Pierre to stop by on his way to the Sydney Guitar Summer School, emergency so we didn’t get a chance to really promote this event.

But Pierre has promised to come again this year and he says he’ll give more notice so we can get the word out.  I thought I’d write this posting to give those who missed out an idea of what Pierre’s been up to and what sort of instruments he has currently available for sale.

The Guitars:

There’s a lot more choice in the Student/Intermediate Classical Guitars (from $599 to $2,000 -including 1/2 size Requinto & 3/4 Cadet models). After an extensive buying trip to Spain this year, Pierre has broadened this range considerably. The wonderful Alhambra range has now been supplemented by brands such as:

• Azahar
• Camps
• Prudencio Saez

Awesome range of Spanish made guitars

Getting into the professional range:  Pierre has imported many guitars by leading Spanish makers such as:

• Juan Hernadez Professor $2650
• Angel Benito Aguado – Marizapalos $4600
• Juan Hernadez Concierto $4116
• Alhambra Professional $4500
• Angel Benito Aguado – Marieta $4600
• Luthier India $6600
• luthier Rio $7600
• Jose Maria Villaplana – India $8400
• Juan Hernadez Luthier (This a guitar that features the high-tech aerospace material, “Nomex,” originally developed by German classical guitar builders Gernot Wagner and Matthias Dammann. Nomex is a strong but super-lightweight, flexible fiber. David Russell plays a “Nomex” guitar on his latest CD “Sonidos Latinos”) $8800
• Jose Maria Villaplana – Rio $9300
• Angel Benito Aguado – Espanoleta $11750
• Jaime Julia Villaplana – Excellence $11500
• Teodoro Perez Maetro Especial Extra $13500
• Villaplana mod Aniversario Ltd Edition $13500
• Angel Benito Aguado – Gran Concierto $17500

Australian made guitars

Pierre also brought along some Australian made guitars. This was a wonderful opportunity for people to compare the guitars of some of Australia’s emerging luthiers. These Australian guitars included:

• Dan Kellaway 2005 $4900
• Allan Bull $5990
• Kim Lissarague 2010(Cedar) $6900
• Kim Lissarague 2010(Spruce) $6900
• Lance Litchfield
• John Price

Pierre will be in Sydney for the Summer School until 16th January and then he’s going back to Melbourne. He will be coming back through Canberra. So, if you want to see any of these guitars on the way back he’ll be happy to make an appointment.

He can be contacted on: 0410 708 338.

His email is: pierre.herrero@telstra.com.

Website: http://www.guitarsonline.com.au/

I hope we all get to hear and see guitars of this quality again soon. Thank you Pierre.

For our own part at Cooma School of Music, we try to stock on a regular basis the more popular guitars in the Alhambra student range. I feel at these prices, these Alhambra guitars represent outstanding value for their quality of sound, playability and workmanship. The Alhambra guitars in the student range are priced from $600 to about $1800.

So keep a lookout and we’ll try and give people a couple of weeks notice before the next big Classical Guitar Showcase.

Alhambra Crossover Guitar

Relaxing with the guitars

A much enhanced student range

Chamber Philharmonia Cologne will be appearing in Cooma again after last year’s sell-out performance!

Tickets are now available for purchase at Cooma School of Music.

• Adult: $35
• Seniors/Pensioners: $30
• Students/Children: $25

There is only one performance on Wednesday 2nd February at 8 pm at St. Paul’s Anglican Church hall. Numbers at strictly limited – 64 concession tickets for seniors and pensioners, there and 16 tickets for students and children, food so buy your ticket early to avoid disappointment.

AVAILABLE FROM:

Cooma School of Music

Shop 2, what is ed Parkview Arcade, 123 Sharp Street,
Cooma, NSW 2630
Phone: 02 6452 6067
Fax: 02 6452 4938
Email: allan@coomamusic.com.au

Sax Summit is a Sydney band made up of 4 saxes and percussion. The Sax Summit is a side project of some of Sydney’s finest young musicians. Members hold Masters degrees from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and have performed for some of Australia’s best musical organisations including The Sydney Symphony Orchestra, disinfection ABC classics, Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra. The show is fun and interactive, and the program ranges from jazz and big band to funk and latin grooves and pop to rock!

They will be conducting a workshop  in Saxophone and other woodwind instruments during the day, Friday 11 February, from 3.30 to 6.00 pm at St Paul’s Anglican Church hall. The cost of this workshop will be $10 per person.

This workshop will be open to everyone whether you’re a saxophone player, a woodwind player or just interested in learning more about these instruments. The workshop will also be open to all ages and levels of skill. There will be opportunities for participants to play and gets some specific guidance on playing. But if you’re not feeling very brave you can just come and watch and have some fun learning more about music.

The Sax Summit will then perform a Dinner Show starting at 7.00pm at Rose’s Restaurant.

Bookings will be essential.

Click here to go to their website.

Here’s some live performances of The Sax Summit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NurGtYTi1YQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcOEyA7GU68

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuUJbMhQE1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqbD3rZbm6E

Chamber Philharmonia Cologne

DON’T MISS THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE ONE OF GERMANY’S FINEST ENSEMBLES, ophthalmologist
performing a diverse programme ranging from VIVALDI and his tremendously famous “Four Seasons”
to J.S. BACH, MOZART and TCHAIKOVSKY.

Wednesday 2nd February 2011 at 8 pm in St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall in Cooma

Vivaldi – The Four Seasons
J.S. Bach – Concerto in D-Minor for Violin, Oboe, Strings and basso continuo BWV 1060
Mozart – Divertimento D major for String Orchestra “Salzburg Symphony” KV 136
Tchaikovsky – “Elegie” in G major for String Orchestra  in Remembrance of I.W. Samarin (1884)

Tickets are available at: Cooma School of Music, Shop 2, Parkview Arcade, 123 Sharp Street, Cooma, ph: 02 6452 6067

and one hour prior to the concert from 7pm at St. Paul’s Anglican Church Hall in Cooma.

Soloist - Michael Kibardin (Violin)

Soloist - Tome Atanasov (Oboe)

This last week has been an exciting and music-packed one with lots of great events for live music.

• Cooma Carols (In The Park)

Well not exactly “in the park” this year. The cold, discount windy and rainy weather on Saturday meant that a change of venue to the Showground Multifunction Centre was necessary. But it all worked out well in the end with great carol performances by Snowy Mountains Christian School Big Band, viagra Cooma District Band and Cooma Harmony Chorus, more about and of course  very enthusiastic singing by a large audience.

• Cooma Harmony Chorus Carols

Cooma Harmony Chorus has had a very busy week, not only at the Saturday Carols at the Multifunction Centre but also with performances at Yallambee Lodge, the Legacy Luncheon, Sir William Hudson Nursing Home and at the Cooma Prison.  Anyone who was at the Alpine Hotel on Tuesday night would have heard the chorus singing  our hearts out over our end of year dinner,which was also a farewell for our long time member and dear friend, Jan Payne, who is leaving town.

• Cooma District Band & Numeralla Fingerplunkers performed at Sunday’s Country Market in Cooma

Here’s a compilation of photos from these events.

(Please click on thumbnails for larger images)