7:00 pm

Manhattan Theatre Club Creative Center, Studio 2 (on the 8th Floor)
311 West 43rd St. between Eighth and Ninth Avenues (see map)
New York City

Presentation: Sight Reading on the Classical Guitar
Bring your guitar and a music stand - this will be an interactive presentation!

"Reading facility is not simply a useful additional skill for a musician to have. It is, in sense, necessary for full membership to the musical community." - John Sloboda, The Musical Mind

Sight reading has a new found significance for guitarists in the twenty-first century with more guitarists getting involved in a variety of chamber music situations. The behavioral tendency of guitarists to be solitary figures has permitted poor sight reading skills to go largely unnoticed. Memorization of works plays a large role in the life of a guitarist and the use of memorization supplants the need to have adequate reading skills on any level, let alone at sight. The necessity of a well formed sight reading skill becomes more apparent as technique and performance standards rise to comparable levels with other musicians.

Despite the dramatic improvement in most areas of guitar pedagogy there are still several areas that remain undeveloped and desperately in need attention. One of these areas is the skill of sight reading. Currently the level of sight reading among tertiary level guitar students is poor and inadequate for that required by most professional musicians. It is a deficiency that affects a musician's life and the instrument's reputation and there is no reason for the level of sight reading to remain as low as it currently is.

The presentation for the society will look at why sight reading is at its current level and strategies for improving and teaching sight reading to guitarists. Bring your guitar and a music stand - this will be an interactive presentation!

A passionate and expressive style coupled with a formidable technique has garnered attention for Simon Powis as a talented soloist, chamber musician and innovator. Growing up in Sydney, Australia Powis began his studies at the age of five on the cornet. Inspired by his brother's musical pursuits he took up the guitar at age eleven and began an enduring obsession that would result in performances throughout Europe, Australia and the Americas

After completing his studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with Raffaele Agostino in 2004, Powis traveled extensively throughout Europe to study with some of the world's most renowned virtuosos. Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Pavel Steidl and Aniello Desiderio have had a great impact on the musical style and technical foundation that Powis possesses. In 2006 Powis was invited to undertake a Masters of Music at Yale University on a full scholarship and upon completing this degree he was accepted as the first guitarist in over two decades to undertake doctoral studies at Yale. During his time at Yale the professor of guitar, Ben Verdery, offered instruction, support and guidance that readied him for a career as a professional musician.

Powis has toured extensively as a soloist with performances in the Kennedy Center (Washington D.C.), Australia House (London), and the Banff Center for the Arts (Canada). A strong passion for chamber music has resulted in international collaborations ranging from traditional groups such as the Modigliani String Quartet and Ian Swenson (violin) to less common performances with double bass, electronics, and even the tuba. Powis's openness to innovation is exhibited by his devotion to performing new works. In the past years he has collaborated with a variety of composers to premiere over thirty new works on the concert stage.

As a teacher Powis has instructed masterclasses in Lima, Mexico City and New York and at Yale he was employed as both a guitar instructor at the school of music and a teaching fellow in the department of music. With a growing interest in pedagogy he decided to undertake research in sight reading for his doctoral thesis. Insights and encouragement from John Williams, Jerry Willard, David Leisner and Ben Verdery have helped develop sight reading seminars that Powis has given in music schools, guitar societies and guitar festivals around the world.