WHY JOIN CGSUNY?

We just completed our 21st annual Classical Guitar Fall Festival at SUNY Oneonta, an annual event that has grown to what is, in large part, due to the efforts of our Board of Directors and Membership.

During our two-day festival we feature an internationally-recognized musician. Recent headliners have included Nicholas Goluses, Laura Snowden, Dale Kavanaugh, Celil Rafik-Kaya, Gohar Vardanya, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, David Starobin, Jason Vieaux, and Benjamin Verdery. Events include member's performances, a Sunday afternoon recital featuring a professional regional performer (including Ken Meyer of Syracuse, James Piorkowski of Buffalo, The Rubio Duo of Potsdam, Paul Quigley of Albany, Maria Zemantauski of Troy, Mir Ali of Buffalo) a collegiate recital made up of college students from various guitar programs around the state, and a masterclass with the headline performer.

In addition to our regular Board meetings and Fall Festival, we are adding more events and features to our Guitar Society. We plan to start an Annual Spring Festival which will focus on Guitar in Ensemble throughout the state of New York. The goal is to create an event that features lectures, workshops, masterclasses, and recitals which centers around Guitar as an ensemble medium. We have also had a huge movement with Zoom Guitar Soirees online - which features members and non-members of varying abilities performing music for each other.

Our members regularly perform throughout the area and, under the guise of the Society, have recently participated in supporting regional charities and arts organizations by donating their time and talents to raise money for such organizations as the Unadilla Food Pantry, Upstate Artists Guild, Jericho Arts Council, Koinonia Clinic, and others.

I encourage you to support our society by becoming a member and taking part in what we have to offer in the realm of promoting classical guitar music in the upstate area. Please visit our website where much of this info can be found, including online membership form. The price of membership is 30 dollars and only 15 dollars for students. www.cgsuny.org 

PayPal is available - you don't need a PayPal account to use this feature. Or, if you prefer, you can print out the membership form and mail it with your check to myself- Matthew Downey.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime.

Sincerely,
Matthew Downey
mdowney@cgsuny.org