MEDIA CONTACT: Polly Burks
561-297-2595, pburks@fau.edu

FAU Presents Latin American Guitar Festival

BOCA RATON, FL (November 28, 2005) - The Caribbean and Latin American Studies (CLAS) program in Florida Atlantic University's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters presents three of today's finest Latin American guitar players in a guitar festival, "The Latin American Guitar: Master Performers from Venezuela and Cuba," Friday, December 2 through Sunday, December 4. The festival will be held at the Broward County Main Library at 100 S. Andrews Road in Fort Lauderdale and is free and open to the public.

"It is a great honor to be able to bring some of the most fascinating sounds and ideas of the Latin American guitar to the South Florida community," said Luis Duno Gottberg, director of the Caribbean and Latin American Studies Program at FAU. "These world renowned performers and academics bring the vibrant culture of the Caribbean and Latin America to life."

The festival will begin at 6 p.m. on Friday, December 2 with a lecture by Alejandro Bruzual of the University of Pittsburgh on the history of the Venezuelan guitar. Bruzual has published numerous articles about music in newspapers, magazines and international dictionaries and has given more than 50 lectures in Venezuela, Cuba, Italy and the United States. Following the lecture, Leonardo Lozano will present "Venezuelan Cuatro: A Live Four-Courses Guitar." The Venezuelan cuatro is a small, four-stringed guitar. Lozano studied on the cuatro in Venezuela and has released several CDs of cuatro and guitar music. He has also performed all over South America, the United States and Europe. Lozano is currently a professor of classical guitar at the Escuela de Música "Sebastián Echevierría."

"The Cuban Guitar" will be the subject of the festival on Saturday, December 3 with a performance by Carlos Molina at 7 p.m. Molina is hailed as the founder of the Cuban School of Guitar. After graduating from the National Conservatory at the University of Havana, he won first prize at the National Guitar Competition in Cuba.

Since then, he has been performing worldwide with concerts in the most prestigious halls in more than 20 countries. On two occasions, Molina has been on the faculty of the National Guitar Summer Workshop in Connecticut, the most important summer guitar gathering in the United States. He also organized and directed the Guitar Foundation of America International Convention in Miami in 1991 and 2002.

Ricardo Iznaola will present "The Venezuelan Guitar" on Sunday, December 4 at 4 p.m. He will be accompanied by Sergiu Schwartz on violin. "Soundboard" magazine called Iznaola "one of the most seminal players, teachers and thinkers of the guitar scene today." He is currently chair of the guitar department at the University of Denver's Lamont School of Music where he is also the founder and director of the annual International Guitar Week Festival. Iznaola has been awarded top prizes in eight international competitions and his numerous recordings include the world premiers of several major works.

The Latin American Guitar Festival is presented by FAU's Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters' Caribbean and Latin American Studies Program, Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and the departments of music, and languages and linguistics. Festival sponsors include Broward County, Sun-Sentinel/el Sentinel and the law firm of Finizio and Finizio, P.A., Fort Lauderdale.

"The Law Offices of Finizio and Finizio are committed to representing the rights and interests of the Caribbean and Latin American populations in South Florida and to making contributions to help make their community a better place," said Paul Finizio. "We welcome the opportunity to be a sponsor for this event that showcases the talent and celebrates the culture of Latin America."

For further information about the festival, call 561-297-0612 or email lduno@fau.edu.

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