Hear Brandon Jack Acker and Christopher Wilke perform rare duos on historical instruments, including theorbo and baroque guitar!
Brandon Acker is a classical guitarist and specialist on early plucked instruments such as the baroque guitar, theorbo, lute, and archlute. His latest passion has been to run his successful Youtube channel which now has over 481,000 subscribers and 40 million views. His channel provides educational content about historical lutes and guitars, guitar tutorials, and performance videos. His interest in education has led him and his wife to found a new online music school for “All things that go pluck,” Arpeggiato.com. Since opening it 2020, in reaction to the Covid pandemic, the online school has taught thousands of lessons on Zoom to students in over a dozen countries. The school has also hosted two online student recitals and raised over $2,000 for music charities. Brandon’s performance career has varied from starting out playing electric guitar in metal bands to his current main focus researching and performing on early plucked instruments from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. He has toured extensively through England, Canada, Scotland and Wales, and performed with notable groups such as Apollo’s Fire, the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Piffaro, Joffrey Ballet, the Chicago Philharmonic, the Newberry Consort, Haymarket Opera Company, Music of the Baroque, Third Coast Baroque, Opera Lafayette and Bella Voce.
Dr. Christopher Wilke integrates modern and historical performance on guitar and lute with his interests in composition and research. He is director of guitar studies at the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music (CCM). In September 2022, the CCM guitar program celebrated its 50th anniversary with a Gala Concert featuring an alumni guitar orchestra under Wilke’s direction which gave the premiere of his composition, Double Shot.
Wilke holds degrees from the Eastman School of Music (historical plucked instruments under Paul O’Dette), Mt. St. Joseph University (guitar and composition), and the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (classical guitar). He has had recordings released on Centaur Records (USA), original compositions published by Les Productions d’Oz (Montreal, Canada) and editorial work printed by Le Luth Doré (Paris, France). He’s lectured or published articles for the American Musicological Society, The Lute Society of America and the Guitar Foundation of America.
Recent performances include a special solo concert for members of the Congressional Caucus on the Arts in the US Capitol Building (Washington DC), the European Lute Festival in Füssen (Germany), the Central Coast Guitar Society (CA), the Boston Early Music Festival (MA), the Austin Peay State University Guitar Festival (TN), the Indianapolis Guitar Society (IN), the Xavier University (OH) International Concert Series and with Opera Notre Dame at the University of Notre Dame (IN). He’s also performed with Flying Forms Baroque Ensemble in St. Paul (MN) and made appearances with the Columbus (OH) and Sarasota (FL) and as soloist with the New Horizons Symphony (NM) in May 2023. He recently composed a piece entitled, “Strange Myth,” the first-ever duo for baroque guitars written in modern times, written for and premiered with Xavier Jara. As a scholar, he has presented lectures for the American Musicological Society, the Guitar Foundation of America, the University of Notre Dame, Stony Brook University and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music 2021 Historical Performance Conference.
He formerly served as president of the Lute Society of America and currently serves on the board of the Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society.
Date & Time
Sat, Feb 1, 2025 7:30 PM - 9:30 PM
Venue Details
Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park Rosenthal Shelterhouse Theater
962 Mount Adams Circle Cincinnati, Ohio 45202
GCGS
The Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society was founded in 1959 by Warren E. Coffey. It is currently headed by Sarah Wilke. The GCGS hosts both internationally-lauded concert artists as well as regional performers. We feature regular meetings for members as well as the Bravo members' guitar ensemble. Charter members included: George J. Marks, R.J. Di Salvo, Juanita Coffey,Dr. Mathias Vega, Wayne Gatwood and Raymond Hopmann. Past Presidents and prime movers of the Society include: Bob Mercer, Garrett Curtis, Judy Handler, Rodney Stucky, Renee Odom, Richard Goering, Amy Brucksch among many others.
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