The Orchard Guitar Festival, featuring fur noted guitarists performing and teaching, will be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18 at Bowling Green State University’s College of Musical Arts.
Featured performers are: rising star Pasquale Grasso. Jazz and classical virtuoso Fareed Haque, Laura Lydy, Director of Guitar/String Studies at Purdue University Fort Wayne; and Columbus-based jazz guitarist Kevin Turner.
The schedule is (all events in Bryan Recital Hall in the Moore Musical Arts Center, unless noted):
- Kevin Turner Clinic, Friday, Sept. 17, at 3 p.m.
- Laura Lydy: Classical Guitar Master class, Friday, Sept. 17 at 3:45 p.m.
- Fareed Haque Clinic, Friday, Sept. 17 at 4:30 p.m.
- Fareed Haque Concert, Friday, Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.
- Orchard Guitar Festival Jam, Friday, Sept. 17 at 9 p.m. Arlyn’s Good Beer 520 Hankey Ave, Bowling Green
- Falconland Saturday, Sept. 18 at 12:00p.m. to 1:00p.m. Moore Musical Arts Center, Lobby and Green Room Come to the Moore Musical Arts Center Lobby or the Green Room and receive a basic guitar lesson.
- Guitar Ensembles, Saturday, Sept. 18 at 1 .m.
- Pasquale Grasso Clinic, Saturday, Sept. 18 at 3 p.m.
- Pasquale Grasso Concert, Saturday, Sept. 18 at 8 p.m., Wolfe Center for the Arts, Donnell Theatre
The Orchard Guitar Festival was established in 2015 and is made possible through a generous gift by Thomas (’75) and Martha Orchard (’73). A long-time supporter of arts, culture and “all things with six strings”, Thomas is an amateur guitarist and enthusiast.
In 2017, Orchard told BG Independent that playing guitar helped him get through academic frustrations and a sidelined baseball career. He played and sang at clubs around town, and switched his major to business and became an investment banker.
“Through that entire time period, guitar is what kept me sane. I still play every day. I collect vintage guitars. I love all kind of genres of music,” he said.
The Festival he founded celebrates the guitar by featuring world-class guitarists as well as education, performance, and community-building opportunities for BGSU students and audiences throughout the region.
