Here are a few photos of my own latest concert model. Spruce and Indian rosewood. Elevated fingerboard with 20th half-fret. 640mm scale length. 52mm nut. 43mm string spacing at nut and 57mm at the bridge. Scheller tuning machines with brass plates and snakewood buttons.
New Torres/Romanillos Model for Siccas
Here are a few photos from my latest Torres/Romanillos model that will soon be available at Siccas guitars in Germany (www.siccasguitars.com). Spruce and Madagascar rosewood. 650mm scale length. Scheller tuners with carved nickel silver plates and mother of pearl buttons.
New Album: Kevin Seddiki and Jean-Louis Matinier
Kevin Seddiki is an extraordinarly talented musician and an old friend and classmate of mine from when I was studying in France. He recently released an album with accordionist Jean-Lousi Matinier on ECM and it’s really good. This was one of the albums that got me through the Corona times this year; I must have listened to it fifty times already in the shop already. It has a consistent mood and is very concise for a Jazz album; it has a satisfying arch and works really well as an album, as opposed to just a bunch songs thrown together. It also sounds funny to say, but their rendition of Greensleeves/Amsterdam is pretty epic; one wouldn’t think that the world needed another version of that song, but it apparently did! :)
Here's a video of them performing three songs off the album live.
Upcoming Concert in Graz: Stefan Steinhauser
I’m happy to share with you an upcoming concert of original music by Grazer guitarist and composer Stefan Frank Steinhauser. Here is a quick promo video for the concert. I’d encourage you to check it out if you are into classical guitar, jazz, world music etc. He is a very talented musician and also performs on one of my guitars.
New Ryan Layne Whitney Videos and Publications
And now for something different: A good friend of mine Ryan Layne Whitney has been extremely “fleißig” in the Covid lockdown and has been recording up a storm of new videos - a handful of Scarlatti sonatas, as well as many sonatas by Sebastian de Albero to accompany his two editions that he expertly researched, typset and published. Links to the editions are below and here is just one of the many new videos that I would encourage you to check out. It could also be of interest to solo or duo guitarists looking for new repertoire to transcribe from a contemporary of Scarlatti.
Links to purchase the scores:
Volume I: Sebastian de Albero: 30 Sonatas for Harpsichord
Volume II: Sebastian de Albero: Works for Harpsichord or Fortepiano
Florian Palier Featured in Gitarre und Bass Magazine
I’m a little late at posting this, because it’s already a new month, but my good friend and was featured in “Gitarre und Bass” magazine as performer of the month. The subject was his latest album of original compositions alongside two major violin sonatas by J.S. Bach. The CD is great and you should check it out if you haven’t already; it also happens to be recorded on one of my guitars :). You can purchase the CD from his website here and it is also availble on streaming platforms:
https://www.florianpalier.net/music
Many of the scores to his original compositions are also available online through Bergmann Edition:
New Torres/Romanillos model at Guitars International
I'm very happy to announce that I'm now working with Guitars International in the United States. They run a tight ship, representing a select handful of some the most distingished luthiers in the world. I count myself lucky and to be among them. My newest Torres/Romanillos model guitar arrived there late last week and is now available.
https://www.guitarsint.com/classical_guitar/Michael_Cadiz/TorresRomanillos_Model/628
Seckau Guitar Festival 2020
Despite the Corona chaos this year, the Seckau Guitar Festival was still held and went off without a hitch thanks to the planning and hard work of the organizers.
For the last three years, I've attended the festival to show my guitars and I always have a great time. It takes place in a beautiful old Abbey in the mountains where all of the paticipants and teachers stay for the duration of the festival. It has a cozy summer camp sort of vibe; inbetween and after planned events, everyone hangs out, eats together and stays up late playing music and celebrating. There are, of course, masterclasses and concerts throughout the week. This year, there were wonderful concerts by Anna Lesjak, Florian Palier, Stefan Steinhauser, Andrej Ofak and Borut Mori.
For more info about the festival, here is a link to their website: http://www.gitarre-seckau.at/
New Video: Ricercar by Da Milano
Here is a Ricercar by Francesco Da Milano that I’ve been working on for a while and I think this is about as good as it's gonna get for me right now. Gotta move on to other pieces. I posted a video a while ago of it and decided to make a new one yesterday with better quality. I find it really difficult not to rush this piece. About half-way through it starts getting kinda meandering and it's hard to make things sound legato and not too heavy or plodding. The inner voices are also very cool and syncopated, but hard to bring out without having weird accents all over the place.
There are a few different manuscript sources of this one. This is from the Ness edition, which is basically the same as in the "Siena Lute Book" in the Hague. I'm not sure if it's just because I'm used to it at this point, but I like this one the best as it seems slightly more concise. I've notated it in standard notation and tracked down a few nice scans of the different sources. Here is a PDF of it for anyone that feels inclined to play it ;).
The guitar is a 2019 Spruce/Indian rosewood Modern Concert model Recorded with 2 Line Audio CM4 mics into a Zoom H5 and No EQ.
In process: New Torres/Romanillos Model
Just getting some shellac on this new Torres/Romanillos model that'll be heading over the ocean in a month or so.
