{"id":12872,"date":"2019-04-29T15:43:03","date_gmt":"2019-04-29T22:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=12872"},"modified":"2019-04-30T09:20:17","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T16:20:17","slug":"laura-snowden-makes-u-s-debut-at-long-island-guitar-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/laura-snowden-makes-u-s-debut-at-long-island-guitar-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Laura Snowden Makes U.S. Debut at Long Island Guitar Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY TAYLOR CLARKE \/ PHOTOS BY NINA KREBS<\/strong><\/p>\n

Award-winning UK classical guitarist Laura Snowden<\/a> made her eagerly awaited U.S. debut as part of the 27th annual Long Island Guitar Festival<\/a> on Friday, April 12, 2019. The week-long festival\u2014which also featured performances by Robert Trent<\/a>, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Ducharme<\/a>, David Leisner<\/a> & Eduardo Fern\u00e1ndez<\/a>,\u00a0Harris Becker,\u00a0<\/a>and jazz guitarist Mark Marino<\/a>\u2014was held at Long Island University’s Post Campus. Snowden\u2019s American debut included an evening performance and conversation, as well as a master class with LIU students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy that my U.S. debut has been here,\u201d Snowden said. \u201cI just like the vibe of the festival. It seems like it is very genuine and its heart is in the right place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festival founder and director Harris Becker had been working diligently with Snowden to coordinate her visit. \u201cI\u2019m very happy that you\u2019re all here,” Becker said at the start of the concert. “This is a wonderful event for the festival. We\u2019ve tried to make this happen for a year-and-a-half. Laura was kind enough to tell me last year that she was going to have her U.S. debut at this festival, and that\u2019s really special.\u201d<\/p>\n

While taking place on Long Island, about 30 miles east of Manhattan, the festival celebrated international music and culture through a wide array of high school ensembles, international musicians, college students and performances. \u201cIt feels quite student-oriented and oriented toward learning and helping young people, rather than anything too competitive,\u201d Snowden said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Snowden\u2019s program included seven works by composers such as Fernando Sor, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Agust\u00edn Barrios, Lennox Berkeley, and Giulio Regondi, in addition to two pieces of her own. Discussing her work titled Anpao,<\/em>\u00a0Snowden explained that the piece was inspired by the early hours of the morning: \u201cI have to say,\u00a0[these hours] are not hours I am particularly familiar with, but I do occasionally get to experience them,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201c[Anpao<\/em>] is really about that very peaceful stillness you get in a busy city in the hours of four or five in the morning, when everything is quiet for once.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her other original work, L\u2019\u00e9toile et la Rose <\/em>(The Star and the Rose<\/em>) was inspired by her childhood. During an intimate conversation with concert-goers, Snowden explained that after moving away from home she grew very nostalgic for her past and began to read books in French, particularly Antoine de Saint-Exup\u00e9ry\u2019s, The Little Prince<\/em>. \u201cI really liked the imagery of the star and the rose,” she noted, “and that\u2019s what this piece is about. In the end, the Little Prince shows the man how he has lost a lot of his wisdom in growing up, and I liked the idea of the star. The idea of possibility and wonder, and the rose is something tender\u2026 so I tried to combine those ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on to explain that the imaginative air to the piece stems from themes within the novel. \u201cThe book is quite surreal and it is sort of hard to understand sometimes exactly what is happening. So I tried to put that kind of ambiguity into the piece, as well, by writing some music where at times perhaps you don\u2019t know if you\u2019re hearing what you think you\u2019re hearing, or just the music of your own imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n

The journey toward classical guitar wasn\u2019t a set path for Snowden, who began playing the guitar when she was just nine years old. \u201cIt was more like I knew I wanted to be involved in the arts and something creative. I didn\u2019t really mind or know what that should be, and then it was more like an opportunity arose to do that particular art form,\u201d she said of her acceptance into the Yehudi Menuhin School of England, where her guitar tuition was made possible by a donation from the Rolling Stones.<\/p>\n

Snowden\u2019s accolades include winning First Prize at the Volos International Guitar Composition Competition and being commissioned by a multitude of groups. Her music, particularly her song \u201cLive Free,\u201d has been performed across 60 countries in over 300 concerts for charity. Snowden was chosen by Julian Bream twice, in 2015 and 2017, to give the Julian Beam Trust concert at Wigmore Hall in London.<\/p>\n

On Saturday April 13 at the LIGF, Snowden led a master class in the Krasnoff Theater at the university, helping classical guitar students to spend time thinking about the music outside of the guitar, focusing on the connection between the mind and body.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physical act of playing is really difficult, so I also advise people to do a practice\u2014anything from yoga to the Alexander Technique\u2014something that helps with their whole body,\u201d Snowden explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic is so subjective and I think it\u2019s quite important to find what it is that you love. If you come across someone that inspires you or a thing that makes you excited, follow your nose and go towards that thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked to describe her experience at the Long Island Guitar Festival, Snowden humbly smiled and recalled the joy she found in performing and teaching. Her words to describe the weekend? \u201cFriendly and full of heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor Clarke is a journalism student at Hofstra University, and news editor of the<\/em> Hofstra Chronicle.<\/em><\/p>\n