{"id":15483,"date":"2020-12-04T16:24:13","date_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=15483"},"modified":"2020-12-04T16:24:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T00:24:16","slug":"video-pick-of-the-week-the-virtual-guitar-orchestra-goes-flamenco-on-adam-del-montes-relampinos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/video-pick-of-the-week-the-virtual-guitar-orchestra-goes-flamenco-on-adam-del-montes-relampinos\/","title":{"rendered":"Video Pick of the Week: The Virtual Guitar Orchestra Goes Flamenco on Adam Del Monte’s ‘Relampi\u00f1os’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Unquestionably, one of the coolest and most inspiring things to come out of the pandemic lockdown in the classical guitar world is the Virtual Guitar Orchestra<\/a>, a huge, free-floating, variably sized guitar army that has come together (virtually, and appropriately socially distanced, of course) a few times over the past year for a series of amazing performances of brilliantly arranged pieces. The ever-shifting international cast of guitarists spans everything from guitar students to the most skilled and well-known professionals. If you follow classical guitar fairly closely, you’ll undoubtedly encounter many names you know. Somehow, the performances never seem unwieldy or cluttered-sounding. It feels like everyone is serving the overall sound and vibe instead of competing for attention\u2014yet there are always many moments of sheer virtuosity that take your breath away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest amalgamation finds another stellar group performing the world premiere of an Adam Del Monte flamenco piece called Relampin\u00f1os, <\/em>which my handy Goggle translator tells me means “whipping” in Spanish. Among the scores of players who appear (sometimes labeled) are, from the classical side, Angel Romero, Eliot Fisk , Rene Izquierdo, Goran Krivokapi\u0107,\u00a0Rafael Aguirre,\u00a0Vladimir Gorbach,\u00a0Anabel Montesinos,\u00a0Joaquin Clerch,\u00a0Jiji Kim,\u00a0Artyom Dervoed, Laura Oltman,\u00a0Michael Newman,\u00a0Denis Azabagi\u0107,\u00a0Kyuhee Park, and Evan Taucher, among many others. However, the sometimes blistering solos mid-piece all come from great flamenco players, including (in order of their solos) Am\u00f3s Lora, Pedro Sierra, Samuelito, Vahagni, and\u00a0Adam Del Monte. Fantastic! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Major props to VGO creators Mak Grgic, Adam Del Monte and Uros Baric; to main sponsors the GSI Foundation and Augustine Strings; and supporters Strings By Mail and the Connecticut Guitar Festival. Would it sound greedy to ask for MORE?! \u2014Blair Jackson<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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