Guitar
Monday
February 19, 2018
7:30 pm
WPAC Concert Hall
2018 MIGF Festival Pass
is available to attend all festival events at a single reduced price:
Belarusian guitarist Elina Chekan and Cuban guitarist Rene Izquierdo have been playing as a duo since 2012. The couple first met at Yale University when they were both pursuing post‐graduate degrees, studying with acclaimed professor Benjamin Verdery. Duo Exaudi was created out of the desire of both guitarists to join forces in their creative endeavors, and work towards increasing and exploring the guitar repertoire in this new medium.
As a duo they have performed in major concert venues in the United States, Russia and Europe to great critical acclaim. Both award winning artists, they are together a tour de force. Duo Exaudi’s commitment to contemporary music and to the expansion of the guitar repertoire has led them to collaborations with composers such as Jorge Morel, Carlos Rafael Rivera, Colette Mourey, and Carl Schimmel.
Praised for their phrasing and musical sensitivity, Duo Exaudi’s playing is technically superb, well balanced and exceptionally musical. Their debut CD will be released in the Spring of 2014. They are both currently faculty at the University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukee.
Elina (Ella) Chekan is currently professor of classical guitar at the University of Wisconsin‐ Milwaukee where she also directs the Suzuki and Pre‐College Guitar Programs.
A native of Minsk, Belarus, Ella graduated from the Belarus Academy of Music in 1999 with a degree in Classical Guitar Performance, Orchestral Conducting, and Guitar Pedagogy. In the year 2002, she completed her Master of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance from Yale University.
Combining active performance and teaching careers, Ella has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States, Europe and the Caribbean with critical acclaim. In her teaching, Mrs. Chekan applies her extensive knowledge of guitar pedagogy and repertoire, and has experienced first hand different guitar schools of thought. Ella is a certified Suzuki instructor registered with the Suzuki Association of the Americas. All this experience allows her to find unique approaches and repertoire for each of her students, giving them a solid foundation in technique and musicianship at an early stage.
In her quest for present‐day repertoire, Ella has commissioned works from composers such as Jorge Morel, who dedicated to Ms. Chekan his composition “Campanas” published by Mel Bay in “The Magnificent Guitar of Jorge Morel.”
Ella Chekan performs on a Richard Brune guitar. More info about Rene Izquierdo.
