Count down to guitar solo concert tour

Five hours before Dutch guitarist Robert Bekkers boards the airplane for his trans-Pacific and coast-to-coast red-eye (overnight) flight from Maui to Boston, he finishes a hearty meal at the cafeteria of Maui College famous for its award-winning Culinary Academy. Every Monday to Thursday between 11 am and 1 pm, Paina Meals at $5 a plate are served. Today he chose the more expensive $7.90 swordfish with purple potato as a send-off meal. He knows that there will be NO complimentary meals served on Hawaiian Airlines and Delta Airlines for the long journey.

Guitarist Robert Bekkers at Maui College in Hawaii

An e-mail from the concert host in Wells, Maine brings a reality check:

“As the day draws near, I’m praying for NO MORE SNOW! We’ve had so much with more expected, and I’m concerned about parking. There is just no more room to push the mountains of snow that have accumulated around the driveway.”

That concert of “Guitar meets Piano” will take place on Sunday 13th February, a day of travel for Robert Bekkers on the Boston T-line and the Amtrak. Before then, he will have given two house concerts in Boston. Valentine’s Day on Monday 14th February will be another day of travel, by Amtrak from Wells, Maine to Boston and then the Peter Pan coach to Manhattan.

What he brings to these concert hosts and their guests are three new CDs he produced in Maui: a solo guitar album and two live recordings of his Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo concerts in Maui and at Duke University. He hopes and expects the sale of these CDs to support this 3 week tour of Boston, Wells, Pelham, Houston, and Phoenix.

Preparing for Maine in Maui: making 3 CDs for concert tour

Dutch classical guitarist Robert Bekkers is preparing three new CDs for his upcoming solo concert tour of Boston, Wells (Maine), Pelham (New York), Houston, and Phoenix. The first two are live recordings of the Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo in concert in Maui (2007) and Durham, North Carolina (2010). The third is a new solo CD still being recorded from the bedroom of the apartment below.

Combining breakfast with making the artwork for the 2nd CD in Maui

Before the sun appears above the slopes of the volcano Haleakala, he is already awake, preparing coffee and breakfast. He usually reads his music history book while it is still cool in the apartment.

On Saturday 29th January 2011, he turns on his laptop and imports the new photos from the previous evening –  a private viewing of a newly commissioned painting Maui-based artist Frances Ku. He crops and re-sizes the image of the unframed watercolor of guitar and piano.

All preparations for this second CD, the live recording of his duo’s concert at Duke University on 2nd November 2010, have been made, except for the artwork.

The 10 tracks from the Duke CD have been uploaded onto CDBABY. The CD itself is being copied in upper Kula, in a house on the path to the crater of Haleakala. All he has to do now is to make the CD cover and send it to the CD presser and at the same time upload the album artwork onto CDBABY.

Meanwhile he is practising his solo repertoire to finish the third CD which contains the one-hour programme he will play on his solo concert tour. After the recording, he will listen to each track, edit, and master them to create a CD.

For the first CD, Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo LIVE in Makawao, he used a photo of the new painting “Piano and guitar in acryllic” by Georgia-based artist Rob Judkins. He extracted pieces of the photo image for the poster for the house concert in Maine. He also cropped part of Judkins’ painting for the CD label, which appears on the physical CD itself.

In the week that remains on Maui, he will be racing against time to finish recording his solo album, finish the artwork for the second CD, and assemble the envelopes (CD sleeves) for the first CD.

Next blog posts: CDs, music, collaboration with artists and composers.

The road to Meetinghouse Concerts: how to launch a new concert series

About a year ago, a cellist friend of mine asked me how to find house concerts to play in. Other than the ones I’ve already played in, have attended as a guest, or have organised and produced, I had not thought about how to find homes which have never had concerts before. I suppose one would have to find such dwellings, contact the owners, and suggest “won’t it be a great idea to have a concert at your house.”

Musicians who have played in house concerts know that the guests are some of the most attentive audiences around. In smaller spaces, you can’t help but sit and absorb the music. There is no distraction of too many people or the ego of those who go to concerts just to be seen. The people who go to house concerts know the etiquette. They appreciate being told and invited, for there is usually not the size or the space for wider publicity.

The following story tells of a new house concert series in the making.

My American friend in Amsterdam and I caught up after the New Year on skype. The next day, she e-mailed to suggest that I look up a certain pianist, named Greg Hall, in Maine who is a long-time friend of her artist husband. Out of curiosity, I checked out his website and shot him an e-mail introducing myself and my goals of finding new performance opportunities for musicians.

An enthusiastic reply prompted me to call him. The phone conversation lasted well over an hour. We got to know each other. I got guitarist Robert Bekkers to listen to the pianist’s online recordings and read his approach to improvisation.

We all agreed that we as musicians want more opportunities to perform and that house concerts are a great way to do that. He has played twice in a house with a beautiful grand piano and wonderful acoustics. The owner is a gracious hostess who, he was sure, would be open to using it for another house concert, if only we could make audience development effortless. He offered to discuss this with the owner.

What followed soon after his e-mail introduction was a call to the owner, Lynne, who shared her dreams for this beautiful house that was once a place of music. We talked about the location of Wells, Maine for concerts, how to get people to come to concerts, publicity, and what a house concert series would do for the community. I shared positive experiences of sold-out house concerts in a rural community in Connecticut and the 14-year track record for full-house outdoor garden concerts of an amateur flute player in Texas. Our lengthy conversation led to follow-up emails and an agreement to work together on making a concert happen for the Maine-based pianist and the Dutch guitarist.

Before long, the pianist Greg Hall, who is also an IT expert, produced a google spreadsheet of the tasks, responsibilities, and progress for this concert. We set up a 3-way skype conversation on Sunday, with him in Maine and us in Maui. We had exactly 3 weeks to agree on the details, allocate the tasks, arrange the publicity, send out invitations, and make this concert of Sunday 13th February 2011 happen.

Meetinghouse Concert Series with Steinway Grand

The house itself is located on Meetinghouse Road in Wells, Maine. Thus it was tempting to create a concert series called “Meetinghouse Concerts” or “Meetinghouse Concert Series”  somewhat like the way we made double use of the word “house” in “Monument House Concert Series” in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Next concert: Sunday 13 February 2011 at 7 pm GUITAR MEETS PIANO: from Maui to Maine

From Maui to Maine: guitar meets piano

An extraordinary event is set to happen on Sunday 13th February 2011 at 7 pm in Wells, Maine.

Classical guitarist Robert Bekkers will travel from the sunny tropical island of Maui in Hawaii, crossing an ocean and most of the North American continent to the snow-covered town of Wells, Maine. There, he will give a concert with a pianist he has yet to meet — Greg Hall.

Pianist Greg Hall, also known as Gregory Hall, is a composer, pianist, and improviser. He gives regular weekly live concerts in “Second Life” where he is known as Tip Corbett. Below is his avatar.

Pianist Greg Hall, a.k.a. Tip Corbett in "Second Life"

On Sunday 13th February 2011, Greg Hall will appear in real life as himself.

Where is Wells, Maine? Robert Bekkers will take the 1.5 hour train ride from Boston going north. It will be an adventure in New England, now covered with snow.

Snow-covered garden of the house at Meetinghouse Road, Wells, Maine

What a change in weather it will be for Robert Bekkers who has been exploring Maui since Thanksgiving Day 2010 when he ended his coast-to-coast concert tour of mainland USA.

View of Maui from a 4-hour hike

Together, Greg Hall and Robert Bekkers will revive that 19th century tradition of cozy house concerts when musicians played music they wrote (compositions) or music not yet written (improvisation). Back then, musicians were both performers and composers.

Bekkers has arranged a number of pieces for piano and guitar, performed and recorded but not yet published though highly sought-after. Hall’s repertoire can be heard online in “Second Life” as well as from his website.

They will play two sets solo — and join the two sets with duo improvisation and sightreading. It is probably the first of its kind.

Bekkers’ solos will be extracted from his “Cappricho” programme (2 page PDF): virtuosic works of Villa-Lobos, Brrios-Mangore, Brouwer, Bach, Walton, Martin, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Both Hall and Bekkers will be signing their solo and duo CDs during the intermission and after the concert when guests are encouraged to stay and chat. Bekkers is currently producing CDs of live recordings of two concerts of his own piano guitar duo.

For more information, visit Gregory Hall concert announcements, Bekkers Piano Guitar Duo concert agenda, or download the one-page PDF.

GUITAR MEETS PIANO

Greg Hall, piano and Robert Bekkers, guitar

Sunday 13 February 2011
Doors open 6:30 pm for 7 pm concert
Suggested donation $10 at the door
Guests are welcome to bring their own drinks to share (BYOB)

Reservations requested
Free parking
169 Meetinghouse Road, Wells, Maine
Meetinghouse Concert Series

A percentage of the proceeds will go towards the selected charities of the late owners of this house: Animal Welfare Society of West Kennebunk and Maine Children’s Cancer Program, in memory of Dennis and Nella Hudon.

Steinway grand piano at Meetinghouse Concerts