Series: Guitar
Date: Friday, February 20
Time: 8:00 p.m.
Venue: Jonsson Performance Hall

Ticket Prices:
$10 General Admission
$5 Non-UTD Students
$5 UTD Alumni
$5 Children under 18
Free to UTD Faculty/Staff/Retirees
Free to UTD Students with UTD Photo ID at the venue box office the night of the event.

Winner of the 2003 International Guitar Festival in Rust, Austria, only rarely do we find an artist with the range of musicianship of Aliéksey Vianna. He is an exceptional guitarist who is highly accomplished in both the classical and jazz genres and is constantly crossing stylistic borders. Aliéksey is equally at home performing classical guitar solos, concerti, chamber works, jazz and Brazilian music with unique artistry and a technical expertise that are compelling to critics and the general public.

About Aliéksey Vianna...

Born in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and a graduate of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Aliéksey Vianna has performed in prestigious music venues in over fifteen countries throughout Europe, and the Americas, including New York's Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Bay Area's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and Yoshi's Jazz Club, Mexico City's Nezahualcoyotl and Sao Paulo's Sala Ester Mesquita.

He has performed with many world-renowned musicians, such as Peter Erskine, Paul McCandless, Toninho Horta, Tracy Silverman and Pierre Boulez. Aliéksey was chosen to perform Boulez's landmark "Le Marteau sans Maitre", conducted by the composer at Carnegie Hall. He is also a member of the Brazilian Guitar Quartet. He has premiered pieces by Egberto Gismonti, Edino Krieger, David Burge and Sérgio Assad. Maestro Assad recognized Aliéksey's talent and offered to produce a CD of his own solo guitar works, which Aliéksey recorded in 2002.

Aliéksey first took up the guitar spontaneously at the age of eight. At age twelve, he began formal musical studies, which included classical guitar, composition, arranging and orchestration. His main teachers were Rogerio Bianchi, Maria Rachel Marcondes, Jose Lucena Vaz, Fernando Araujo, Thomas Patterson and David Tanenbaum. He has also performed in master classes of Sergio and Odair Assad, Manuel Barrueco, Roland Dyens, Abel Carlevaro, Oscar Ghiglia, Nigel North, Paul O'dette, Hopkinson Smith and Ralph Towner, among others.

Aliéksey was awarded first prizes in more than ten worldwide music competitions. These awards have led to invitations to perform and teach in several music festivals, and to record with such important labels as Radio MEC in Brazil, URTEX in Mexico and GSP in the USA.

Website: http://www.aliekseyvianna.com/

Video clip: http://www.peterperkins.com/movies/alieksey_vianna.html

Music clips: http://www.aliekseyvianna.com/mp3_ing.htm