Alexandra Iranfar
Our last guest artist of 2019 was amazing for several reasons. Not only did Alexandra Iranfar play a sold-out concert, she played an entire program for guitar and voice duo on her own, as the vocalist and guitarist!
Alexandra showcased some of the most popular guitar and voice repertoire including a few of the John Dowland English Renaissance lute songs and a selection from Siete Canciones Españolas by Manuel de Falla, which by the way, are hard enough to play as a solo guitarist. She also played some less common but equally captivating pieces from Stephen Goss’ Welsh Folksongs and arrangements of American folksongs by Carlos Barbosa-Lima, to name a few.
However, what made Alexandra’s performance an outstanding program was the introduction of new repertoire commissioned by herself from composers Christopher Tin, Emma Logan, and Sergio Assad. One of the highlights of her program was Sergio Assad’s jazzy Variations on a Lullaby written for two guitars and voice.
If you’re wondering how she managed to play two guitars at the same time; there is a pretty good solution for that. Why not just get someone like Thomas Viloteau to play the second guitar, right? Because that’s exactly what happened! Thomas was here in San Diego to join Alexandra on repertoire for two guitars, including her encore piece- which we won’t spoil here!
Like all SDGF guest artists, Alexandra also taught a masterclass the day before at Southwestern College, coaching everything from baroque to contemporary repertoire. It’s always great to see the different approach that each artist has on interpretation, technique, and other insight that will impact students throughout their studies and career.
Thanks to our friends and local luthiers, Len Laviolette and Paul Micheletti, who hosted the reception, we ended the festival a bit more festive than usual with a few cases of local San Diego craft beer from Mike Hess Brewing, and also got to try out some of their latest instruments.
We will look forward to any projects Alexandra has in the future, whether it’s commissioning new works to expand the guitar and voice repertoire or any upcoming recordings and performances. Alexandra is also a new member of Augustine Artists so we know she will continue to share her artistry wherever she goes!
Photography: Glorissa Rodriguez