The Department of Music presents the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, an ensemble founded in 2010 that is dedicated to the creation and promotion of music by living composers. Through virtuosic performances, innovative programing and collaborations with artists in other media, AGQ seeks to broaden the definition and expand the repertoire of the classical guitar quartet by commissioning new works.

With major institutional support by the Presser Foundation and the Peabody Conservatory, AGQ has premiered pieces by American composers David Smooke, Christopher Gainey and Ronald Pearl. These works, along with music by composer Olivier Bensa and Arvo Pärt, are featured on the quartet’s debut CD, released in November 2013.

The quartet’s other world premieres include performances of works by Joshua Bornfield (written for AGQ and commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society), Lewis Krauthamer (in performance with Gene Young and the Peabody Camerata), Philip Ravita (by invitation of the Baltimore Composers Forum), Julien Xuereb, Alan Thomas, Aaron Silverstein, Jerry Tabor (in a premiere recording), and A.D. Silverstein.

AGQ has performed as part of the Evolution Contemporary Music series, The Baltimore Classical Guitar Society, the Spring Stage Performances series, the Baltimore Composers Forum at Salisbury University, and at York College of Pennsylvania, Harford Community College, Loyola University, the College of New Jersey, the Academy Art Museum and the Jordan Faye Contemporary Art Gallery.

All the AGQ members — Mark Edwards​, Kevin Shannon​, Zoe Johnstone Stewart,​ and Jonathan Zwi​ — also are active as solo performers and teachers since receiving advanced degrees from the Peabody Conservatory. In support of an AGQ mission to bring their experience to young and aspiring guitarists, the quartet has also taught masterclasses and workshops at Salisbury University, the Mid Atlantic Guitar Ensemble Festival, the MEA Guitar Ensemble Festival and the Peabody Fret Festival, in addition to hosting its own mini-festival of chamber music workshops at the Engineers Club, where it has held an artist residency since 2010.

Jonathan Zwi is an affiliate artist at UMBC. Originally a violinist, he discovered a passion for the classical guitar during his undergraduate studies at Indiana University. In addition to his degree in music, Jonathan also received degrees in Cognitive Science and Philosophy. He was the recipient of several research fellowships at both Indiana and Yale University and presented his work at research conferences across the United States. During his undergraduate studies, he won a grant from the NIH to conduct research on the structural connectivity of the macaque cerebral cortex with Dr. Olaf Sporns, with whom he co-authored a paper published in Neuroinformatics.

Tickets: $15 general admission, $10 seniors, $5 students, free for UMBC Music majors and Music faculty/staff, available online.

Plan your visit
UMBC is located about 10 minutes south of the Inner Harbor along I-95. For this event, free visitor parking is available in Lot 8, directly adjacent to the Performing Arts and Humanities Building, where Linehan Concert Hall is located — please see here for additional information.