Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts

Playing the works of composers who were also instrumentalists, guitarist David Russell proves to be their masterful advocate.

To no one’s surprise, guitarist Shin-ichi Fukuda’s recital was both brilliant and varied, studded with classics and fresh works, too.

Yamandu Costa’s wonderfully expressive playing takes the classical guitar to new heights.

An esteemed European guitarist is cheered to the rafters in his second Bay Area recital.

The ravishing Beijing-born classical guitarist plays the Spanish classics, tosses off some Bach and Chopin, and swings with works by Brazilian composers.

The Paris Guitar Duo, in its first San Francisco outing, performed wide-ranging music with brilliance, but with odd mannerisms.

Excitement was high on Friday when the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts presented the San Francisco recital debut of Meng Su and Yameng Wang at the Green Room.

Classical music advocates often take a Eurocentric view of music history that leads them to question the importance of the guitar and its repertoire. John Williams deftly reverses the logic, maintaining that a global 20th- and 21st-century perspective the guitar makes a more vital contribution than any other instrument. Williams made his case on Sunday in a recital received by a packed audience.