Get in the holiday spirit with guitar and lute solos, duos, and some of the most beloved Christmas classics for voice and guitar. Guitarists Lawrence Ferrara and Matthew Grasso will dazzle with traditional Christmas music, and works from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker suite. Singer Tatyana Hall and guitarist Lawrence Ferrara will join in traditional and contemporary holiday music performed in the beautiful setting of Old First Church. Performances will also include the works of Vivaldi, Handel, and Renaissance lute music by John Dowland. Celebrate in style with this popular holiday tradition in San Francisco.
Guitarist Lawrence Ferrara has taught and concertized throughout the United States, and at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, he was acclaimed by The New York Times with, "His way with the guitar is subtle, intimate and inherently musical." and also praised by the San Francisco Chronicle, “Ferrara has an exceptional style, pure and sweet, rhythmically precise yet supple … playing everything with elegant grace and a notably serious feeling for introspection."
His principal teacher was George Sakellariou, and master classes with Julian Bream. A committed educator himself, Mr. Ferrara teaches guitar at the San Francisco State University, and leads the guitar ensemble at City College of San Francisco. He has also taught guitar at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for many years. Ferrara is the author and performer of a sequence of music books titled The Student Repertoire Series for Guitar, Vol. 1 and 2, with accompanying CDs, published by Guitar Solo of San Francisco, and he has a solo CD of American Guitar Works on the VGo label.
Tatyana Hall was born in San Francisco and graduated at San Francisco State University in 2019 where she studied Classical Voice, Violin, and Music Education. Her teachers included voice with Dr. William Sauerland, theory and musicianship with David Xiques, and music education with Wendall Hanna. While at San Francisco State she participated in many ensembles including, opera within the voice department, violin with the school orchestra, chamber music with the Alexander String Quartet, and in choir Tatyana led her section and conducted the chorus during her undergraduate degree recital.
Tatyana actively collaborates with her colleagues and other musicians by singing in chamber groups, playing violin in string quartets, and by conducting many of the singers she works with. Currently Tatyana teaches voice at Presidio Middle school, and eventually wishes to teach choir and orchestra at the college level.
Matthew Grasso is classical guitarist, composer, arranger, and musical instrument innovator. He attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, were he studied with Scott Tennant, Dusan Bogdanovic, and Lawrence Ferrara. Matthew complemented this training by studying the classical music of North India at the Ali Akbar College of Music.
Matthew performs on an extended 7-string guitar, 15-stringed tantrakari guitar, and an 18-note octave just intonation guitar. He has transcribed numerous works for solo extended 7-string guitar, including Barber's Adagio for Strings, Ravel's Mother Goose Suite, as well as works in the pop/jazz vocal genre, and Christmas Holiday tradition.
Mr. Grasso was a featured soloist with the Auburn Symphony Chamber Players and his recordings include multi-string and microtonal guitars. Currently Matthew is on the faculty at Sacramento City College, American River College, California College of the Arts, Yuba College and he teaches privately. His website is matthewgrasso.com