EDWARD MARTIN TO PERFORM ON BAROQUE GUITAR AND LUTE DURING FREE CONCERT APRIL 5 AT ST. SCHOLASTICA

Release Date: 03/20/08

Edward Martin, adjunct professor of lute at The College of St. Scholastica, will present a recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5, in the third-floor Music Hall in Tower Hall on the St. Scholastica campus. The concert is free and open to the public.

He will play Spanish baroque pieces on a 5-course (string) baroque guitar constructed by Daniel Larson, a master instrument-maker based in Duluth. Larson's design for this guitar was based on a 16th century Spanish model.

"This music is quintessentially and unmistakably Spanish," said Martin, "and is universally loved by many."

The program will also include works by Johann Gottfried Conradi and David Kellner. Martin will perform these works on an 11-course baroque lute, also made by Larson.

Very little is known about the music of Conradi; in fact, it is unclear if he is the composer of the pieces in his book, "Neue Lautenstucke" (1724).

"Whether he was the composer or merely the publisher," said Martin, "he has presented some of the most beautiful music ever composed for baroque lute."

Kellner spent his creative life in Germany and Stockholm as organist and bell ringer. He left only two works; one a musical theory book and the other a collection of 16 pieces for the German baroque lute (1747). His style is bold and his works resemble those of J.S. Bach.

For more information, contact the St. Scholastica Music Department at (218) 723-6194.