DIRECTIONS: St Francis Episcopal Church
Please note that this concert occurs on a Friday and not our usual Saturday concert day.
Guitar Virtuoso Stephanie Jones
with a Prelude Performance by Kiran Lee
World-renowned Australian guitarist Stephanie Jones grew up surrounded by music. Playing many instruments including piano, violin, viola, saxophone and flute, she ultimately picked the guitar for its range of sounds and versatility. Now with hundreds of thousands of followers on social media, Jones is passionate about sharing her music and is recognized as an innovative and deeply musical artist. She will present a program of personal inspiration that includes picturesque songs from her Australian homeland, mesmerizing South American grooves and new works showing intriguing contrasts, techniques and colors.
Besides touring and teaching masterclasses around the world, Jones has released three solo albums, including Colours of Spain (2015), Bach, the Fly, and the Microphone (2009) and Open Sky (2020). Jones was a member of the acclaimed Weimar Guitar Quartet, which released its debut album in 2019, and has collaborated with violinist Karen Gomyo on her album, entitled a Piazzolla trilogy, on the BIS Records label.
Among Jones's awards are prizes in the Hannabach Guitar Competition, the Uppsala International Guitar Festival Competition and the Fine Music Network Young Virtuoso of the Year Competition. Jones received her undergraduate degree with First Class Honors at Australian National University studying under Timothy Kain and Minh Le Hoang and her master's degree and postgraduate Konzertexamen at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimer under Thomas Müller-Pering. She is currently based in Germany and teaching at the University of Augsburg.
Jones plays a 2012 spruce top guitar by Perth luthier Paul Sheridan, a 2020 crossover guitar by Daniel Zucali, a 2022 lattice guitar by Fernando Mazza and a double-top spruce guitar by Altamira.
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Prelude Performer
Kiran Lee, 15, is a prizewinner in both the high-school and collegiate divisions of the 2023 Chicago Guitar Festival competition and first-prize winner of the 2022 Sierra Nevada Guitar Festival Youth Competition and the 2022 U.S. International Open Music Competition. She is one of five performers invited to the upcoming Pre-College Guitar Virtuosos masterclass with Manuel Barrueco of the Peabody Conservatory. Kiran opened for Gaëlle Solal at the South Bay Guitar Society in April 2023 and is a regular performer at the Society’s open mic events. She is a student of Scott Cmiel at the Pre-College Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she also plays in a guitar quartet and guitar orchestra. Her first teacher was Patrick O'Connell of the Silicon Valley Classical Guitar School. Kiran has played in masterclasses for Sergio Assad, Bokyung Byun, Andrea González Caballero, Domenico Mottola, Laura Snowden, Meng Su, David Tanenbaum, Marc Teicholz, Ben Verdery, and Jason Vieaux. Outside the guitar, Kiran is a sophomore at Palo Alto High School and a volunteer at the local Pets In Need animal shelter.
Kiran plays a guitar built in 2022 by German luthier Dieter Müller.
