Skender Sefa
*in concert with Rodrigo Munoz (guitar)
December 12, 2009 | 8 p.m. Saturday
*in concert with Michael Daher (guitar)
June 19, 2010 | 8 p.m. Saturday
www.skendersefa.com
Skender Sefa is a well known classical guitarist and member of the Manitoba Classical Guitar Duo. Skender's first full length solo classical guitar CD Skender Sefa plays Brouwer, Dyens and Tarrega was released by the GFI Masterworks label in 2001 and can be heard across Canada on CBC radio. The Manitoba Classical Guitar Duo's first CD MGCD - Recital was released by GFI Masterworks in 2008. Skender is also a featured performer on a recently released chamber music CD Sefarad - The Music of Sid Robinovitch on the Marquis Classics label.
Skender completed his studies in Classical Guitar Performance under Ryszard Tyborowski at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Music and was a scholarship student at the prestigious Domaine Forget Music Academy in Quebec where he studied with Bruce Holzman (USA) Patrick Roux (Ottawa) and Jean Valliers (Montreal). Skender has performed in masterclasses with several world renown classical guitarists including Leo Brouwer (Cuba), Roland Dyens (Paris), David Russell (Scotland), Fabio Zanon (Brazil), Denis Azabagic (Bosnia), Ricardo Cobo (Columbia) and Norbert Kraft (Canada). As a student, Skender was awarded the Most Outstanding Performance Award at the Winnipeg Music Competition Festival two years in a row, the Winnipeg Classical Guitar Society Scholarship Prize two years in a row and was a finalist in the U of M Faculty of Music's prestigious Lawrence Genser Performance Competition.
Recent season performance highlights include two concerts as a featured soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in thier prestigious Masterworks concert series performing Osvaldo Golijov's "Oceana", three concerts with the WSO and the Manitoba Opera Association in the production of Verdi's opera "Otello", a performance with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the MTS centre and a full lenght recital for the Winnipeg Classical Guitar Society.
In recognition of his commitment to classical guitar performance, Skender has recieved awards from both the Manitoba Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts. Skender currently teaches classical guitar at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Music through the Preparatory Division and at the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts and is the President of the Winnipeg Classical Guitar Society.
