Erkan Ogur, Freddie Green, Jim Hall, East Bay Ray, Stepan Rak, Leo Brouwer, Lenny Breau, Oscar Ghiglia, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Eliot Fisk, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, The Shadows, The Ventures, Apocalyptica, Chet Baker, Zoltan Kodaly, Lucia Pamela, Eddie Angel, Louis Armstrong, Ferdinando Carulli, Ernesto Cordero, Sharon Isbin, Scott Tennant
Guitarist Keith Calmes has performed as a soloist in halls such as Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the St. Louis Art Museum, Musician's Institute, American Institute of Guitar, and California Institute of Technology. He has performed at the Guitar Foundation of America Festival, Fresno Classical Guitar Festival, Philadelphia Classical Guitar Festival, Lincoln Center Mozart Bicentennial, and the Philly Fringe Festival; and has performed with groups such as LA Camerata, Monmouth Symphony, Juilliard Symphony, Downey Symphony, and LA Musica Viva. Keith is a graduate of The Juilliard School, California State University at Northridge, and the University of Southern California; and also graduated from summer courses at Berklee College of Music, and Musica en Compostela (Spain). Recent performances include concerts in Florida, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. His latest CD, Still Life and Simple Dreams, was produced in collaboration with Steve Jankowski of Blood, Sweat, and Tears and is receiving rave reviews. Mel Bay Publications has released numerous books and recordings of his, including Gospel Classical Guitar and Guitar Music of the 16th Century. As a member of Sun Guitar Quartet in the late 1980's, Keith played in Japan and gave premieres of works by Frank Campo, Stepan Rak, and Carlos Barbosa-Lima. As a composer, his recent activity includes a suite written for the California State University Bakersfield Guitar Ensemble, funded by a grant from Meet the Composer. He is dedicated to diverse genres of music; in recent years he has opened for surf guitar innovator Dick Dale, and played at clubs such as Trumpet's (NJ) and the art gallery of legendary rock club CBGB. Keith is currently on the Board of Directors of the NJ American String Teachers Association, where he directs the state string competition and regularly contributes to their journal NJ Strings. Keith endorses Godin electric classical guitars, and is anxiously awaiting a custom acoustic instrument by Kristopher Barnett in Atlanta. He has also recently joined the artist roster of Bugera Amplifiers.
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STEPAN RAK!!! I completely forgot about that guy. What was that happening piece you guys played in the quartet? Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.
Thanks, older brother, for sending me your CD. It is AWESOME! I have had them playing it overhead in my bookstore since yesterday afternoon. everyone really enjoys it. Miss you and hope you will come out here to visit and maybe throw out some gigs. Love, Littlest sister.
Hi, Dr. Calmes...the fingernails are great! I'm still experimenting with the different kinds of textures and sounds that different shapes and lengths create. Still planning on visiting again?
Keith, you are a continuing inspiration throughout my days.... I hope to see, perhaps I can catch up with you when you're in Philly again soon. Fare thee well Doc!
Thank you, Keith. You played wonderfully. I'll get a DVD and CD to you when they are done. We are having a minor problem with a CPU, so it might take a little while.
Here is a YouTube video of the CSUB Guitar Ensemble playing the Thompson Twins' Rag - from Thursday. We played it again on Friday night, but no video, only audio. I'll send an mp3 when I get a chance. Anyway, hope you enjoy and please send me notes about the performance...we are learned on this, it just needs to be more musical and any advice you can give would be appreciated...
