Global Guitar Summit Featuring Konarak Reddy, Matthew Montfort, and Teja Gerken

Don Quixote's International Music Hall presents a Global Guitar Summit featuring Indian guitarist Konarak Reddy, American scalloped fretboard guitar pioneer Matthew Montfort, and German fingerstyle guitarist Teja Gerken. Don Quixote's International Music Hall is located at 6275 Highway 9 in Felton, California. For more info, call 831-603-2294 or email [email protected]. Tickets are $12 advance and $15 at the door.

Hailing from Bangalore, India, Konarak Reddy is a legend among music aficionados in his home country. From the start, Konarak drew his inspiration from multiple sources, immersing himself in both Western classical theory on guitar and traditional Indian music on the sarod, which he studied with Gurus Debi Prasad Ghosh and Rajeev Taranath. Konarak later studied jazz improvisation at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and the Musician’s Institute in Hollywood, from which he graduated with honors. Today, his playing integrates Hindustani and Carnatic styles into contemporary solo guitar masterpieces, which frequently include live looping. Konarak was featured in a TEDx talk in 2013 (www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0ZP-hG7CN4), he frequently performs in Europe, and his own World Guitar Night, which has become an annual event in Bangalore, and featured international guitarists such as Andy McKee, Don Ross, Kevin Eubanks, Peter Sprague, Peter Finger, and others. His two albums, Searching for the Goddess and Solar Avatar have received critical acclaim. For more info, please visit www.konarak-reddy.blogspot.com.

Matthew Montfort is the leader of the world music ensemble Ancient Future. Featured in the December 2009 commemorative Les Paul issue of Guitar Player Magazine, Montfort is a pioneer among guitarists who have had their fretboards scalloped in order to play various forms of world music that require intricate note-bending ornaments while still being able to play chords. Montfort immersed himself in an intensive study with vina master K.S. Subramanian in order to fully apply the South Indian gamaka (note-bending) techniques to the guitar. He has released two solo CDs: Seven Serenades for Scalloped Fretboard Guitar and Sympathetic Serenade, for which he is recognized as one of the world's 100 Greatest Acoustic Guitarists by DigitalDreamDoor.com , a curated "best of" site, along with such luminaries as Michael Hedges, Leo Kottke, Chet Atkins, John Fahey, Adrian Legg, Merle Travis, John Renbourn, Tommy Emmanuel, Doc Watson, Pierre Bensusan, Toni Rice, Alex De Grassi, Stefan Grossman, Artie Traum, Joni Mitchell, and Peppino D'Agostino. He is also known for his work on Glissentar (11 string fretless guitar), electric guitar, flamenco guitar, sitar, charango, mandolin, and gamelan. He has performed concerts worldwide, from the Festival Internacional de la Guitarra on the golden coast of Spain to the Festival of India in Mumbai. He has worked with many world music legends, including tabla phenomenon Zakir Hussain and Chinese zither master Zhao Hui. Montfort wrote the book Ancient Traditions – Future Possibilities: Rhythmic Training Through the Traditions of Africa, Bali, and India, which has been used by many musicians to improve their rhythm skills. For more info, please visit www.matthewmontfort.com.

German-born Teja Gerken is a contemporary steel-string fingerstyle guitarist whose playing merges the styles of European guitar pioneers such as John Renbourn and Pierre Bensusan with the distinct sounds of American players such as Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges. Known for his original compositions, many of which employ alternate tunings, two-handed tapping, percussive effects, and other extended guitar techniques, Teja will also bring Celtic, jazz, and classical styles to the Global Guitars show. For more info, please visit www.tejagerken.com.