Greek guitarist stars in a clutch of her own complex transcriptions of baroque classics.

Hobart Town Hall

April 4, 2014

Hot on the heels of that other successful guitarist of the moment Montenegrin Miloš Karadaglić, comes Greek guitar virtuoso and composer Smaro Gregoriadou. As in the world of conducting, she is one of only a small band of female guitar soloists whose names spring to mind, including Australian Karin Schaupp, and from a previous generation, American Alice Artzt. Along with her countryman George Kertsopoulos, Gregoriado is on a mission to ‘re-invent’ the guitar, by closely studying the history of its manufacture and playing techniques, and adapting them to modern instruments.

Coming modestly on to the stage and by way of demonstration of her work, she played her own transcriptions of a clutch of Scarlatti Sonatas, a Bach Toccata and The Harmonious Blacksmith by Handel – all in keeping with the Baroque stylings of the rest of this fabulous Festival. Also included were a couple of inevitable Spanish pieces, and the only contemporary works in the whole Festival – a piece by Stepan Rak born in 1945, and an encore by the aforementioned Kertsopoulos, who also made the beautiful pinewood instruments.

Gregoriadou is...