The young American virtuoso, Xavier Jara, paid us a visit with a brilliant concert and an excellent master class. After his last visit in 2016, I knew he’d be on the list of eventual returnees; he made a fantastic impression, both with his nuanced and thoughtful playing and his insightful comments for the students. This visit was no different.

He played a program featuring both major repertoire warhorses (Ponce’s Variations on La Folia, Martin’s Quatre Pièces Brèves and Rodrigo’s Tres Piezas), and less familiar works—a few less-often programmed Barrios works, and piece written for him by Mexican composer Zanabria, and a couple of Dowland fancies which simply don’t get played enough. The balance was perfect and the presentation exactly the tonic the studio needed to lift spirits and inspire. (Full program at the end of the post). After the concert, he joined the studio members at The Feve for dinner.

The master class began with Nik Divall. Nik played the Assad arrangement of Piazzolla’s Invierno Porteño:

Next up was Aleksandr Lapshin, with Regondi’s first Etude, in C:

Josie Stone followed, with a performance of Turina’s Soleares from Hommage à Tarrega:

Nicolas Wakeman played Giuliani’s Variations on a Theme of Handel:

Finally, Grigor Ylli played Bach’s Prelude BWV 997:

Thank you Xavier for a wonderful visit and contribution. We’ll be talking about you for a long time!