This edition of KVC-Arts is STEEPED in guitar. Generally when David Fleming has Peter Curtis on the program it's to talk about one of his fantastic cd releases - and there have been several! Check out (in order) Swing State, Christmas With Your Jewish Boyfriend, Steele in Love (featuring crooner Ken Steele), and Pete's Pandemic Playlist! This time around we're talking about opportunities... on a number of levels.
The 2026 RCC Guitar Festival and Competition kicks off Friday April 3rd with a concert by The LA Guitar Quartet. This renowned group formed in 1980 with a backbone in the world of classical, though they play in many styles - baroque, bluegrass, flamenco, rock and more. Their diversity shows QUITE well with the 2005 album Guitar Heroes, for which they won a Grammy for Best Classical Crossover.
Saturday the 4th is free and open to the public, running from 9 am to 5-ish pm. Throughout the day there will be guitarists playing in a variety of genres competing for scholarships, as well as master classes and concerts by jazz guitarist Larry Koonse, and classical guitarist and composer Benjamin Verdery - the latter of which will perform on his own, and then will be joined by Peter and the RCC Guitar Ensemble to play a piece Verdery wrote for the ensemble and the 2026 festival.
