Concert Series

Buy a Season Subscription — Four Concerts for the Price of Three!

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Sunday, 18 October 2026 | Virgile Barthe, First Prize Winner of the Guitar Foundation of America 2025 Competition

3:00 pm | First Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus

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Virgile Barthe is one of the most promising young talents on the classical guitar scene. After studying at the Toulouse Conservatory with Benoît Albert, he was admitted at age 17 to the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he is currently pursuing a Master’s degree under the guidance of Judicaël Perroy. A multiple international prizewinner, Barthe began attracting attention early, winning major awards from the age of 16. In 2024, he won first prize at the prestigious Maurizio Biasini International Competition, performing as a soloist with the Sinfonieorchester Basel. The following year, he claimed top prizes at both the Koblenz International Guitar Competition (Germany) and the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition (USA), two of the most prestigious events in the classical guitar world. Regularly invited to perform at international festivals, Virgile Barthe is praised for the elegance of his playing and his wide-ranging repertoire spanning from Baroque to contemporary music.

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Saturday, 16 January 2027 | Siwoo Kim and Jordan Dodson, violin and guitar duo

7:30 pm | Huntington Recital Hall, Capital University

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Siwoo Kim is an “incisive” and “compelling” (The New York Times) violinist who plays with “stylistic sensitivity and generous tonal nuance” (Chicago Tribune). Siwoo performs as soloist and chamber musician, and he is the co-founding artistic director of VIVO Music Festival in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Performance highlights include summers at Marlboro Music Festival, serving as faculty at Stellenbosch Music Festival and collaborating with veteran artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Joyce DiDonato, and Susan Graham. Siwoo received his undergraduate and graduate degrees from The Juilliard School.

Jordan Dodson, described by Performance Today as “one of the top young guitarists of his generation,” is a musician and educator. A passionate advocate of contemporary music, Dodson has given the premiere of hundreds of new works. In 2013 he was the first guitarist to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music’s new guitar program. In the same year he won Astral Artists’ National Auditions and was selected to be Young Artist in Residence on American Public Media. He recently appeared as soloist with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia with the premiere of Andrea Clearfield’s new concerto, Glow. He plays in several New York City chamber ensembles including the Metropolis Ensemble and the New York City Guitar Quartet, and frequently collaborates with the International Contemporary Ensemble, Curtis on Tour, the American Modern Opera Company, Jupiter Symphony Chamber Players, and Contemporaneous. He has performed alongside such musicians as Roberto Díaz, Anne Marie-McDermott, and Ransom Wilson. Originally from Columbus, Ohio, Dodson is on faculty at EzraGuitar and The Smith School in New York City. He has given many masterclasses and lectures and holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Manhattan School of Music, and the University of Cincinnati, and his teachers have included Clare Callahan, David Starobin, and Jason Vieaux. 

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Saturday, 6 February 2027 | Virtuoso Celil Refik Kaya in Concert

7:30 pm | Huntington Recital Hall, Capital University

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Turkish-American guitarist Celil Refik Kaya has been a celebrated figure in the classical guitar world since making his concert debut at the age of six. Throughout his career, Kaya has garnered numerous accolades and recognition for his exceptional artistry. At just 20 years old, he became the youngest guitarist ever to win First Prize in the 2012 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition with the Buffalo Philharmonic. He is also a prizewinner of several prestigious international guitar competitions, including those held in Sofia (Bulgaria), Naxos (Greece), Vienna (Austria), Istanbul (Türkiye), and across the United States. His achievements include top awards from the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA), the Indiana International Guitar Competition, the Boston Guitar Competition, the Texas International Guitar Competition, the Schadt String Competition, and the Philadelphia Guitar Competition. In 2017, he was honored with the Rising Young Musician of the Year award by the Donizetti Classical Music Awards in Istanbul. Kaya has graced some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals, performing solo recitals, concertos, and masterclasses. His performances have been featured in series such as the D’Addario Performance Series at Carnegie Hall, Masters of the Guitar Series at the Concertgebouw, and the Frick Collection Museum’s Summer Artists Series in NYC. He has also performed at the New York Guitar Seminar Festival at Mannes College, Round Top Festival in Texas, Brevard Music Festival, Raritan River Music Festival, and the Ankara International Music Festival. His work has been broadcast on numerous radio stations across the United States and Europe. Currently, Dr. Kaya serves as the Coordinator of Guitar Studies at both Kean University Music Conservatory and New Jersey City University.

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Saturday, 10 April 2026 | Izhar Elias, early-guitar specialist

7:30 pm | Huntington Recital Hall, Capital University

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Izhar Elias is an internationally recognized classical guitarist from the Netherlands. His poetic style in combination with profound research makes him one of the most sought-after specialists in early music, chamber music and new music for guitar. He has given concerts, lectures and masterclasses, and been the soloist in concertos with renowned orchestras, in Europe, Russia, southeast Asia, Australia and the US. Izhar has won many national and international competitions. He is winner of the prestigious Dutch Music Prize, the highest musical award given by the Dutch government. Through extensive research, Izhar has been able to recreate a musical language of the Renaissance, Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods, using original instruments and historical methods. In a program entitled “La Guitaromanie!”, he will play an original 1830s Stauffer guitar.