Focus Adam Cicchillitti & Steve Cowan

• Harry Stafylakis (b. 1982): Focus:
• 1 Focus: I. Radial Glare 05:14
• 2 Focus: II. Inward Gaze 04:24
• Andrew Staniland: Choro:
• 3 Choro: the Joyful Lament for Villa-Lobos 08:13
• José Evangelista (b. 1943): José Evangelista
• 4 Retazos: I. Recordando a Pepe Balaguer 03:51
• 5 Retazos: II. Marcha lenta 01:49
• 6 Retazos: III. Alegre 02:17
• 7 Retazos: IV. Fluido 01:47
• 8 Retazos: V. Escalas 01:23
• Patrick Roux: Ombres et lumières:
• 9 Ombres et lumières: I. Dans l’ombre (Lento meditativo) 02:18
• 10 Ombres et lumières: II. Vers la lumière (Allegro deciso et ritmico) 05:22
• Jason Noble:
• 11 River and Cave 11:55
• Total Runtime 48:33

Info for Focus

This enterprising recording of new Canadian works for guitar duo possesses two important features. The first is the quality of the music per- formed. Though infused with a myriad of differing influences and exhibiting a vast array of guitar techniques, these works are both richly flavoured and enticing in their varying musical approaches. Second, the Adam Cicchillitti and Steve Cowan duo display an impressive technical assurance and admirable interpretive insights. The latter is hardly surprising, as the duo has had the privilege of pre- paring the program of works with their respective composers.

The celebrated Montreal composer José Evangelista’s 2010 composition Retazos explores methods of making music based exclusively on melody in an innovative, haunting yet vibrant work in five movements. Cicchillitti and Cowan arranged the piece for guitar duo in early 2017 and gave its world premiere as part of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec’s homage series to Evangelista.

Also in 2017, Cicchillitti and Cowan commissioned a new piece for guitar duo from famed guitarist, teacher, and composer Patrick Roux. The source of inspiration for Ombres et lumières (Shadows and Lights) was a painting of the same name by Roux’s close friend Mario Courchesne. Ombres et lumières is in two movements, the first, in Roux’s own words, “evoking human sorrow, immersing the listener in shadow and obscurity” is strikingly contrasted with the second, a rapid and relentless section that reflects a “journey on a sinuous, frantic and adventurous path towards the light.” The work was conceived as a dialogue between shifting musical motifs, culminating in the more obsessive rhythms of progressive rock. Ombres et lumières was premiered in September 2018.

Andrew Staniland’s 2017 piece Choro: The Joyful Lament for Villa-Lobos uses a typical Brazilian ‘choro’ (lamentation) as a source of inspiration. The rhythmically rapid and ironically joyful nature of the choro helps infuse the piece with not only extended guitar techniques but considerable virtuosic elements, aided by the composer’s original indications such as “Quiet, but driving” and “Vivacious and playful.”

Originally written for two harps, Noble arranged and edited River and Cave for Cicchillitti and Cowan, who premiered the piece in October 2018. The music of Jason Noble has been described as “brilliant, colourful, astounding and challenging,” all of which describe his work River and Cave. Symbols form an integral part of Noble’s work and his self-stylized ‘semiotic’ compositional style, in which the composer focuses on the listener’s perception of meaning derived from musical symbols. Noble notes that the “river and cave are deeply embedded cultural symbols” that are represented in the work’s three sections. The first is animated by a feeling of perpetual motion through the use of repeated patterns to emulate a fl owing river. In the river’s second, contrasting, section, the performers are asked to detune the guitar’s bass strings, simulating the rumbling and rushing of water. In the final “cave” section, the performers sing into the body of the guitar to evoke sound images of caves.

Focus is the result of a 2018 Canada Council for the Arts grant to Cicchillitti and Cowan, who commissioned this new work from Canadian- American composer Harry Stafylakis. A captivating and enthralling piece, Focus assimilates three themes dear to Stafylakis’ heart; progressive metal, classical music, and traditional Greek music. According to the composer, the opening movement of this virtuoso two-movement work, “Radial Glare,” “leans heavily on the metal end of the spectrum, deploying both classical and electric guitar idioms in an unrelenting virtuosic, ferociously extroverted stream of sound and tight ensemble work.” Based on thematic material inspired by the second movement of Beethoven’s seventh symphony, the final movement, “Inward Gaze,” is more classically-inclined.

Adam Cicchillitti, classical guitar
Steve Cowan, classical guitar

Adam Cicchillitti
There were several media accolades over the past years for Montreal-born guitarist Adam Cicchillitti. The renowned American magazine Classical Guitar called him “a virtuoso at the top of his game” and CBC Music described him as an “ardent ambassador for classical guitar,” including him on their list of the top 30 musicians in Canada under 30 years old. Adam has commissioned over two dozen new works since 2019 and recorded five albums with the Analekta, Atma, and Leaf Music record labels. His album Focus, dedicated to new Canadian music for two guitars, was awarded “Classical Recording of the Year” at the East Coast Music Awards in 2021. The follow-up album Intimate Impressions was nominated in the same category in 2022.

Adam and his duo partner Steve Cowan have won the second and third prizes at the Guitar Foundation of America International Ensemble Competition in 2023 and 2021 respectively, without a doubt the world’s most prestigious guitar ensemble competition. Moreover, he is only the second guitarist to win the grand prize of the multi-instrument Canimex concerto competition in Canada and has been a finalist and multiple prize-winner in over a dozen national and international competitions.

Adam has set a benchmark in classical guitar with his award-winning recordings, competition performances, arrangements, and teaching. He regularly collaborates with many of Canada's most esteemed soloists and orchestras, including guitarist Steve Cowan, flutist Lara Deutsch, baritone Philippe Sly, bandoneonist Denis Plante, the Orchestre classique de Montréal and Forestare. He has toured Canada and the United States several times and has been represented by prestigious touring agencies such as Prairie Debut, Debut Atlantic, and Jeunesses Musicales. In 2022, he commissioned six new guitar concertos with the Thirteen Strings orchestra of Ottawa, again with Cowan. The works will be recorded as world premieres in 2024.

Adam is lecturer of guitar at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada. He holds a doctorate in guitar performance from McGill University and is the founder of the guitar school at Ottawa Suzuki Strings. Adam is sponsored by Augustine Strings and plays a guitar by the Canadian/Dutch luthier Sergei de Jonge.

Steve Cowan
Described as “an elegant musician whose strong, crisp sense of rhythm under-pins his colourful interpretations” (American Record Guide), the Canadian guitarist Steve Cowan has performed throughout Canada, the United States, Europe, and New Zealand. International highlights from recent seasons include concerto performances with Ensemble Del Arte (Germany), the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra (New Zealand), and two solo albums with HR Recordings (Spain).

As a chamber musician, Steve performs regularly with Forestare, a Montréal-based string ensemble. His duo with guitarist Adam Cicchillitti has premièred 21 new works and released an album of Canadian music titled FOCUS (Analekta, 2019), which won Classical Recording of the Year at the 2021 East Coast Music Awards. Their next recording, Impressions intimes (Analekta, 2021), features original arrangements of Debussy, Ravel, Mompou and Tailleferre. As of 2022, Steve is also the newest member of the renowned Canadian Guitar Quartet.

Steve has won awards at ten national and international competitions, eight of which are first prizes. Most recently, he won First Prize at the Tallinn Guitar Competition in Estonia, making him a EuroStrings touring artist for the 2021 season. Also a distinguished teacher, Steve has given public masterclasses at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, the Royal Danish Academy of Music, the University of Victoria, the New Zealand School of Music, and more.

Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Steve Cowan holds degrees from Memorial University, the Manhattan School of Music, and McGill University. His teachers include Sylvie Proulx, David Leisner and Jérôme Ducharme. Since 2019, he has been a guitar instructor at the Schulich School of Music of McGill University.

This album contains no booklet.