December 7 @ 3 pm: Tallahassee Youth Showcase Concert @ St. Johns Episcopal Church

January 18 @ 3 pm: FSU Guitar Studio Concert @ St. Johns Episcopal Church

February 15 @ 3pm: Zohn/Sharpe Duo @ St. Johns Episcopal Church. The musical relationship between guitarists Robert Sharpe and Andrew Zohn began in 1997 as student and teacher. Robert received his first guitar lesson from Zohn at the age of 12 and would continue under his direction at the Schwob School of Music (Columbus State University). Upon Sharpe’s joining the faculty of the Schwob School in 2012, the two formed this exciting new duo and are performing a diverse program which includes Mozart, Gnattali, Soler and Zohn. They have performed to wide acclaim throughout the United States and Europe.

Andrew Eliot Zohn is recognized internationally for his work as a performer, instructor, and composer. He has performed concerts on five continents including venues in Beijing, Cairo, New York, Rotterdam, Paris, Vancouver, Honolulu, Buenos Aires, Atlanta, Toronto, and Puerto Rico. He has also served as a guest artist at many of the world’s most prestigious music festivals including the Festival of New Music (Central Conservatory of Music, China) the Guitar on the Mediterranean Guitar Festival (Italy), the Iserlohn Guitar Symposium (Germany), the National Guitar Workshop (USA), and Guitare Montreal (Canada). Students of Andrew Zohn have won prizes in dozens of national and international competitions and have been featured on National Public Radio. Original compositions and transcriptions by Andrew Zohn are published through Les Productions d’Oz, Canada, Tuscany publications (Theodore Presser), and FJH Publications. His recordings for Clear Note and Centaur Records have received wide acclaim from American Record Guide, Classical Guitar Magazine, GuitArt Magazine, Soundboard, Guitarra Magazine, and Rosewood Review.

Since his national radio debut on National Public Radio’s acclaimed program From the Top, Robert Fielding Sharpe has received top prizes in national and international competitions. He has been a guest artist at the East Carolina University Guitar Festival, the Tennessee State University Classical Guitar Seminar, the Cleveland Classical Guitar Society, the Greater Cincinnati Guitar Society, the Virtuoso Showcase Classical Guitar Series, and the Fort Worth Guitar Guild. International performances include concerts at the Guitar Festival on the Mediterranean in Italy, the Sauble Beach Guitar Festival in Canada, and the Kras Guitar Festival in Slovenia. Mr. Sharpe has served on the faculty of the Tennessee State University Classical Guitar Seminar and the East Carolina University Guitar Festival. Recently, he joined the music faculty at Columbus State University’s Schwob School of Music. Mr. Sharpe holds a Bachelor of Music from Columbus State University and a Master of Music from Yale University. He is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the direction of guitarist Jason Vieaux.

April 12 @ 3 pm: Petrit Ceku @ St. Johns Episcopal Church.  Petrit Ceku was born in 1985 in Prizren, Kosovo where, at primary music school, he received instruction from Luan Sapunxhiu. In 2002 he moved to Zagreb, where he continued his music education under the instruction of Xhevdet Sahatxhija. He won first prize in the All-Croatian Competition in Dubrovnik in 2003 and in the international Anna Amalia Guitar Competition in Weimar. The following year he won the Emilio Pujol Guitar Competition in Sassari, Italy, as well as the German Andrés Segovia in Velbert. Also in 2004, he represented Croatia in the European Music Prize for Youth in Dubrovnik and won first prize as well as the Croatian Composers’ Union prize for the performance of a work by a Croatian composer. In the same year he became a student in Darko Petrinjak’s class at the Music Academy in Zagreb. Petrit Ceku was the only guitarist in the Ferdo Livadiç International Young Music Artists’ competition in Samobor, Croatia, and won first prize by a unanimous decision of the jury. He won the annual prize of The Croatian Music Youth in 2005. He was awarded the Silver Medal in The Parkening Competition in Malibu, California and second prize in the Belgian Printemps de la guitare in Charleroi in 2006. Winning the Pittaluga Competition in Alessandria, Italy in 2007, Petrit Ceku established himself as one of the leading guitarists of the younger generation. He has taken part in master-classes led by Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Zoran Dukiç, Carlo Marchione, Ehat Musa, Scott Tennant and Ana Vidovic. For several years he has attended Strings Only!, the summer school for string instruments, led by the renowned cellist Valter Despalj. Petrit Ceku is currently based in Zagreb.