Internationally Recognized Guitarist and Cellist Give Concert

The Richter Uzur Duo, composed of internationally recognized guitarist and guitar composer Brad Richter and cellist Viktor Uzur, visited Westminster April 23 to give a concert in the Werner Centennial Center for the Westminster community. This was Brad’s third visit to Westminster and Viktor’s second.
 

Viktor and Brad are classical musicians with successful international solo careers and intensive training from two of the world’s most lauded musical institutions: The Moscow Conservatory and The Royal College of Music respectively. Their musical interests and abilities, however, are not limited to classical music. In their teens and 20s, while developing into classical virtuosi, they cut their teeth in rock bands – Viktor as an electric guitarist and Brad as a guitarist and singer. They also delved into folk and world music but eventually put those interests aside as they pursued their classical concert careers.
 

Since October 2008, the duo has appeared regularly on NPR broadcasts of American Public Media’s “Performance Today.” They combine classical, rock, and folk music and themes into original new compositions. “String Theory,” their CD featuring original compositions and arrangements for guitar and cello, was recently named “best new release” by the nationally syndicated NPR program “Classical Guitar Alive.”
 

For their Westminster concert, they performed mashup pieces, original compositions and rock songs, explaining the history of each piece. http://vimeo.com/40913870
 

Following the concert, they took questions from the audience. When asked about their song-writing process, they explained how they live almost 1,000 miles apart and do a lot of it over the phone and Internet. They write parts separately, and combine them and redevelop them while on concert tours together. When asked if they have a favorite song, Viktor replied that when they write something new it becomes their favorite.
 

Brad and Viktor also visited David Chrzanowski’s AP Music Theory and Introduction to Music Theory classes. Brad told the students in AP Music Theory that, “Music theory is crucial to a composer. It gets me out of so many problems.” He and Viktor also talked about the pros and cons of composing by writing or by playing. “It depends on the piece,” said Brad. They also talked more about how they composed some of the pieces they performed in the concert.
 

Brad has performed throughout North America and Europe as a soloist with renowned chamber ensembles and in duos with artists such as Grammy-winning cellist David Finckel of the Emerson String Quartet. In addition to his collections of concert music for solo guitar, Brad is an avid composer of his own particular brand of chamber music. He is a winner of the International Composer’s Guild Competition and wrote and performed a score for the Emmy award winning PBS television series, “The Desert Speaks.” His most ambitious chamber work, “Navigating Lake Bonneville,” was released on CD in 2008. His critically acclaimed solo CD, “A Whisper in the Desert,” is available from Acoustic Music Records. Brad has taught and performed at music festivals around the world and is the artistic director of Lead Guitar, a not-for-profit he co-founded in 2006 to establish guitar programs in schools with large populations of at-risk youth nationwide.
 

Viktor has appeared as a soloist and chamber musician in many countries in Europe, Asia and North America, including concerts and collaborations with composers such as Tikhon Khrennikov, Petris Vasks and Lewis Nielson. His engagement as the principal cellist and soloist with ARCO Moscow Chamber Orchestra brought him many CD releases and international tours, and his performances, interviews and compositions have been broadcast nationally on television and radio stations in the former Yugoslavia, Russia and the United States. He has given concerts and has been an artist-in-residence at festivals in Austria, Spain, Italy, France, Russia, Canada, Korea, Latvia, Brazil, the United States and the former Yugoslavia. He serves as a cello professor at Weber State University in Utah.