Meet Michael Kudirka, the amazing classical guitarist in Youtube Guitar Concerto "Keep Calm and Carry On" by contemporary composer Patricio da Silva.
Michael Kudirka enjoys a diverse career as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, lutenist, and basso continuo player on both modern and period instruments. His simultaneous interest in collaborations with living composers and artful improvisation in 16th, 17th, and 18th century music provide him with a fresh perspective on the multi-faceted traditions of the classical guitar. Dr. Kudirka is artist/professor of guitar at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he teaches a studio of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
Dr. Kudirka performs around the globe and has appeared in recital at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (China), Darmstadt Ferienkurse Fur Neue Musik (Germany), Le Chappelle Historique du Bon Pasteur (Montreal), Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), Conservatorio de Las Rosas (Mexico), Ono Guitar School (Japan), Palace of Fine Arts (San Francisco), Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Zipper Recital Hall (Los Angeles), REDCAT (Los Angeles), Flatfile Galleries (Chicago), Lincoln Recital Hall (Portland), and many others. He has performed at numerous festivals and guitar societies including the 2011 Guitar Foundation of America Convention, Baldwin-Wallace International Guitar Festival, Portland Guitar Festival, American Guitar Society, Jacaranda – Music at the Edge, Pacific Standard Time’s Stravinsky Retrospective, Austin Classical Guitar Society, New Mexico Guitar Festival, Grand Canyon Guitar Society, Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “Sunday’s Live”, American Composers Forum, MicroFest, Seattle Classical Guitar Society, Northwest Guitar Society, Other Minds 8, and Music of Changes.
He is a first-prize winner at the Portland International Guitar Competition, University of Southern California Guitar Concerto Competition, American String Teachers Association Guitar Competition, and Pacific Guitar Competition. Michael Kudirka is also the recipient of many grants and awards including the prestigious Theodor Presser Foundation Award, American Composers Forum Subito Grant, California Arts Council’s Touring and Presenting Program, and induction into Pi Kappa Lambda – the national music honors society.
With guitarist Eric Benzant-Feldra, Michael Kudirka released two discs of world-premiere recordings of new music for two guitars by Veronika Krausas, Jeffrey Holmes, Naomi Sekiya, and Bryan Johanson. In 2013, as a founding member of the Helios Guitar Quartet, he and his quartet-mates released their recording of the twenty-four preludes and of fugues that constitute the first book of J.S. Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier”. In addition to the “Well-Tempered Clavier”, Dr. Kudirka has published a broad section of J.S. Bach’s pedagogical work for keyboard arranged for multiple guitars, as well as music by Josquin des Prez, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Francesco da Milano.
An active chamber musician, Michael Kudirka currently tours in the group Duo Amantis with flutist Tara Schwab (University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point). Their programs include original works for flute and guitar by Dusan Bogdanovic, Jeffrey Holmes, Astor Piazzolla, Patricio da Silva, Miroslav Tadic, and Toru Takemitsu as well as their own arrangements of music by Chopin, Ravel, Bach, and Couperin.
Dr. Kudirka received his BM and DMA from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music where he studied with William Kanengiser, James Smith, and Brian Head, and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts where he studied with Miroslav Tadic. He has taught at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, California Institute of the Arts, University of Southern California, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Michael is currently Assistant Professor of Guitar at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem, NC.
Michael Kudirka
Michael Kudirka enjoys a diverse career as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, lutenist, and basso continuo player on both modern and period instruments. His simultaneous interest in collaborations with living composers and artful improvisation in 16th, 17th, and 18th century music provide him with a fresh perspective on the multi-faceted traditions of the classical guitar. Dr. Kudirka is artist/professor of guitar at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where he teaches a studio of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
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| Michael Kudirka, guitarist |
He is a first-prize winner at the Portland International Guitar Competition, University of Southern California Guitar Concerto Competition, American String Teachers Association Guitar Competition, and Pacific Guitar Competition. Michael Kudirka is also the recipient of many grants and awards including the prestigious Theodor Presser Foundation Award, American Composers Forum Subito Grant, California Arts Council’s Touring and Presenting Program, and induction into Pi Kappa Lambda – the national music honors society.
With guitarist Eric Benzant-Feldra, Michael Kudirka released two discs of world-premiere recordings of new music for two guitars by Veronika Krausas, Jeffrey Holmes, Naomi Sekiya, and Bryan Johanson. In 2013, as a founding member of the Helios Guitar Quartet, he and his quartet-mates released their recording of the twenty-four preludes and of fugues that constitute the first book of J.S. Bach’s “Well-Tempered Clavier”. In addition to the “Well-Tempered Clavier”, Dr. Kudirka has published a broad section of J.S. Bach’s pedagogical work for keyboard arranged for multiple guitars, as well as music by Josquin des Prez, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Francesco da Milano.
An active chamber musician, Michael Kudirka currently tours in the group Duo Amantis with flutist Tara Schwab (University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point). Their programs include original works for flute and guitar by Dusan Bogdanovic, Jeffrey Holmes, Astor Piazzolla, Patricio da Silva, Miroslav Tadic, and Toru Takemitsu as well as their own arrangements of music by Chopin, Ravel, Bach, and Couperin.
Dr. Kudirka received his BM and DMA from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music where he studied with William Kanengiser, James Smith, and Brian Head, and his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts where he studied with Miroslav Tadic. He has taught at the Idyllwild Arts Academy, California Institute of the Arts, University of Southern California, Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen Summer Arts Camp, and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Michael is currently Assistant Professor of Guitar at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem, NC.
