One of the most versatile and respected guitarists in the world, John Williams has explored, expanded, and personally inspired a modern renaissance for the classical guitar through his international concert appearances and best-selling recordings. When he made his first appearances in the United States some forty years ago, Williams signed an exclusive contract with CBS Masterworks, which is now Sony Classical.

Williams has a long history of noteworthy collaborations, and those with Julian Bream, Itzhak Perlman, André Previn, Cleo Laine, and John Dankworth have been particularly fruitful. In addition, the guitarist’s talents have stimulated many composers to write for him. In 2000 Williams toured the Pacific Rim. In March 2000 he performed with Inti-Illimani and Paco Peña in Europe, and in May he played in Cuba for the first time.

Williams was born in Melbourne, Australia, where he was taught the guitar by his father. Later he attended summer courses with Segovia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, and studied music at the Royal College of Music in London.

John Etheridge has been at the top of the jazz and contemporary guitar world for 25 years. His career has covered a huge range of musical territory, combining powerful improvising, technique, a feel for idiom, and an individual concept which makes his output eclectic but highly personal. 

Etheridge was first touted by the music press in the early 1970s. In 1975 he was offered the chance to replace Allan Holdsworth in the jazz-fusion group Soft Machine. International touring and recording followed until the band’s demise at the end of the 1970s. Starting in 1976 Etheridge joined the touring group of the celebrated jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli. For a number of years these two commitments ran parallel, revealing the broad range of his abilities. 

Etheridge left Grappelli’s quartet in 1981. For the last twenty years he has pursued a career involving associations with many of the great players of the jazz world. In the late 1980s Etheridge started to lead his own bands and is now fronting a quartet dedicated to Stephane Grappelli, as well as an eight-piece group Zappatistas (performing the music of Frank Zappa). He is currently rehearsing a new group formed by John Williams.

Internationally acclaimed violinist Gregory Fulkerson has had a flourishing career in classical and contemporary music. It was as a major exponent of American contemporary music that he rose to prominence, taking the first prize in the Internatinal American Music Competition sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation and the Kennedy Center. As a result, he began a very active performing career which included debuts in New York and Europe. He has performed over thirty concerti with orchestra, including world premieres of the John Becker Concerto with the Chattanooga Symphony, the Richard Wernick Concerto with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Roy Harris Concerto with the North Carolina Symphony. He performed the title role in the 1992 revival of the Philip Glass opera Einstein On The Beach for 48 performances on four continents.

Gregory Fulkerson was born in Iowa City, Iowa, and studied at Oberlin College and at The Juilliard School. His recording of the complete violin sonatas of Charles Ives on Bridge Records has become the standard for that repertoire. His latest recording of the complete sonatas and partitas for solo violin by J.S. Bach on the Bridge label was chosen as one of the best CDs of 2000 by The New Yorker magazine. 

Steinway Artist Richard Glazier has been acclaimed as a recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. 

Although trained in the classics, Glazier has a special affinity for the American popular song. His enthusiasm for Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue led to a correspondence with Ira Gershwin; and during a visit to the lyricist’s Beverly Hills home, Glazier was given the honor of playing on George Gershwin’s personal piano.

Glazier’s interest in the Gershwins’ music led him to the wonderful movie musicals for which they wrote. Glazier remembers watching great talents like Judy Garland, Fred Astaire, and Gene Kelly on a tiny black and white television. Today, Glazier pays tribute to these performers, their films, and the great composers who wrote for them in his one-man multi-media show entitled “A Salute to The Hollywood Musical.” He is currently touring with this program nationwide under the auspices of Community Concerts.

Glazier is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he received a Doctor of Musical Arts in piano performance.