Up Close with Mak Grgić at the Redstone Room -- September 11.
Sunday, September 11, 2 p.m.
The Redstone Room, 129 Main Street, Davenport IA
Touted as a “gifted young guitarist” by the New York Times and “a guitarist to keep an eye on” by the Washington Post, Grammy-nominated artist Mak Grgić performs a special Redstone Room concert on September 11 in an event co-presented by the Quad City Symphony, allowing patrons an audience with this exciting talent before he joins the QCSO as a guest soloist in the forthcoming Masterworks III: Ode to Guitar.
Grgić (pronounced GER-gich) was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in 1987, and before embarking on his musical studies, he showed interest in competitive mathematics – earning him number-one ranking in the country according to the competition Jurij Vega – and martial arts, winning a title of world champion at the age of 11. His first appearance on a musical stage was at age 12, and he studied with Ante Cagalj at the Elly Basic Conservatory of Music; Alvaro Pierri at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria; and at USC Thornton School of Music as a student of William Kanengiser, Scott Tennant, and Brian Head, artistic director of Guitar Foundation of America. Grgić was consequently the first guitarist in the history of University of Southern California to be accepted into the Artist Diploma Program.
Over the years, Grgić has performed at venues including: Hotel des Invalides, Paris, France; Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Italy; Koncerthuset, Stockholm, Sweden; Musikverein, Vienna, Austria; Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, United States; Strathmore Mansion, North Bethesda, Maryland, USA; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., USA; and Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia. He spent two years in residence at the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, and as a part of his tenure, he co-founded the contemporary octet DC8, which performed and commissioned new works from Michael Gordon and Nina Senk.
The DC8 ensemble was proclaimed as an “inspiring addition to the contemporary music landscape” by the Los Angeles Times, and Grgić has also collaborated with musicians such as JACK Quartet, Martin Chalifour, Clive Greensmith of the Tokyo String Quartet, and the Assad Brothers guitar duo. Additionally, Grgić began his ongoing collaboration with Billboard's charts-topping pianist Paul Cardall in 2020, exploring the meditative and mindful aspects of musical composition, and his talents recently netted him a nomination for a 2022 Grammy Award.
The Up Close with Mak Grgić performance at Davenport's Redstone Room takes place on September 11, admission to the 2 p.m. concert is $10-25, and more information and tickets are available by contacting the venue at (563)326-1333 and RiverMusicExperience.org, and by contacting the Quad City Symphony Orchestra at (563)322-0931 and QCSO.org.
