Focused virtuosity meets maverick charisma. Recognized as one of America’s premier instrumental ensembles, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet is one of the most charismatic groups performing today. Popularly known as the LAGQ, these four virtuosi bring a new energy to the concert stage with their eclectic programs and dynamic musical interplay. Their critically acclaimed transcriptions of concert masterworks provide a fresh look at the music of the past, while their interpretations of works from the contemporary and world-music realms continually break new ground. The LAGQ has set new standards for the guitar quartet medium.

In September 2001, the LAGQ performed Joaquin Rodrigo’s Concierto Andaluz in Madrid, Spain as part of the official celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the composer’s birth. Throughout the 2001-02 season, the quartet performed the work over twenty times, including performances with the Utah, Austin, Nashville and New Mexico Symphonies, the Buffalo Philharmonic, and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra. LAGQ was also the featured soloist for a six-city tour with the Grammy-award winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with performances in Raleigh, Toronto, Miami, and New York City.

The LAGQ has given recitals in many of the world’s top halls, including Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, and New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. They have toured extensively in Europe and Asia, where they were featured at the Hong Kong, Singapore and Manila International Arts Festivals.

Highlights of the LAGQ’s 2002-03 season included major tours of Japan and Europe, and the release of LAGQ Latin, a new album on Telarc featuring their popular transcription of Bizet’s Carmen, along with works from Chile, Cuba and some new original works by members of the quartet. The CD promotional tour spanned three continents, with concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, Berlin, Munich, Brussels, Santa Barbara, Chicago, and Milwaukee, to name a few.

The quartet followed up on the success of LAGQ Latin with the June 2004 release of Guitar Heroes on Telarc. The new album is a tribute to the many and varied guitarists of the past several decades who have influenced and inspired the quartet—as individuals and as a group.

The LAGQ has recorded for SONY Classical. Their first SONY release, entitled L.A.G.Q., debuted in the top 15 on the Billboard Classical-Crossover charts and remained there for six months. Their second SONY album enjoyed similar success, enjoying a four-month stay in the top 25.

In recent seasons, the LAGQ has been heard on Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday Morning, and seen as soloist in a nationally broadcast performance with Keith Lockhart and the Boston Pops on PBS’s “Evening at Pops.” The LAGQ has also been featured on CNN’s Show Biz Today, CBS’s Saturday Morning and A&E Network’s Breakfast with the Arts.

Each member of the group is a seasoned soloist and gives the Quartet the unique capability of rotating the “first chair” from piece to piece:

John Dearman
Originally from Minneapolis, John Dearman is a versatile guitarist whose repertoire ranges from samba to bluegrass, and from flamenco to classical. He enriches the sound of the LAGQ by performing on a unique seven-string guitar with extended upper and lower registers. A member of the guitar faculty at El Camino College and Pasadena City College, John is a regular contributor to "Fingertips," a technique column on GuitarSalon.com. He also performs regularly with mandolin virtuoso Katarina Lichtenberg.

Scott Tennant
First prize winner in the Tokyo International Competition in 1989, Detroit-born Scott Tennant has been concertizing since the age of twelve. Much in demand as a solo artist, Scott has recorded for Delos International and is currently completing a recording of the complete solo guitar works of Joaquin Rodrigo for GHA, Belgium. He is the author of the best-selling book and video Pumping Nylon, a technical handbook for the classical guitarist, and he is a guitar-faculty member at the University of Southern California.

Andrew York

Voted “Best Classical Album” of 1994 by Guitar Player Magazine readers’ poll, York’s solo CD Denouement illustrates his groundbreaking style as a composer and guitarist. York is featured on Rhino Records Legends of Guitar, the Windham Hill Guitar Sampler and guitar luminaries John Williams and Christopher Parkening have recorded his works as well. A published composer worldwide through Alfred Publications, Hal Leonard, Guitar Solo, Ricordi in London, and Gendai in Japan, York also recently filmed a video for the Mel Bay Artist Series.

William Kanengiser
Acclaimed soloist, recording artist and faculty member at the University of Southern California, William Kanengiser is one of the few guitarists to have won the Concert Artists Guild New York Competition. He displays his unique approach to programming in solo recordings that explore the music of the Old World and the Caribbean. He has earned critical acclaim for his imaginative arrangements for solo guitar and guitar quartet, and for producing two instructional videos for Hot Licks. Kanengiser may be best known as the classical guitarist in the film Crossroads.