About Me
The Tidewater Guitar Orchestra was begun in the spring of 1995 by Sam Dorsey, president of the Tidewater Classical Guitar Society. Sam discovered a similar orchestra, led by Professor Luis Zumbado, during a visit to the University of Costa Rica in San José. We had their orchestra on our concert season in 1996, and our orchestra finally summoned the courage to appear in Costa Rica in October of 1999.One of the only orchestras of its kind in North America, the TGO purchased its original instruments through a generous grant from the Pfizer Corporation. Since then, the orchestra has been acquiring additional instruments from luthier Omar Corales Guzman of Costa Rica.The TGO has performed widely in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Notable among these performances were two performances as part of the International Waterfront Festival last year. As part of this festival, the orchestra performed with Virginia Symphony conductor JoAnn Falletta, to standing ovations at two sold out concerts. Lee Teply, a reviewer for the Virginian Pilot, lauded the orchestra's performance. "Their bright sound was perfect for music by Albéniz and Tárrega, and the precision with which they played was impressive. The program closer, 'Tico Tico', was a fitting celebration, like a party after an evening of hard, but rewarding work."In September of 1999, the orchestra performed in Williamsburg, honoring that city's tercentenary celebration. We have plans to expand the horizons of these performances in the future.The repertoire of the group is quite diverse. Originally, much of the music for the orchestra came through a generous exchange program with the orchestra in Costa Rica. These pieces were mostly Central and South American in nature and are still crowd pleasers. To add to its repertoire, members of the orchestra, notably John Boyles and Dan Cudney, began arranging other pieces in other genres. As a result, the orchestra has added works by such composers as Bach, Telemann, Mozart, Bartok and Copeland to its repertoire. In addition the group commissioned Virginia-born composer Andrew York, a member of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, to compose a piece which was premiered at the Williamsburg tercentenary.They teamed up with producer Mark Skipper in 2000 to record their first full length CD project "Prelude" at Daily Planet Studio In Virginia Beach, Virginia, featuring works by Andrew York, and even some compositions from within the ensemble. Final Mastering was done at www.kitchenmastering.com in Chapel Hill, NC by Brent Lambert.They are currently finishing their newest CD project at www.soundmarkstudios.com in Portsmouth with producer / mixer Mark Skipper.
