L.A. Guitar Quartet Biography
The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet (LAGQ) became the world's leading guitar ensemble in the 1990s.The group's origins lay with the great guitar player and teacher Pepe Romero, who formed four of his students into a guitar quartet in 1980. Romero was himself a member of one of the premiere guitar quartets, Los Romeros, made up of members of his family. When he became a teacher at the University of Southern California, he passed the Los Romeros tradition on to the LAGQ.
In 1990 three of the original members, Scott Tennant, John Dearman, and William Kanengiser, accepted Andrew York, already a well-known guitarist and composer, as a member of the LAGQ.
Since then their popularity has soared. They recorded for the GHA and Delos record labels and in 1998 became exclusive artists for Sony Classics. Their first release for the label, titled L.A.G.Q., entered the Billboard Magazine classical-crossover charts in the Top Ten.
The performing style of the quartet is energetic, with strong showmanship and personality. To the small repertory of original four-guitar music they have added a series of acclaimed and intricate arrangements of classical music, but also feature jazz and world music in their concerts and on their recordings.
This inventive and eclectic program-making has resulted in wide acclaim. Their Delos album Labyrinth, for instance, includes Andrew York's Pacific Coast Highway, Aaron Copland's Simple Gifts Variations, Sousa's Black Horse Troop March, and Count Basie's Jumpin' at the Woodside. Their Delos discography includes a number of albums each representing a side of their repertory: Evening in Granada focuses on one of the guitar's staples, Spanish music. For Thy Pleasure emphasizes Baroque and earlier music in transcriptions. Wild Mountain Thyme, however, is a collection of Celtic folk music, and includes a guest steel guitar artist.
The LAGQ has appeared nationwide on radio (St. Paul Sunday Morning) and television (Evening at Pops, Today Show, and Breakfast with the Arts). They tour widely, including highly successful visits to Europe and Asia.
Biography by allmusic.com
