Artist Bios 2020
Matt Thomas
A master of the acoustic guitar, Matt Thomas brings technical wizardry as well as a vibrant and poetic music making experience. This has made him one of the most distinctive fingerstyle guitarists performing in the acoustic guitar arena today. He takes his audience on a vivid scientific themed journey throughout his shows, peppered with exciting stories and odd finding that inspire his music. A true character of all sorts!
An acoustic guitarist of astounding strength, ability, control and sensitivity are almost as striking as his technical expertise. Intricate fingerstyle technique, with an uncanny gift for melodic invention, Matt Thomas delivers a flawless performance every time.
At the age of 34, Matt Thomas has gained some large credit in the world of fingerstyle guitar. In 2019, he won 1st place at the International Fingerstyle Collective Competition and will be going on tour in China in 2021! In 2017, he won 3rd place at the Walnut Valley International Fingerstyle Competition in Winfield Kansas. He won 1st place in both contemporary thumb-picking and open style at the Home of the Legends International Thumbpicking Competition. The following year, he returned to be inducted into the Thumbpickers Hall-of-Fame and was asked to compete again which resulted in another 1st place win in contemporary fingerstyle, and 2nd in traditional thumbpicking. Along with being a decorated fingerstylist, Thomas is very well known for his Harp Guitar compositions and being a long time member/performer of the Harp Guitar Gathering.
Some influences are Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, Jerry Reed, Buster B. Jones, Stephen Bennett, Petteri Sariola, Alexandr Misko, Pat Kirtley, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Django Reinhardt, Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, Andy Mckee, Adam Rafferty, and Tommy Emmanuel.
In the decade that Thomas has been playing fingerstyle professionally, he has performed with such greats as Stephen Bennett, Muriel Anderson, Alexandr Misko, Michael Kelsey, Joscho Stephan of Germany, Gareth Pearson of Wales, Beppe Gambetta, Peppino D’Agostino, Wayne Henderson, Richard Smith, Daniel Champagne, Christie Lenee, Travis Bowman and even guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel.
Along with sharing the stage with some of the worlds best musicians, Thomas performed at some of most prestigious acoustic festivals in the nation including Merlefest, the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) Convention, and The Walnut Valley Festival (Winfield KS Main Stage) The Annual Harp Guitar Gathering. Since then, he has performed at countless music festivals across the east and west coast. In 2020, he was scheduled to perform at several prestigious guitar events such as Artisan Guitar Show, La Connor Guitar Show, Fingerstyle Collective Festival, The Woodchoppers Ball, and a China Tour for Mayson Guitars.
Brendan Evans
Brendan Evans has been enamoured with the guitar ever since his parents hosted a visiting classical guitarist when he was two years old, and from that early experience the guitar has been a near constant companion for Brendan. At age 10 he began busking in his hometown of Rockport, Massachusetts, and continued to do so in the summers after moving from home at age 13 to attend Phillips Exeter Academy, where music became a refuge from the Academy’s intense academic environment.
One afternoon Brendan’s teacher played for him Augstin Barrios’s Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios, and the overwhelming beauty of this famous tremolo piece left a permanent impression. Upon graduating Brendan enrolled at Oberlin, where he spent four years melding passion with discipline, and soaking up the wildly diverse musical environment that defines the Oberlin experience. At the encouragement of his teacher, Brendan took a year off and lived in the Andalusia, the birthplace of the guitar. He grew enormously through studying flamenco, and since then the music of Spain, with its vibrancy of color and rhythm, its defiance and joy, has been Brendan’s biggest inspiration. Once graduated, Brendan enrolled at the San Francisco Conservatory, where he spent two years playing in new music, tango, and guitar ensembles, performing his first concerto with orchestra, and learning repertoire with his teacher David Tanenbaum.
Master’s degree in hand, Brendan moved to Philadelphia in 2008 where he has since won prizes and given performances across North America and in 13 countries around the world, most recently in Thailand, India, and Nepal. Locally, he was a prize winner in the 2014 Scahdt String Competition and had his formal Philadelphia debut in 2015 with the Philadelphia Guitar Society. He teaches at the University of Pennsylvania and the Settlement Music School. Brendan is playing a 2011 David Pace guitar.
Adam Kossler
Virtuoso technique, beautiful sound and a sincere musicality” are terms music critics are using to describe American guitarist Adam Kossler. In addition to performing regularly as a solo artist, Adam joins his father William and brother John in both duo and trio concerts.
Adam Kossler is a top prizewinner in a number of national and international guitar competitions including the Boston Guitarfest, Columbus Guitar Symposium, East Carolina Guitar Competition, MANC Guitar Competition, Texas International Guitar Competition, Music Teacher National Association Competition, and the Appalachian Guitarfest Competition. Kossler’s international performance career has taken him throughout the US, Canada and Central America. He has been a featured artist with numerous concert series including the John E. Marlow Guitar Series (Bethesda, MD), Isle Newell Concert Series (Appalachicola, FL), and the Seven Hills Guitar Series (Tallahassee, FL) among many others. In 2015, his Marlow Guitar Series performance was aired in it’s entirety on Classical WETA’s weekly program, “Front Row Washington”. Recently he performed at Carnegie Hall, premiering new works by Chilean composer, Javier Farias.
In addition to his performance career, Kossler is also in demand as a teacher and clinician. Recent engagements include The Denver Guitar Summit (Denver, CO), Festival Internacional Suzuki (Guatemala City, Guatemala), University of Alaska Guitar Festival (Anchorage, AK) Rantucci Guitar Festival (Buffalo, NY), and in 2015 Kossler was the featured Artist in Residence for Utah Classical Guitar (Salt Lake City, UT).
In 2014, Kossler released his first solo recording, Guitar Recital. The album was received with enthusiasm by critics and audiences and was featured Tom Cole’s show, “The G String” on WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington D.C. In 2015 Kossler released his second solo record. Ekloge, an album of 20thcentury music, includes works by Joaquin Rodrigo, Manuel Maria Ponce and Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, as well as his own new transcriptions of music by Jean Sibelius.
Adam Kossler began his musical studies with his father William Kossler. He went on to earn his BM degree at East Carolina University with Dr. Elliot Frank, his MM degree at Appalachian State University as a teaching assistant to Dr. Douglas James, and completed a DMA in Guitar Performance at Florida State University where he served as a teaching assistant to Bruce Holzman.
Meng Su
Multifaceted guitarist Meng Su is captivating audiences around the world with her stunning virtuosity and refined artistry. New York Concert Review called her performance “seemingly effortless and stunningly polished…. Add to that a beautiful – and fashionable! – stage presence, and she is poised to be in high demand” while Classical Guitar Magazine wrote that “she has already reached the status of a seasoned artist.”
In addition to her busy solo career, Meng Su is an avid chamber musician who tours regularly in the Beijing Guitar Duo and as a soloist with orchestras. This season, Ms. Su will make her solo debut with China Philharmonic Orchestra in the Chinese premiere of Tan Dun’s concerto Yi2; with the Mulhouse Symphony Orchestra in Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez; and with the Adelaide Symphony with her duo partner Yameng Wang in Rodrigo’s double concerto, Concierto Madrigal.
Meng Su formed the widely acclaimed Beijing Guitar Duo with Yameng Wang. The duo received the “Solomon H. Snyder Award” in 2010 which launched their international career. This season, the Beijing Guitar Duo will perform in Copenhagen, Milwaukee, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, St. Louis, and they will tour Canada (Vancouver, Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary and Toronto) and Australia. As a soloist, Meng Su will perform in Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Washington, D.C., Sarasota, Poznan (Poland), Iserlohn (Germany); and she will tour in Japan, with concerts in Kobe, Nagoya, and Tokyo.
Meng Su’s performances and recordings have impressed the public with “an ability and artistry that exceeds her years.” (Baltimore Sun) Her debut duo CD “Maracaípe” received a Latin Grammy nomination for the titled piece, which was dedicated to the Duo by renowned guitarist/composer Sergio Assad. Their second CD, “Bach to Tan Dun,” a "must-listen" according to composer Tan Dun, has been widely noted for the world-premiere recording of his “Eight Memories in Watercolor.” A recording in trio, “China West,” with Maestro Barrueco and the Beijing Guitar Duo was released in May 2014 to critical acclaim. Meng Su’s debut solo recording “Meng,” released in 2016 was called “awe-inspiring” and “this year’s finest debut by far” by Classical Guitar Magazine.
Born in Qingdao, China, Meng Su began studying the guitar at the age of 5 and showed her talents from an early age under the guidance of Prof. Chen Zhi at the Central Conservatory in Beijing. Meng Su has won first-prize in numerous international competitions around the world, the last one being in the prestigious Parkening International Guitar competition in 2015. She obtained a Master’s Degree and an Artist Diploma with Maestro Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University.
Meng Su teaches at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts.