Detmold Hochschule für Musik

Dale Kavanagh www.dalekavanagh.com

Canadian-born Dale Kavanagh is one of the guitar world's most gifted interpreters. Between 1986 and 1988 Ms. Kavanagh was a top prize-winner in Spain's" Segovia Competition", Italy's "Gargnano Competition", Switzerland's "Neuchatel Competition" and First and Special Prize winner in Finland's "Scandinavian International Guitar Competition" .
Dale Kavanagh received her Bachelor of Music degree at Dalhousie University in Canada, then completed her graduate studies with the Solisten Diplom at the Musik Akademie der Stadt Basel with Oscar Ghiglia in Switzerland.
Dale Kavanagh performs internationally as a soloist and in the Amadeus Guitar Duo with German guitarist Thomas Kirchhoff and has given recitals in more than 50 countries.
She is a regular recitalist and teacher in guitar and music festivals in Canada, Turkey, Poland, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Hungary, England, Argentina, Mexico, China and the United States and has given more than 950 concerts around the world.
Many composers have written works for Dale Kavanagh such as Carlo Domeniconi, Roland Dyens, Jaime M. Zenamon, Stephen Dodgson, Stephen Funk-Pearson, Bruce Shavers, Christian Jost and Harald Genzmer.
Her fifteen CDs have received superlative reviews in international magazines including Classical Guitar Magazine, Fanfare-Magazine, Fono-Forum, Hi-Fi-Vision, Gendai Guitar, Gitarre & Laute, La Cahir de la Guitare, Musikblatt, Staccato, Soundboard Magazine, Gitar och Luta and many others. She is teaching at the Musikhochschule in Detmold/Germany since 1999 and she is an exclusive artist with hänssler Classic since 1999.

"Overwhelming technique, powerfull sound and fantastic musicality ""
(Klassik Heute, Jan. 2001)

"Played with a brilliant sound and with an astonishing technique"
(Der Spielgel, Okt. 2000)

"Phenominal clarity in her highly emotional playing"
(Acoustik Guitar, Jan. 2000)

"Stunning playing!"
(Fanfare Magazine, USA, Feb. 2002)

"Dale Kavanagh is a powerful and agile guitarist making the soul of the instrument sound. Briny Ocean is a fiery daring feat."
(Fono-Forum, Jan. 08)

Fascination of the Guitar: The Amadeus Guitar Duo

They are counted among the top-class international guitar duos, receiving enthusiastic reviews from all over the world. Canadian Dale Kavanagh and her German partner Thomas Kirchhoff have made up the Amadeus Guitar Duo since 1991. The secret of their success, regularly documented by more than 70 concerts per year, is the complete devotion of the two artists to their instrument. Hence they did not limit themselves to playing as a duo, but began to concentrate on the repertoire for guitar and orchestra. Thanks to their commitment, this genre was soon able to emerge from its niche. In more than 100 cities, they played their "Spanish Night" recital, featuring concertos for one, two and four guitars and orchestra by Joaquin Rodrigo and the world-famous pan flutist Gheorghe Zamfir.

The Amadeus Guitar Duo has so far appeared in more than 850 concerts in 50 or more countries in Europe, Central, South and North America, and Asia. The duo has always been able to delight its audience with its exuberant temperament, virtuoso performance, sensitive creative power and a fulsome, warm, carrying guitar tone. They regularly play together with the Prague, Mainz and Mannheim Chamber Orchestras, the Halle Philharmonic State Orchestra, the International Philharmonie, the Gotha-Suhl Thuringian Philharmonic, the Philharmonia Hungarica, the Capella Cracoviensis, the Ankara President Orchestra and the South Westphalian Philharmonic.

Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff have recorded a large number of productions for radio and television (BBC, ZDF, CBC, WDR, BR, TRT, etc.). They have also recorded 15 CDs (Haenssler-Classic) which document the high quality of the Amadeus Guitar Duo. The two artists' stirring commitment and inspiring style of playing have enabled them to considerably broaden the repertoire for guitar, especially for guitar and orchestra. Such renowned composers as Harald Genzmer, Gheorghe Zamfir, Roland Dyens (Paris), Jaime Zenamon (Curitiba), Christian Jost (Cologne), Carlo Domeniconi (Berlin), Gerald Garcia (Oxford), Martin Herchenröder (Siegen) have written orchestral concertos for them. Stephen Dodgson (London), Harald Genzmer (Munich), Jaime M. Zenamon (Curitiba) and Christian Jost (Cologne) have dedicated compositions for two guitars to them. All works have been published by Schott's, Mainz - Edition Margaux, Berlin, Edition Peters, Frankfurt, and Verlag Hubertus Nogatz, Essen.

In 1992 they founded the International Guitar Symposium in Iserlohn, which is today one of the most important festivals of its kind in Europe, with more than 200 participants from more than 40 countries, concerts featuring world-famous stars, master courses, lectures, exhibitions and many other activities (www.guitarsymposium.com ).

In the 2010-11 season, these successful musicians have been invited to tour the U.S.A., Canada, England, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Turkey, Romania and Poland. Today, Dale Kavanagh and Thomas Kirchhoff live with their daughter Melissa-Rachel in Germany, and both are professors who have been teaching at the newly launched guitar class of the Detmold Music School since 2003 (www.hfm-detmold.de). The Amadeus Guitar Duo plays exclusively with D'Addario strings on guitars made in Bosto, U.S.A. by Stephan Connor and Toni Müller, Germany.



Press comments:

"Surely one of the most innovative duos in the world"

(Gitarre & Laute, 1998)

"Real professionals for guitar and orchestra"

(Musikmarkt, 2003)

"Any Rodrigo connoisseur will be thrilled with this."

(American Record Guide, USA, 2001)

"A great success!" on the Spanish Night 1 CD

(Zupfmusik, 2001)

"Once again, thoroughly commendable" on Spanish Night 2

(Acoustic Guitar Mag., 2004)