The Department of Music is pleased to welcome back classical guitarist Andrew Flory in concert at 7 p.m. today, Thursday, March 7, in the Young Gallery, second floor of Vol Walker Hall. (The time and location were updated early today.)

Flory is an alumnus of the U of A (B.M.'15) and went on to receive his Master of Music degree at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. While there, he began the study of lute and theorbo with Jamie Akers. He is now a doctoral candidate at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. 

The program will feature solo works for theorbo and classical guitar. While most people are familiar with guitar, the theorbo is relatively unknown unless you're an aficionado of baroque era composers. 

"The theorbo is the largest of the lute family of instruments and was developed in the very late 16th century in Florence, Italy. It's a behemoth in size and sound," Flory said.

The instrument was used for accompaniment for a number of works, but three composers focused on theorbo specifically: Alessandro Piccinini (1566-1638), Giovanni Girolamo Kapsberger (1580-1651) and Robert de Visée (1655-1732/1733). Flory will feature them in his concert.

The pieces for guitar will feature Viennese Romantic composer Johann Kaspar Mertz and contemporary composers Patrick Kearney and Phillip Houghton.

The concert is free and open to the public.

About Andrew Flory: a classical guitarist and theorbo player based in Rochester, New York, Flory is currently a doctoral candidate and Performer's Certificate recipient at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. There he studies guitar with Naxos recording artist Nicholas Goluses and is also pursuing an Advanced Performer's certificate in early music with world-renowned lutenist and historical performance practice expert Paul O'Dette. In addition to guitar performances, Flory plays theorbo as a member of the Collegium Musicum Baroque orchestra led by O'Dette and Christel Thielmann, and he performs every Sunday night at Christ Church in Rochester with Schola Cantorum for their candlelight compline service. Flory also performs solo theorbo works in his solo performances.

For his "musical excellence" and "outstanding academic record," Flory was inducted into the Pi Kappa Lambda Music Honor Society in 2023. Notable recent performances include Rochester Guitar Festival 2022, Rochester Fringe Festival 2021 and 2022, RCS Big Guitar Weekend Student and Alumni showcase 2022, Christ Church Candlelight Concert 2023, MUSIC at St. Mark's 2022 and 2023, Purcell's The Fairy Queen and King Arthur with Collegium Musicum 2022 and 2023, respectively.

Flory received his Master of Music degree from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2020 under the direction of Allan Neave and Matthew McAllister. It was at RCS where Andrew began his lute and theorbo studies with Jamie Akers. He received his Bachelor of Music degree from the U of A in 2015, where he studied with professor James Greeson, now emeritus.

Flory's theorbo is a reproduction of a 17th century Schelle theorbo which was built by Daniel Yost of Buffalo, New York. Flory plays a 2016 Stephan Connor guitar.