'Rising Star' Offers Top Classical Guitarist

World-renown Slovenian guitarist Mak Grgic returns to Westmont for the Rising Star Concert Series on Sunday, March 3, at 3 p.m. in Deane Chapel. The concert, sponsored by Hotel Santa Barbara, is free and open to the public; donations benefiting the Westmont music program will be accepted.

Grgic, who is 25, will perform pieces by Vivaldi, Bach and Albeniz for solo guitar and guitar and cello. Westmont cello instructor John Sant’Ambrogio, former principal cellist of the St. Louis Symphony, will join him.

Sant’Ambrogio hopes the concert series will inspire young musicians and the Santa Barbara community by introducing them to the incredible talent of the many young musicians he has met during his 46 years with the Boston and St. Louis Symphonies.

Grgic, born in 1987 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, distinguishes himself as a versatile guitarist, playing classical and improvised guitar music in repertoires ranging from baroque to modern and jazz. He earned a bachelor’s degree with Alvaro Pierri at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. He is working on a master’s degree at the USC Thornton School of Music as a student of William Kanengiser of the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet. Grgic took first prize at the Pacific Guitar Festival and Competition 2011 and has been honored with the highest prizes at international competitions in Austria, Germany, Italy and Serbia. He performs the music of Nejc Kuharon on a new album, “String Modulations.”

For more information, please contact the Westmont Music Department at (805) 565-6040.