Guitarist Andreas Kapsalis will perform at Hope College on Friday, Sept.14, at 7:30 p.m. in the John and Dede Howard Recital Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.

Kapsalis is a Greek-American guitarist and composer who was born in the suburbs of Chicago. He began teaching himself guitar at the age of 11, reading and writing music as well as music theory. At the age of 18 he suffered a hand injury; during his recovery period, he began developing the 10-finger tapping techniques that he uses on a steel-string acoustic guitar.  He also incorporates his cultural music experiences into his performance.

Under the tutelage of composer and producer Jim Tullio, who was a student of Aaron Copland, Kapsalis refined his compositional approach on the guitar using his tapping techniques. Tullio produced Kapsalis’ first EP with an arrangement of Dave Brubeck’s composition “Blue Rondo a la Turk,” which garnered attention from the composer himself, who said, “It is quite amazing to hear my own music performed by great instrumentalists.”

Kapsalis released a live, solo recording in 2017, and he also has recordings with his trio and duo, and has appeared on many other artists’ recordings. In addition to his own compositions for guitar, he has composed scores for several documentary and feature films.

Kapsalis has been performing internationally, solo and in various ensembles, for festivals and concert series in North America, Europe and Asia, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, the Calcutta Guitar Festival in India, the Canadian Guitar Festival and the Guitar Festival in the Philippines. In addition, he has performed in Germany, Austria, Poland and Slovakia. More recently, he was invited to Armenia to participate in “Sounds of Peace,” a musical exchange featuring 60 artists from 10 different countries.

“Jazziz Magazine” has described Kapsalis as “a player possessed of exquisite grace and touch, and also, when he desires, blinding speed, on a steel-string acoustic throughout.”

Kapsalis previously performed at Hope College in 2012 as part of the Kapsalis-Ivanovic Guitar Duo and performed a solo concert in 2015.

For more information, please visit hope.edu/arts or akguitar.com.

Individual tickets for the concert are $10 for regular admission, $7 for senior citizens and Hope faculty and staff, and $5 for students 18 and under. Tickets are available online at hope.edu/tickets as well as at the ticket office in the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The ticket office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at 616-395-7890.

The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.