VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

Before Leah Kruszewski decided to study music, she graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in biology.

“Music had been an important hobby for me before, but it became clear after graduating that music needed to be first in my life,” she said. 

Luckily, Virginia Commonwealth University had a program that matched her interests. She earned her degree in Classical Guitar Performance from the School of the Arts in 2010.

For the past three years, Kruszewski has been studying flamenco guitar at the Fundación Cristina Heeren in Seville, Spain, and teaching guitar lessons. She returns to VCU this week to perform in the Department of Music’s sixth annual Flamenco Festival, where she will accompany dances by the Latin Ballet of Virginia and Antonio Hidalgo Paz, a flamenco dancer from Cordoba. She will also perform a few guitar solos.

“I love coming back to perform at VCU,” she said. “It feels comfortable and fun, and I like sharing what I've been doing with the VCU and Richmond communities.”

While in Spain, she has not performed often because there is so much to learn in order to play at even what’s considered a “beginning” professional level there. At the end of this academic year, however, Kruszewski will transition from studying flamenco to performing in Seville, she said.

“You have to know so much about the singing and dancing, because accompanying singers and dancers is a huge part of flamenco guitar,” she said. “Also, you typically have few or no rehearsals for flamenco shows in Spain, so you have to have all that knowledge at your fingertips. It's a bit like having to memorize the ‘real book’ of jazz music.” 

The festival features three concerts, all in the Singleton Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets for each performance cost $15 for the general public and $10 for students.

• Spanish Soul, with Kruszewski and Ana Ines King, takes place Friday, Nov. 4, at 7:30 p.m.
• Flamenco Virtuoso Ricardo Marlow performs Saturday, Nov. 5, at 7:30 p.m.
• Flamenco Fiesta with guitarist Miguelito and dancers takes place Sunday, Nov. 6, at 4 p.m.
  
  

For more information, visit http://arts.vcu.edu/music/events/.

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