The ACGS ACC Scholarship made me feel legitimate as a musician and gave me the mindset to keep pushing forward…There is uncertainty everywhere in life, but when you have true passion for something, the sacrifices you are willing to make are greater and, with full commitment, there is no way to fail.

Several years ago, thanks to the encouragement of ACGS Vice-President John Henry McDonald, we began offering one full scholarship to Austin Community College each year.

The scholarship is designed to assist students with a connection to classical guitar as they pursue their dreams – with a particular emphasis on helping graduates of our school programs continue on to higher education (even if they choose not to major in guitar).

We have had several remarkable recipients of this scholarship and we look forward to many more.  I should say that one reason this is such a good fit for us, is that ACC has a phenomenal classical guitar faculty member in Dr. Kim Perlak.  And so our scholarship recipients are in excellent hands and, as you’ll see in this interview, are given the skills they need for success, and the inspiration and encouragement they need to pursue it.

Josh Gilpin is a remarkable young man, who is not only a serious and dedicated student and ACGS scholarship recipient, but has since become a fantastic volunteer for our concert events as well.  I sat down with Josh recently to talk about his career plans, and decided to ask him a few questions for an interview.  I hope you enjoy his inspiring words as much as I have.

Matthew Hinsley: Guitar is a second career for you - what led you to it?

Josh Gilpin: Mechanical engineering is what I studied at UT-Austin and my professional engineering career was short-lived.  Some might see it as wasted time, but to me, it was simply the necessary path to get me to where I was supposed to be.  Had I not given an engineering career a chance, I would never have encountered the opportunities that allow me to sit and write this down right now.

Guitar is my one and only career.  It just took a while for us to find each other and get on the same page.  I am a non-traditional student of music and guitar, and I like to think that had I started my life with music much earlier, I would not appreciate it half as much as I do now.  I love learning and I love teaching music and look forward to where it will take me.

What led me here was determination, stubbornness, commitment to the idea that we should all do something we love for a living and always recalling the importance that music has played in my life as a child and as an adult.  Once I figured out how a career in music was possible, there was no looking back.

MH: What did it mean to you to get the ACGS ACC scholarship?

JG: Receiving the ACGS ACC Scholarship was a huge surprise, relief and honor.  I did not feel I had much of a chance, but I just offered what I could at the time.  The timing was impeccable, financially speaking, because without this award I would have had to take a leave of absence from school.  In the year that I received this aid, I was able to continue my studies most importantly, but also compose a piece for a string quintet, prepare for my classical guitar auditions and finish my two-year music degree.

The ACGS ACC Scholarship made me feel legitimate as a musician and gave me the mindset to keep pushing forward in all of my musical endeavors.  It gave me the necessary nudge to manage my time more efficiently and improve my playing significantly.

MH: What are your goals with guitar? What's next?

JG: My goals with guitar include being a persistent student for life thereby making myself an acceptable instructor, sharing music with others and hopefully affecting them in long-term ways that keep them connected with music for life, exploring uncharted musical territory and to always feel like I am growing with the guitar.

I am now moving on to Southwestern University for a degree in performance.  My plans are to continue growing my teaching business, seize more opportunities for teaching and performing, and to stay involved with the community and ACGS.  I aim to become a proficient instructor/performer in classical guitar and jazz guitar while maintaining other genres that I have been playing for a longer time.  I might find myself in a master's program in a few years as well focusing on pedagogy and education.

MH: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

JG: I have spoken with many friends, family members and strangers about my decision to pursue music.  These conversations typically lead to the other person saying something along the lines of "What I would really like to do is........" or "I wish I could do (blank) for work" and my response is always "You can!"

There is uncertainty everywhere in life, but when you have true passion for something, the sacrifices you are willing to make are greater and, with full commitment, there is no way to fail.  If you have dreams, pursue them, but stay grounded, have realistic attainable goals and be prepared for a boost in quality of life.

…I’m sure that I have this passion in my genes from my mother…Her passion is the music, and you can see her eyes illuminated when she is listening to a song that she loves…

Pilar Andújar is a treasure.  We are so fortunate to have her in Austin – and I feel especially lucky to have been collaborating with her this year on our FlamencoAustin productions (tickets and information).

As a teenager I saw an unforgettable flamenco show in Granada, Spain.  I’ve never forgotten it – and when we started dreaming up FlamencoAustin my hope was that we’d recreate the energy and intensity and richness of that evening I experienced.

Next Thursday, May 16^th, the party starts at 6:30!  We’ll have free tapas by Spanish master chef Maria Candil, and Spanish wine, but the main attraction will be Pilar.  She’s leading a troupe of musicians and dancers – and they’re planning a set from about 6:45 to 7:45.  Then we’ll all head into Dell Hall for the US debut of Carlos Piñana’s “Body and Soul”.

I asked Pilar to share a bit with me about her history and her passion for flamenco.  Enjoy!

Matthew Hinsley: Tell me about yourself and your relationship to flamenco?

Pilar Andújar: I was born in a very small town called Almoradi in the province of Alicante with just 13,000 people.  I’m the fourth of four siblings, my father has a clothes shop called “Andújar” - we all worked together to help his business.

My family knew that dancing was my passion not only from my first recital at 7 years old, but because I was singing and dancing 24 hours a day in my house, in the school, and in the streets!

With my great and passionate teacher “Joseta”, in the dancing school in my little town, I discovered that I didn’t want to go to the university but instead I wanted to go to Madrid to learn more flamenco.  My parents supported me from the very beginning of my career, even when I decided to move to Madrid to be a professional flamenco dancer at the age of 17.

As soon as I completed a ballet degree and Superior Spanish Dance degree in Alicante, I traveled to Madrid.  I spent all my time studying flamenco - after of my 6-8 hours of training every day I was happy just listening some cante at Amor de Dios.

After just 3 months in Madrid, I was chosen to be a dancer in “The Luisillo Spanish Dance Company”.  My first performance was in Paris!!!  I was surprised that everything happened so easily because the level of Flamenco in Madrid was very high and I was at a beginner’s level.  After only one year living in Madrid, I was the understudy of Maria Pages in Riverdance, and after I continued my career in Flamenco.  That fate gave me these opportunities, showed me I had to dedicate my life to Flamenco.

Although the focus of my life was Flamenco, I worked dancing all kind of styles, playing castanets and drums, singing, acting, and creating choreography for actors and dancers.  I’ve traveled a lot around the world, and I feel very lucky that I’ve always known what my passion was.

I’ve been dancing and choreographing in The US since 2001 when I worked with the Carlota Santana Flamenco Vivo a Flamenco company from New York. I did 7 tours with them around The US.  I came to Austin in May of 2010.

MH: What is the scope of your activities in Austin?  How do people see you, learn from, get involved with Austin flamenco?

PA: There’s not a big community of Flamenco in Austin and so that’s been a challenge!  In Madrid, when you have a regular show in a “tablao” (venues dedicated exclusively to flamenco), you don’t even need to rehearse before a show. All the artists go straight to the stage because everybody knows Flamenco and can improvise their performances.  I’ve been working steadily with my group in Austin, and now I’m very happy with the work that we do.

Similarly with my studio, things started slow – but now I have many wonderful and supportive students. By and large, they don’t want to be professional flamenco dancers, they dance for fun because their lives are already very busy. I do, however, have a group of 15 children from 4 years old to 10 years old… we’ll see if some of them become professional flamenco dancers in the future!

MH: What do you love about flamenco?

PA: On several occasions, I asked myself why I dedicated my entire life (30 years) to Flamenco. Now I’m sure that I have this passion in my genes from my mother. She was singing since she was a child for different events. An advertisement poster said that she was a great  and sensitive singing and dancing artist ”Pilarin Grech, delicada estilista de la canción y el baile”. She has numerous photos of herself with different beautiful dresses on stages. Her passion is the music, and you can see her eyes illuminated when she is listening to a song that she loves. She listens to music and immediately starts to dance and sing like as if she were a child.

I could spend hours explaining what Flamenco means to me but probably the first thing is perhaps what everybody likes: the visceral passion. Flamenco is a popular art that is talking about the feelings that we all have in our regular lives and are expressed from the soul.

MH: What do you wish everyone knew about flamenco?  Is there something people new to the art form should know when they see and hear it?

PA: I am bothered by the tourist version of flamenco with the sexy girl and the red rose (Carmen of Bizet). This is not at all the real flamenco, so much as a superficial and visual simplification for tourists. Flamenco is an art form that needs many years of preparation to perform and if you want to see authentic artistry, you have to search carefully for the real thing.

I would like that people learn the origins and the cultural history of Flamenco. I think that after that, they will understand why so many talk about this ancient art. I teach more than just dancing in my classes; I try to impart the essence of the cultural significance, and the need to be patient as you learn.

Flamenco is a difficult art because it has more than 100 different styles “Palos” and because it’s transmitted orally.  But this is why it is so interesting, and why it’s easy to get addicted: because you never finish learning and discovering new secrets!

I teach regularly at the YMCA at Townlake – so come and take a class!  I am also giving some workshops at UT.  I’m particularly excited about my next project with Oliver Rajamani at One world Theater this coming September.  Keep up with me on my website – and I look forward to seeing you on May 16^th at FlamencoAustin!

What a time we had two Saturdays ago (April 20^th, 2013) when Ana Vidovic returned to our International Concert stage for our series finale performance.  The sold out crowd had guests from Canada, Mexico and all over the US, and Ana delivered a simply stunning performance – like she always does!

Just FlamencoAustin on May 16th is left before we begin our 2013 Summer Series with York, Assad, and Garibay!

About 100 guitarists from Texas and Oklahoma joined us all day for our eighth annual Guitars Galore ensemble festival.  They rehearsed together in the morning, played for each other all day, and then opened our evening concert with a phenomenal pre-show performance including ACGS Education Director Travis Marcum's GuitarCurriculum.com arrangement of Sor's "Variations on La Folia" and the world premiere of “Koi, Out to Sea” by Brownsville’s Kristina Avila, who won this year’s annual ACGS Composition Competition.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Arlen Nydam for the expert photography you'll see in this post!

Here I’m about to introduce Kristina to our audience - and present her with her award - right before the large ensemble performance.  Look at all those guitarists!  They sounded fabulous.

The Guitars Galore Festival Ensemble was conducted, as it has been each year, by Dr. Michael Quantz.  Dr. Quantz is professor of guitar at the University of Texas at Brownsville, and is one of the nation’s leading advocates for high-quality secondary guitar education.  I am proud to call him a dear friend and close colleague.

Ana’s concert began with Sor’s famous “Introduction, Theme & Variations on a Theme of Mozart”.  She was brilliant.

The program also included works of Barrios, Albeniz, and Bach – I was particularly excited to hear her play the Bagatelles of William Walton – having only heard her play those in the past on her NAXOS recording from 2000.

Here we are after the concert!

Ana’s autograph line was as long as any I remember.  It lasted for 45 minutes.  Most people had her autograph their programs, but several had her sign guitars and cases!  Arlen put together this fabulous montage!

Carlos Piñana came onto my radar early when we were first envisioning FlamencoAustin.  In fact, it was this video that grabbed me!

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For our show on May 16^th, he’s bringing with him a second guitarist, a dancer, and percussionist.  Get tickets online here or call 512-474-LONG.

Remember the pre-show flamenco party with free tapas and amazing music and dance by Austin’s Pilar Andújar starts at 6:30.  Carlos begins in Dell Hall at 8.  Also at 6:30 is an amazing authentic Spanish dinner served by Chef Maria Candil (menu and more here).

Carlos belongs to a family of great flamenco tradition, he is the grandson of Antonio Piñana, patriarch of the “cantes mineros” and his father is the well-known guitarist Antonio Piñana.  Carlos lived and breathed flamenco since childhood – and it shows!

Carlos studied both classical and flamenco guitar at the Conservatory of Music in Cartagena – and won a number of competitions during his students years.  One of the things that has captivated me about his style – and his Body and Soul concept he’ll bring us on the 16^th – is that it seems he has joined together his deep traditional flamenco upbringing with his gift for composition and classical form.  The result is fabulous!

With five CDs, and worldwide performances in amazing places like Paris, London, Frankfurt, Munich, Hannover, Stockholm, Dublin, Lausanne, Naples, Milan, Tehran, Cairo, Tokyo, Moscow, Casablanca, Lisbon, and Tunis – to name just a few – we are in for an amazing journey on May 16^th and I hope to share it with you!