Faculty perform at NPR Music's "Tiny Desk"

Performances at NPR Music’s Tiny Desk are just that: musicians sit at All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen’s desk and play a concert. This month, head of the CIM guitar department and recent Grammy winner Jason Vieaux and CIM harp department head Yolanda Kondonassis were invited to perform together in the small office, a packed bookcase serving as their backdrop. Both are veterans to the space. “We rarely invite Tiny Desk alumni back to the confines of Bob Boilen’s work space,” says NPR’s Tom Huizenga, “but we couldn't resist this time.”

Vieaux and Kondonassis recently released their album Together on Azica Records, which marks the first album featuring only the duo on harp and guitar. For their Tiny Desk performance they performed a work they commissioned from  Gary Schocker, entitled “Elysian”; Alan Hovhaness’s Fuga: Allegro – Andante grazioso, Canon: Allegro (from Sonata for Harp and Guitar, “Spirit of Trees”); and from Máximo Diego Pujo,  Vals, Candombe (from Suite mágica).

Watch the video of the performance here.

This week, Vieaux and Kondonassis will be kicking off the fifteenth annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival with a performance on Thursday evening. The Festival continues through the weekend. For a complete list of concerts, master classes and events, visit guitarsint.com.

Photo: npr.org