A monthlong festival built around guitars is kicking things off with instruments that have no strings attached to a guitar at all. On Sunday, guzheng player Ann Yao and erhu player Rui Yang will perform original and modern compositions at Timucua Arts Foundation, opening the International Guitar Festival with two traditional Chinese instruments instead of six-string sound.
The performance, set for 7:30 p.m. at the SoDo District venue, is part of a broader lineup that will showcase guitar music from Israel, Colombia, Italy and America over the course of the month, according to Orlando Weekly. Tickets for the Sunday show run $22.50 to $30. Yao plays the guzheng, a plucked zither, while Yang plays the erhu, a two-stringed violin, and the pair are described as local specialists in traditional Chinese instruments.
The August 9 concert is presented in partnership with the Central Florida Composers Forum, with several of the pieces on the program written specifically for guzheng and erhu by local living composers, according to Visit Orlando. That pairing of homegrown composition with centuries-old Eastern instruments sets an unusual tone for a festival built around a Western instrument.
A Concert Hall Hidden Inside a Home
The venue itself is part of the story. Timucua's so-called White House concert hall was built in 2007 in Orlando's SoDo District and doubles as the custom-designed, three-story residential living room of foundation founder Benoit Glazer, according to The Community Paper. The space features soundproof windows and active acoustic controls, and seats about 100 guests for shows.
The City of Orlando granted Timucua Arts Foundation a conditional use permit allowing the residential home to present up to 100 public events per year, per VISIT FLORIDA, which is how a private house has functioned as a public concert venue since the foundation formalized in 1999. Glazer, Timucua's artistic director, relocated to Orlando in 1998 to serve as conductor and musical director for Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba, a role he held for nearly two decades, according to the OCFL Newsroom.
Attendees are traditionally encouraged to bring a bottle of wine or a non-alcoholic beverage to share with the rest of the audience, a BYOB custom that has been part of Timucua's host culture since its earliest house-concert days, per the same OCFL Newsroom account.
A Florida Folk Heritage Award Winner Takes the Stage
Yao brings serious pedigree to Sunday's opening show. She moved to Orlando in 1990 and went on to become a long-running featured musician at Walt Disney World's Epcot in the China Pavilion, according to the Florida Department of State. In 2009, the state awarded her the Florida Folk Heritage Award for preserving traditional music, following national appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center.
What Else Is on the Guitar Festival Bill
The International Guitar Festival kicks off this week and runs as a monthlong series, with guitarists from multiple countries filling out the rest of the schedule. Award-winning Colombian guitarist Carlos Serrano is scheduled to perform at Timucua on August 21 as part of the festival's Latin guitar offerings, according to Visit Orlando. The following night, Italian virtuoso Alberto Lombardi — an acoustic fingerstyle and electric rock player who toured Italy with Tommy Emmanuel in 2022 — takes the stage, per a listing on Somo Social.
The guitar festival is one of six annual recurring music festivals hosted by Timucua Arts Foundation throughout the year, alongside events like the International Chamber Music Festival held each January, according to CitySurfing Orlando. Hoodline has named Timucua a top venue in past coverage of Orlando's music scene, and the foundation's home on Summerlin Avenue has remained a fixture for both classical and world-music programming ever since.
