Contested Terrain, read full review here

FANFARE Magazine March/April 2011 [click for whole review]: “These performances are extraordinary…Violinist Shem Guibbory’s tone is arresting from note 1. His intonation is exemplary, and his rhythmic acuity brings all the flavors of Gabriela Lena Frank’s Sueños de Chambi…to the fore. His performance of the Shostakovich is on the same level as that of Oistrakh himself, and of Yuri Bashmet’s recording of Shostakovich’s Viola Sonata…

I found the sound of this CD exceptional… Few CDs, however, have the warmth and detail of this offering. Reading its [liner] notes, I realized that it was produced by Shem Guibbory. What a revelation! A CD actually produced by a musician and not a run-of-the-mill record producer.

…Frank Daykin eloquently sets forth the underlying agenda of this release, titled Voice of the People, in his liner notes. He posits that humanity, universally, desires to live in societies that provide a modicum of security and well-being…that totalitarian regimes have always feared the power of artists of all disciplines in communicating, on a host of levels, the aspirations of the people at large…”

Below is  a Recent Review of Voice of the People from the Art of Noise
“This beautiful collection of music is like a horn of plenty out of which flows an endless stream of vivid, fresh beauty. Vibrant, nutrient-dense (? I can’t think of a better phrase right now), musically enrapturing.

More Reviews:

At first glance, Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich and young American composer Gabriela Lena Frank appear to have little in common. Shostakovich’s Soviet-era portraits are a world away from Frank’s depictions of Peruvian indigenous culture. But violinist Shem Guibbory thinks the two are a perfect match……  Read the rest of the City Arts Review of Festival here.

Not long ago, violinist Shem Guibbory introduced me to a recording which he produced through his project, Innovative Music Programs, Inc.Read the rest of the Lynn Horton Review here.

One of NYC’s Hidden Treasures: Free Concerts at Lincoln Center: 
Last night (March 3, 2011) we discovered one of New York’s hidden treasures: free concerts (and other events) @ Lincoln Center’s Bruno Walter Auditorium.

The star of the evening was a wonderful violinist, Shem Guibbory, who played two solo pieces, Grazyna Bacewicz’ Solo Sonata #2 and Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonata in g minor, BWV 1001. Not surprisingly, the Bach was a thousand times better than the Bacewicz.

The other two pieces were duets. And the supporting players were every bit equal to Guibbory. The first for violin and percussion, Slowly She Turns by Douglas J. Cuomo, opened the evening. It included an absolutely brilliant percussionist, Rex V. Benincasa, and in some ways was the evening’s highlight. All the performers were wonderful but I loved Benincasa. What he did with percussion was unbelievable.