This work dates back to the early 1980’s. It was commissioned by Eli Kassner and Lee Hepner through the Ontario Arts Council. After two performances using the piano reduction, the Concerto for Guitar and Orchestra was premiered in the intended orchestral version, in Rochester NY, on Mar. 27, 1982. Domenic Ashworth was the guitar soloist and Gerald Bannerman the conductor. The performance took place at Hochstein Music School. The producer of this concert was John Wiesenthal, and he did a great job at pulling everything together.
The Guitar Concerto had its Canadian premiere on June 29, 1984, at Guitar ’84 International Festival in Toronto. Again, Domenic Ashworth was soloist. The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, was conducted by Raffi Armenian. The performance was recorded for a CBC broadcast on Sept. 24, 1984. Here are links to the broadcast recording:
Movement One:
Movement Two:
Movement Three: