Guitarist Robert Gruca will perform at Hope College on Friday, April 4, at 7:30 p.m. in Wichers Auditorium of Nykerk Hall of Music.
The public is invited. Admission is free.
Gruca performs a wide range of solo, chamber, and concerto repertoire. In recent seasons, he has played solo concerts in Ohio, Michigan, New York, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Maryland, and Canada.
Other accomplishments include touring the eastern United States and Europe with the Cleveland Orchestra, performing Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 7” under the direction of Franz Welser–Most. Other performances with the Cleveland Orchestra include Kurt Weill’s “Little Three Penny Music,” Igor Stavinsky’s “Le Rossignol” with Pierre Boulez, and Howard Shore’s “The Lord of the Rings Symphony” with Howard Shore.
Gruca made his concerto debut performing Joaquín Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with the Marquette Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Nuvi Mehta. Recent concerto performances include “Concierto de Aranjuez” and “Fantasia para un Gentilhombre” with the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra and the New Philharmonic, both under the direction of Kirk Muspratt.
Gruca has earned several first prizes in national guitar competitions. He won first prize in the Columbus State Guitar Symposium Competition, the Appalachian State Guitar Festival Competition, and the East Carolina University Guitar Festival Competition. He was a top prize winner in the Rantucci International Guitar Competition, and a semifinalist in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition and the JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition.
Nykerk Hall of Music is located in the central Hope campus at the former 127 E. 12th Street between College and Columbia avenues.