Michael StockdaleMichael Stockdale

Guitarist Michael Stockdale will perform at Hope College on Friday, Oct. 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the John and Dede Howard Recital Hall of the Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts.

The public is invited. Admission is free.

A current and founding member of the Grand Rapids Guitar Quartet (GRGQ) and a member of the Worship and Creative Arts Team at Resurrection Life Church, Stockdale is active as both a classical and contemporary musician.

BBC Local Radio has called him “An extraordinary talent,” while the Sarnia Observer has described him as a “Guitar virtuoso of the highest order.”

Stockdale teaches at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, where he is the chair of the Music Division, director of the Contemporary Christian Music Program and an associate professor of music. He teaches all styles of guitar, bass guitar and guitar pedagogy, and directs ensembles.

English-born, Stockdale is a graduate of London’s Royal College of Music, where he studied with Charles Ramirez and Patrick Bashford. Stockdale has given numerous performances as a soloist and chamber musician, and has been featured on both English and American radio and television. He has performed Rodrigo’s “Concierto de Aranjuez” with several orchestras.  In 1993, he received the Chamber Music America/ASCAP award for adventurous programming.

Before moving to the Grand Rapids area, Stockdale was the chair of music and director of Detroit’s Institute of Music and Dance (1991-96) and was on the adjunct faculty of Wayne State University. He was also a regular performer with Detroit’s Lyric Chamber Ensemble.

Aside from his many accomplishments as a classical musician, Stockdale has been active in Christian music for more than 20 years. In 2003, he performed with Michael English in a special concert benefiting Prison Fellowship Ministries. He is a featured soloist on the Resurrection Life Church album “For You I Live,” released on the Integrity Label in the fall of 2007.

Recently, Stockdale and the GRGQ performed Rodrigo’s “Concierto Andaluz” for four guitars with the Kent Philharmonic; gave concerts at Calvin College in Grand Rapids and the First Congregational Church of Battle Creek; and performed the opening concert for the White Lake Guitar Festival.

The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between 9th and 10th streets.