The Electric Guitar Orchestra (EGO) is an exciting ensemble led by Daniel Duarte that includes eight electric guitars, a bass guitar and drums. Duarte created this ensemble envisioning a dynamic and innovative musical group capable of presenting a variety of styles. From Vivaldi, Bach and Mozart to The Beatles, Queen and Prince, the Electric Guitar Ensemble now presents arrangements that expose audiences to unique versions of well-known classics, making music increasingly accessible and vibrant.
Daniel Duarte is a music lecturer in guitar at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He is an active guitarist, arranger, conductor and lecturer who has collected prizes in several guitar and chamber music competitions in the United States, Europe, and Latin America. Duarte is a multi-instrumentalist who performs on different types of guitars and as a flutist, and he is also passionate about created engaged and meaningful musical experiences that are shaped around community.
Creating a link between the electric guitar and a broader musical scope that includes classical music is the vehicle behind the EGO’s musical identity and its core mission of music education, appreciation and community engagement. By relying on the immense popularity of the electric guitar, the ensemble is able to make most musical styles sound relatable to audiences, delivering unexpected musical styles via this a medium in order to facilitate assimilation and engagement. Duarte has been talking with the JSoM Community Engagement Initiative throughout the 2020-2021 academic year with hopes to mount a project that significantly impacts our rural partner communities. After much discussion, we have solidified plans for the Electric Guitar Orchestra to visit each of our partner communities over the next year – Nashville, Salem, Huntingburg, and Paoli.
The Electric Guitar Orchestra plans to conduct in-person, collaborative workshops and performances in these four communities. During these workshops, the EGO aims to create a link between the electric guitar and a broader musical scope. This will involve playing time-honored, popular songs as well as classical music excerpts and strumming techniques. The Orchestra is even more eager for rural participants to share their own songs, licks, strumming patterns, and traditions. The result will be a vibrant, jam-like environment between professional, classically trained musicians and rural students and artists. The workshops will be followed up with public performances in each of the four communities to celebrate this wide spectrum of musical capability and collaboration.
Interest and excitement have peaked with our community partners, specifically in Nashville. Kenan Rainwater of Rainwater Recording Studios has been in conversation with Daniel about how the guitar ensemble can possibly overlap with the Studio’s operations and mission. We are excited to further catalyze supporting activities related to this project and to recruit and encourage the involvement of as many musicians as possible.
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