Meet one of our top collaborators:
Bolton Guitar Studies
Led by professor Tom Patterson (image on the left), the guitar department at the University of Arizona in Tucson is known for being of the top guitar programs in the nation. It is host to many successful students who have placed in some of the top competitions in the U.S including the Guitar Foundation of America competition and abroad, like the Tarrega and Alhambra Competitions.
The UofA Guitar Department is proud to host internationally acclaimed artists Sergio and Odair Assad and David Russell as artists in residence who are able to provide concerts and master classes to our talented guitar majors.
The guitar department also hosts 5 in-house competitions: The Beeston Memorial Competition, the David Russell Bach Prize, and the Sholin Memorial Competition for the entire department, including graduate and doctoral students; and the Wolfe Memorial and Schaffer Memorial Competition for undergrads only.
See below for upcoming dates!
BGS Guitar Competitions ‘23-’24
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Beeston Guitar Competition
2023: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4TH, 7 PM - HOLSCLAW HALL (UofA)
For Graduate & Undergraduate Students
Thomas Beeston believed that music is our common denominator and that it has the power to heal, to inspire and to transform. Highly regarded as a guitarist and luthier, Tom was a leading figure in the evolution of Tucson as an international center for the classical guitar. He was a friend and mentor to Norman Douglas Sholin, founder of the UA Guitar Program, as well as Sholin's first classical guitar teacher. Thomas served as an advisor to the UA guitar program until his death in 1999.
The Beeston Guitar Competition has garnered the attention of music lovers from all age groups and backgrounds. Its increasing popularity means it draws large audiences from the community.
The final round of the Thomas H. Beeston Memorial Guitar Competition features four finalists, chosen from the semi-final round held the previous day. Each finalist performs a 20-minute program. Immediately after the concert nearly $15,000 in prizes, including a finely crafted guitar by Stephan Connor, will be awarded to the winners.
Click here for more on this competition (previous winners, rules, etc.)
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David Russell Bach Prize
2024: WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 7TH, 11 AM - HOSCLAW HALL (UofA)
For Graduate & Undergraduate Students
Grammy Award-winning guitarist David Russell is the sole judge of this competition. In May 2014 Maestro Russell was bestowed the Honorary Doctoral Degree from the University of Arizona.
About this contest, Russell wrote, “The wonderful music of J.S. Bach is satisfying on all levels: emotionally, intellectually, technically and historically. It has given me so much pleasure and happiness all through my life, that I want to encourage all the students to dedicate some valuable time of their important formative years at the university to studying his music. The competition will be a very good incentive for them to include some of Bach’s works in their repertoire that I hope will give them the same pleasure for their entire lives.”
Click here for more on this competition (previous winners, rules, etc.)
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SHOLIN GUITAR COMPETITION
2024: SUNDAY, MARCH 17TH, 3 PM - HOLSCLAW HALL (UofA)
For Graduate & Undergraduate Students
Norman Douglas Sholin founded and designed the guitar degree program at the University of Arizona School of Music and Dance in 1974.
Mr. Sholin earned a BFA (1974) and an MFA (1978) in classical guitar from the California Institute of the Arts. He studied with teacher and musicologist Emilio Pujol in Cervera, Spain in 1972 and 1973 and played in a master class for Andres Segovia in 1973.
The University of Arizona has become a major international center for the study of classical guitar. The Norman Douglas Sholin Memorial Scholarship Award, which is presented annually, promotes excellence in this segment of the arts. Through their gifts, donors honor the students that qualify for it, as well as the memory of Mr. Sholin, whose love for the guitar and its music still brings inspiration.
Click here for more on this competition (previous winners, rules, etc.)
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Wolfe Award Recital
2023: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3RD, 3 PM - HOLSCLAW HALL (UofA)
For Undergraduate Students
“More and more, during recent years, public and private studio recitals by guitar students at The University of Arizona have deeply impressed and moved me. They have won my high and continual admiration for their shared enthusiasm, perseverance, and devotion in study of this wonderfully fine, fascinating instrument on which they so heartily and intently focus their talent and energy, the classical guitar.
Clearly the learning and ever greater mastery of it, under Professor Tom Patterson's exemplary teaching, stimulates and nurtures their innate intelligence. Beyond that, they give ample evidence of having developed a powerful, refined articulateness of expression through musical dedication and wholehearted performance.
The equal awards they receive on monetary form are intended primarily as tokens of the honor they have earned together by their very evident and exceptional diligence.”
William J. Wolfe
Click here for more on this competition (previous winners, rules, etc.)
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Schaeffer Guitar Competition
2024: SUNDAY, APRIL 7TH, 3 PM - HOLSCLAW HALL (UofA)
For Undergraduate Students
Sponsored by the Leonard and David Schaeffer Memorial Endowment, this competition honors the memories of Leonard and David, and their father, Albert Schaeffer, by showcasing the exemplary talents of the University of Arizona guitar studio.
Albert M. Schaeffer practiced law in Chicago and Tucson, and was a Chicago jazz pianist, a five-year combat captain in World War II, and a military judge in Germany following the war. His wife, Clare, was the daughter of Aaron Kritz, a famous Chicago cantor. She was raised in a distinguished musical family and appeared in Vaudeville as a young child. She is a master therapeutic recreation specialist, and garnered national attention for her groundbreaking work in music therapy with the residents of Handmaker home for the aging. Clare's brother, Robert Kritz, is a noted composer of classical music, her sister Brina Roden is a published poet, and her sister Judith Perkins was an accomplished pianist. Their support and guidance helped to establish the University of Arizona Guitar Studies Program as one of this country's finest.
Click here for more on this competition (previous winners, rules, etc.)
Steve Schulman Award recital
Every year, the highest ranking student out of both of the graduate competitions at the BGS department is awarded the coveted Steve Schulman Award. This wonderful prize consists of a paid recital to be played in Holsclaw Hall the following school year.
About Steve Schulman (1949-2013):
Music had been an integral part of Steve’s life since he was a child. Born in Tucson, Steve started playing the guitar at age ten, and by the time he was a junior at Rincon High School he was playing in bands. Steve continued to play in bands or solo to pay his way through college. He graduated the University of Arizona in 1972 with a degree in education and later returned to earn a master’s degree in education and administration.
Steve’s growing interest in education did not overshadow his desire to share his love of music, especially the guitar. His talents in both areas became his passions along with his family and good food and wine. These truly defined him. Steve was given the gift of music and in turn he gave that gift to countless students he taught and young people he mentored. Steve taught for more than 35 years in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), reaching children when he thought they were most receptive to learning. Steve was a member of the first gifted education teaching team for elementary students. He also worked as a music resource teacher and as a member of the TUSD Arts Team.
Steve was a highly accomplished classical and flamenco guitarist and one of the founders of the Tucson Guitar Society. His service as a member of the University of Arizona College of Fine Arts School of Music Advisory Board was important to him in order to provide more opportunities for gifted student musicians. Steve continued to play in local bands throughout his life in a variety genres, from the Temple Emanu-El Avanim Rock Band, which put traditional Jewish liturgical music to rock and roll themes to country western. After retiring from TUSD, Steve worked at The Folk Shop, sometimes selling a guitar by giving free lessons. He just couldn’t stop teaching or playing.