The details have been announced for the next concert in the local Living Room Live concert series.
Nolan Powell and Scott Butler from Manitoba will perform on May 31 at the Creighton Lodge Lounge. The cost is $20 per person, and the admission fee goes to the duo.
Powell and Butler are best friends and no strangers to playing ensemble music. Their most recent collaboration, Duo Déz, paying homage to the Desautels Faculty of Music in Winnipeg, explores a diverse program of classical guitar music.
From the music of the classical era found in the work of Carulli, to the warm Spanish vibrations of Granados, and even to the modern South American infused stylings of Gnattali, Duo Déz offers an accessible, yet intriguingly challenging program meant for all listeners.
Butler first fell in love with music at an early age. Starting with the Beatles and moving all the way to heavy metal and classical music, he is influenced by a large variety of music. He started playing guitar at the age of 11.
He took private lessons for six years while also taking guitar class in school from Grades 7-12. Butler first started playing classical guitar at age 17, studying with Michael Daher, after he decided to audition for the Desautels Faculty of Music at the University of Manitoba. He began his studies at the faculty in the fall of 2013 under Ryszard Tyborowski and has recently completed his fourth and final year of study.
During the first two years of his degree, Butler played in guitar quartets as a part of his major practical study and in his third year he began playing with Trio Déz. He graduated from the University of Manitoba in the spring of 2018 with a bachelor of music with a major in classical guitar.
He plans to continue studying classical guitar, and hopes to continue playing ensemble music for many years to come.
Powell was born in Winnipeg, and displayed a passion for music at a young age and started playing guitar at age 12. In just a short period of time before graduating from high school, Powell prepared an audition program for the Desautels Faculty of Music and was accepted to study classical guitar at the undergraduate level.
Since then Powell has completed bachelor’s degrees in music and education, and in the past five years, has been a finalist in the annual Lawrence Genser and Concerto competitions. Most notably, Powell has placed first at a national competition as a soloist and second as a chamber musician with classical guitar group Trio Déz.
Powell was also the 2017 recipient of the Len Hew Trophy and Bursary through the Winnipeg Music Festival and performs annually for the Winnipeg Classical Guitar Society.
He will be studying guitar performance at the graduate level at the University of Manitoba all while chasing his dream of one day becoming a professional ice hockey referee.
