The Springfield Classical Guitar Society will present a live performance by W. Mark Akin on Saturday, May 20, 2023. The concert will begin at 8:00 PM at Grace Lutheran Church, 714 East Capitol Avenue in downtown Springfield. Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors; they will be available at the door.
————
Classical guitarist W. Mark Akin is an award-winning St. Louis-based musician with a dynamic on-stage presence and musicality.
Mark has won prizes in numerous competitions, including the Artist Presentation Society of St. Louis Competition. He has performed for the Springfield Classical Guitar Society both in person and online
Originally from Tennessee, Mark learned to play hard rock, idolizing Eric Johnson, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Eddie Van Halen. He discovered the classical guitar in high school, and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in guitar performance from Belmont University in Nashville, and the University of Arizona in Tucson. He has performed in master classes and taken lessons with some of the greatest guitarists in the world, including Sergio and Odair Assad, Manuel Barrueco, David Russell, and Jason Vieaux.
Mark is on faculty at Washington University in St. Louis, and teaches with the St. Louis Classical Guitar’s “Guitar Horizons”, which establishes guitar programs in inner city public schools and schools in the greater St. Louis area. He presents a weekly radio program, “Inside Classical Guitar”, on Classic 107.3; go to https://classic1073.org/listen
