by Edith Cody-Rice
Sanjeev Sivarulrasa provided an exquisitely entertaining evening at his gallery on Mill Street last Saturday evening, April 15. He launched his Culture 22 series with a performance by classical guitar soloist Adam Cicchillitti. Culture 22 will present a program of intimate concerts, lectures, and poetry, the number 22 deriving from the maximum number of guests that the gallery room can accommodate.
Adam Cicchillitti is an accomplished performer and an exciting young talent on the classical guitar scene in Canada. Originally from Montréal, he is currently a doctoral candidate at McGill University where his research explores idiomatic guitar arrangement of 19th-century liederkreis. Adam has performed as a featured soloist at Ottawa’s premier guitar event Guitare Alla Grande and the Ottawa Guitar Society’s Young Artist Series, Angèle Dubeau’s Fête de la musique and at several of Eastern Canada’s prominent concert halls including Place-des-Arts and Salle Thomson. He has also completed twenty arrangements of Schubert lieder for voice and guitar for CBC/Radio-Canada. On Saturday evening, he played works ranging from Bach and Scarlatti to Rivera, Patrick Roux, whom he reveres, and his own composition Europa.
The evening delighted the senses. The quiet intimate venue was perfect for a single guitar, expertly and sensitively played, and while listening, the audience could contemplate the art on the walls. The audience was enthusiastic before such talent. Coffee was served at intermission and the evening concluded with the serving of delicious eye-catching cakes made by Sanjeev’s wife Angela Hui, who bakes artistic cakes to relax from her law practice.
Culture 22 promises to be an important addition to Mississippi Mills’ cultural scene
