Jazz and guitar fans are in for a treat as dual scholarship winner at Berklee College of Music, Ro Gebhardt, will be performing live at St James Cavalier, Valletta, and delivering a masterclass at the Euro Institute of Music, Ħamrun.

Considered one of the figureheads of European guitar music and an excellent improviser, Gebhardt has an immense jazz, Latin, and pop repertoire and boasts a unique voice as an instrumentalist and composer with his own sound and his own style in the global scene.

A master student of Mick Goodrick and John Abercrombie, as well as student and sideman of Hal Crook, he also collaborated with legendary drummer Antonio Sanchez on his live 2009 album. Gebhardt, along with Maltese guitarist Marc Galea, will be playing live at St James Cavalier this Friday.

Galea is no stranger to this important cultural complex, having released his debut album Easy Dialogue there earlier this year. He has also clocked up a significant track record of live collaborations with high calibre local and foreign musicians, the latter including the likes of Gordon Giltrap, Luigi Tessarollo, John Wheatcroft, Neil Murray and Phil Hilborne. In 2008 and 2009, Galea was awarded the internationally-acclaimed RGT Guitar Tutor of the Year award. Together with his band, he took part in the latest Malta Jazz Festival.

The guitar duo will play several arrangements of original tunes, standards and pop numbers arranged especially for the performance, which will also feature a number of guest musicians.

The day after the concert, Gebhardt will be delivering a guitar masterclass at the Euro Institute of Music between 10.30 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Admission to the live performance at St James Cavalier on Friday is €8 while admission to the masterclass at the Euro Institute of Music on Saturday is €20.

For bookings and more information call 2122 6555.

www.euroinstitutemalta.com