Fingerstyle guitar master Rick Cyge shares your favorites from The Beatles at Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 28. Join this special evening as Cyge performs all the subtle harmonies and intricate counterpoint of the brilliant music of The Beatles instrumentally on solo acoustic guitar. It will be an uplifting and nostalgic journey into shared musical memories of the past. The concert begins at 7 p.m. and tickets are on sale now.
Patrick Schweiss, the Sedona International Film Festival’s executive director, said “Cyge’s concert, Rick Picks The Beatles, fits in nicely with Sedona International Film Festival’s recent summer offering, the ‘Deconstructing the Beatles’ documentary film series.” Respected and admired by peers and fans for his playing finesse and prowess, Cyge’s compositions and arrangements show off his intricate approach to enticing what often sounds like multiple instruments out of his guitar. “For this special concert, I invite you to enjoy the ‘Fab Four’ performed on one guitar,” Cyge said.
With a Beatles repertoire of over 60 of their songs, he said, “The hardest part of putting this concert set together is deciding which gems to include. Re-experience The Beatles’ vast and varied music from the early hit, ‘I Saw Her Standing There,’ to their later gems including ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.’”
Cyge’s love affair with the acoustic guitar began about 50 years ago when he was barely old enough to handle a guitar. He first heard the likes of Peter, Paul & Mary and the Kingston Trio and that got his attention and fired his imagination. “I was only 13 when I discovered The Beatles and they forever changed my world. I decided, ‘That’s what I want to do,” he said. He has established himself in Sedona as a popular and respected instrumental fingerstyle guitarist with a large variety of Baby Boomer classic songs uniquely arranged for solo guitar. Although his focus over the past 25 years has been instrumental music, both as a soloist and in his guitar/flute duo with his wife, Lynn Trombetta, as Meadowlark, his roots run deep in folk and acoustic music from his days in the vibrant Boston music scene of the 1980s.
Cyge has 12 CDs to his credit, including many featuring his original compositions with Meadowlark, and numerous projects as a sideman in the studio for various artists. In the last few years, Cyge recorded and released two self-produced solo fingerstyle guitar CDs, “GUITARtistry” and “GUITARtistry 2” featuring interpretations of baby boomer classics with a few original compositions included. Cyge’s latest recording, “Rick Picks The Beatles” is an entire CD of his own arrangements of 35 songs by The Beatles. “This was an exciting project. As I devoted my undivided attention to polishing and refining my versions of favorites, I felt like a kid in a candy store; so much extraordinary music to choose from,” he said.
With nostalgic bits shared along the way, this show offers a glimpse into that adventure. Cyge’s CDs will be available at the event. Visit rickcyge.com for additional information.
See the exciting Rick Picks The Beatles show at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre on Saturday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. Mary D. Fisher Theatre is an intimate space and can sell out quickly. Tickets are $15 in advance and $18 at the door and are available in advance at the Sedona International Film Festival office, by calling 282-1177 or online at SedonaFilmFestival.org. The theatre and film festival office are located at 2030 W. SR 89A in West Sedona.
