Trio Seven to strum unique chord at Yuba College

Now in its third year, Trio Seven — Matthew Grasso, Matthew Foley and Harry Stoddard — is a seven-string guitar ensemble that covers a range of styles, from baroque to romantic, impressionistic to modern. The group seeks to expand the repertory of its unique instrument through transcription and original works.

Trio Seven will perform Friday at the Yuba College Theatre in a finale to the school's Evening Classical Guitar Concert Series, which included Gabe Becker in September and Devin Kosloff in October.

"Three guys, three guitars, twenty-one strings. More frets than you can possibly imagine," Trio Seven's website reads.

"Trio Seven is a unique guitar ensemble in which each member plays an extended seven-string guitar. The extra string, on the low end, adds a wider range and enables them to arrange piano and orchestral music for guitar ensemble," Yuba College professor of music Robert Mathews said in an email.

Mathews, a member of the Sacramento Classical Guitar Society, met Grasso at one of the society's meetings. "I mentioned that the Yuba Community College District had just spent $3 million refurbishing our theater. I also mentioned that the acoustics in our theater are wonderful, something that can't be said about many theaters," Mathews wrote.

Trio Seven's program on Friday has many notable pieces that have been transcribed for extended guitar by Grasso and Foley, including Stravinsky's "Larghetto" from "Les cinq doigts"; Gismonti's "Agua e Vinho"; Bach's "Air" from "Orchestral Suite No. 3"; Rachmaninov's "Prelude in C-sharp minor"; Bach's "Prelude and Fugue in F major"; Bizet's "Entr'acte" from "Carmen"; and Brahms' "Hungarian Dance No. 5."

The program also includes Debussy's "The Sunken Cathedral"; Grasso's "Yiddish-ish"; Satie's "Gymnopédie No. 1" (transcribed by James Vitiello); and several "Movie Theme" arrangements.

Because the Evening Classical Guitar Concert Series is new this year, "We're having to build an audience base from scratch," Mathews said. The first two concerts drew about 40-plus and 50-plus, respectively: "Not bad for a start, but not as good as we'd hoped," Mathews said.

"Here's why Friday's attendance is so important. There are several other classical guitarists from Sacramento and the Bay Area who have expressed an interest in performing for us should we continue the series in the spring. But if we can't draw a large enough crowd, it won't be worth the artists' travel time. Having a spring concert series depends on Friday's concert attendance," he added.

"Suffice it to say, we are experimenting with a concert series. If it's successful, we'll continue — and if not, we'll put it on hold."

CONTACT Susan Benitez at sbenitez@appealdemocrat.com or 749-4773. Find her on Facebook at /ADFeatures or on Twitter at @adfeatures.