Midday on the Arts concludes today with an internationally acclaimed classical guitarist, the Russian American virtuoso Piotr Pakhomkin. He has toured the world, and won several international guitar competitions. After finishing his studies with Manuel Barrueco at Peabody, Piotr became the First Prize winner of the 2012 Mexican International Guitar Competition in Culiacan and has taken top prizes at the 2012 Boston GuitarFest International Guitar Competition, Great Lakes Guitar Competition, Montreal International Guitar Competition, and the European International Guitar Competition, “Enrico Mercatali,” in Italy. After completing the prestigious Strathmore Artist-in-Residence program in 2014, he returned to serve as a faculty member and mentor in their Institute for Artistic Development.​As the winner of the 2016 Respighi International Soloist Competition, he made his concerto and solo debut at Carnegie Hall in the Chamber Orchestra of New York's ----Masterwork Series---- in June 2018. Piotr plays exclusively on a 2010 Ross Gutmeier Guitar using Oasis GPX strings. He and his family have settled in Frederick, Maryland, where he founded and directs The Segovia Academy of Music, which provides music education and training to all ages and skill levels, ranging from the complete beginner to aspiring professionals.Piotr Pahkomkin joins us Live in Studio A and performs two pieces: Francisco Tarrega's Capricho Arabe and Johann Sebastian Bach's Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1.This segment was livestreamed on WYPR's Facebook page. You can watch the video of Mr. Pakhomkin's performance here, beginning at 39:19 in the video stream.Midday host Tom Hall opened the segment with an update on the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's labor-management dispute. Lovers of classical music are certainly aware that the members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra are embroiled in a contentious contract dispute with BSO management. The musicians have been picketing in front of Meyerhoff Symphony Hall for much of the summer, after management canceled the summer season, and locked out the musicians. Midday has been in touch with members of the BSO administration and the players committee. Management will lift the lock-out on Monday. Both sides are meeting at this hour (noon on Friday, September 6) to try to reach an agreement by Monday, when rehearsals for the 2019-20 season are scheduled to begin. The first concert of the season is scheduled to take place at the Meyerhoff on Saturday night, September 14th at 8:00pm. Go to the BSO website for information about the event.The BSO musicians, separate from management, are producing their own concert that afternoon at 4:00pm at the New Shiloh Baptist Church with Music Director Marin Alsop on the podium, and guest artists Brian Stokes Mitchell, Janice Chandler Eteme, and choral singers from the community. You can find details about that concert event at the musicians' website.

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