Guitarists from high schools, colleges and community ensembles across Southern Arizona will share a stage this Saturday when the Pima Community College Music Department brings back its Guitar Orchestra Festival for a second year.

The event takes place at 7 p.m. in the Proscenium Theatre at the West Campus Center for the Arts, 2202 W. Anklam Rd.

Students from Cochise College, PCC, Sahuaro High School and the Tucson Guitar Society-University of Arizona will be performing, with the event aiming to bring together guitarists from across Southern Arizona.

"Tucson has a very strong classical guitar community and we've always talked about doing some kind of collaborative thing," said Michael Lich, director of Pima Community College's Guitar Ensemble. "Finally, last year we started this. Hopefully it will continue."

The festival incorporates a variety of musical styles, including cultural and ethnic musical forms, and features musicians ranging in age from high schoolers to 80-year-olds, all while moving away from the traditional solo nature of classical guitar in favor of an orchestral, collaborative approach.

"Classical guitar traditionally has been primarily a solo instrument, and so to have guitar orchestras and then conductors it adds a new element and a new pathway for players to perform," Lich said.

Lich is directing and coordinating the festival alongside the University of Arizona's Jose Luis Puerta and Sahuaro High School's Philip Hemmo, bringing together orchestras from different levels of music education across the region.

Mexican composer Nur Slim will premiere "Lemon Leaves" with the Southern Arizona ensembles, a work rooted in Mexican folk music that reflects the festival's cross-cultural spirit.

Before the festival starts, at 6:15 p.m., soloists and small ensembles can take part in an open mic session in the Louis Carlos Bernal Art Gallery. Lich said he hopes the intimate, informal setting helps students feel welcome to express themselves and have fun before the festival begins.

"It's a chance for students to play for each other, hang out, and hopefully inspire one another," Lich said.

The festival is free and open to the public, offering Southern Arizona audiences a chance to experience the guitar in an unfamiliar role as the heart of a full orchestra.

Tyler Wright is a journalism student at the University of Arizona and Tucson Spotlight intern.

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