Photo by: Jonathan Farber

From 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday Dec. 18, Mahtay Café will host Christmas Guitar Magic, a Twilight Jazz Series event. This event will feature two Canadian guitarists: Emma Rush and James Bryan.

Rush is an award-winning artist and was a prize winner at the Columbus International Guitar Competition and the Great Lakes Guitar Competition. She has received three City of Hamilton Arts Awards, and her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Hamilton City Enrichment Fund, and FACTOR. 

Rush’s biography describes how she aims to bring classical music to unusual spaces, as well as bring unusual music to classical spaces. She largely plays music by female composers, regularly featuring rarely heard historical works, little-known gems of the Latin American guitar repertoire and folkloric music from around the world.  

Bryan is one of the guitarists for The Philosopher Kings, a Canadian R&B and pop rock band. He has also worked and performed with artists such as Drake, The Backstreet Boys and Shawn Mendes. He and his Philosopher King bandmate also formed a second band called Prozzak, whose song http://www.nevergetoveryou was nominated for a Juno award in 2001.

Bryan has described that when collaborating with another artist, his goal is to find what makes them unique and build off of that to enhance that. For the Guitar Magic performances with Rush, the two perform high-energy sets showcasing classical and fingerstyle guitar playing and how the two can come together.

This event normally costs $29 per ticket, however students can purchase discounted tickets for $15. This discount is also available for arts workers and musicians.

Tickets for this event can be purchased from the Niagara Jazz Festival website.