Ukrainian guitar maestro Marko Topchii, performs for the Matinee Musicale at Pilgrim Congregational Church. Photos by Jill Fisher. 

A stunning, breathtaking and mind-blowing classical guitar concert by one Marko Topchii took place on Sunday, Feb. 23, as part of the Matinee Musicale’s 125th concert season. 

It took place at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Duluth. Though I do not hold season tickets, this concert interested me simply because I hear so many guitar players as I make my rounds through the Twin Ports music scene, so I figured why not experience the best of this genre.

The mission of the Matinee Musicale organization is to bring world-class musicians to our realm and, boy, did it ever achieve that with Topchii’s performance. 

According to the program notes, Marko Topchii “has established himself as a one-of-a-kind musician in the classical guitar world.” He’s won tons of international awards for his artistry, performed in the world’s most prestigious concert halls – one example being New York’s Carnegie Hall – and he’s only 34 years old! 

Born into a musical family in Kyiv, Ukraine, he began his guitar studies at age 4 with celebrated musicians and mentors, and which appear to be never ending as he continues his studies as part of the Master Soloiste programme at Haute Ecole de Musique de Geneve, Switzerland. 

Topchii calls Geneva his home even while he travels the world on tour.

Topchii entered the concert venue wearing a light blue velvet suit with black lapels coupled with a black T-shirt that signaled he is a unique individual. 

Still, his bald head, red beard and mustache made him look like he could be a member of any of our local rock bands. 

After a gracious bow to the audience, which filled every pew, he sat at the center of the apse with his Julian Dammann double-top acoustic guitar and guitar support (no straps and unplugged!). 

The church acoustics were perfect for his music. While his overall composure was rather still while playing, the fluid motions of his arms and hands, the movements of his head and his facial expressions were as emotive as his playing. Indeed, I imagined even a deaf person would feel the emotions he evoked with his music.

The diverse mix of selections had attendees of this concert almost swooning (a number of them guitarists themselves). 

From the first piece “Undercurrents” to the last, “Toccata” plus a touching encore of “Prelude” (an unpublished piece composed by his mother), his playing was delicate, dramatic, romantic, nuanced, passionate and virtuosic. 

There were unbelievably intricate fingerings, some flicking of the strings and even a swatting away of the neck of his guitar at the end of one piece.   

The program included works from the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries and from such disparate countries as France, Germany, Australia, Paraguay and Cuba. The last piece Topchii performed in first half of the concert, J.S.  Bach’s “Partita No. 2 in C minor BWV 826,” arranged by Manoukian for guitar, was particularly remarkable. It consisted of six movements – Sinfonia, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Rondeau, Capriccio – and sounded like a harpsicord to my ears, which would have been the original instrument it was played on. 

By a happy happenstance I sat next to guitarist and guitar instructor Laurie BoeDee (trained in classical guitar), who explained that this piece was filled with very difficult 16th-note sections. It was simply thrilling to listen to. 

Although the concert wasn’t over Topchii received a standing ovation.

After a brief intermission, seven more pieces were performed; the first two, “Sarabande” and “Chromatic Fantasy” flowed together seamlessly. 

My seatmate BoeDee explained to me that chromatic music refers to the notes moving only by ½ steps. It resulted in a strangely enigmatic melody. 

Topchii reordered the program slightly to play “A Closed World of Fine Feelings and Grand Design” next because as he said he liked the title. Another piece was “Six Variations op. 49” of which he said translated to “I am a cabbage farm boy,” gaining laughter from the audience. 

Here again BoeDee whispered to me that its composer, Mauro Giuliani (1781-1829), wrote manuals of classical guitar works that are still in use today. It was a charming piece, made more so by Topchii’s comments.

There was a second standing ovation at the conclusion of this two-plus-hour concert and at the reception afterwards Topchii’s recordings sold like hotcakes. Folks crowded around to have their purchased CDs autographed and get their selfies taken with him. What a grand way it was to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

It was the icing on the wonderful cake of several other music events that occupied me this past week.

Erik Koskinen returned to Earth Rider’s Cedar Lounge stage for his third and second to last February residency gig on Thursday, Feb. 20. 

Erik Koskinen

I’ve now seen Koskinen a number of times, most recently this past November at Cedar. But my first exposure to Koskinen was at Earth Rider Festival Grounds in July of 2022 (reviewed in July 14 Reader issue that year) which made me an instant fan. Back then he was said to be based in Colorado; I hadn’t known that his roots were actually in the upper Midwest. 

On this Thursday evening Koskinen gave a quick review of the many places he’s been for any length of time, noting that he spent 3 months in Florida and didn’t like it.

Because I’d enjoyed Koskinen previously and reviewed him once, I thought of this music outing as just for fun and dancing – no notes to be taken, no review to be written. However, it was a somewhat different, looser and more casual performance with him in an unusually loquacious mood. 

His bandmates on this evening included Josh Gravelin on bass, Richard Medek on drums and a young woman from Michigan’s Keweenaw peninsula, Kora Melia, playing fiddle. His usual sidekick guitarist Paul Bergen was absent.

One of the guitars Koskinen played this evening was a Kay guitar, which he said had a sound he liked and allowed him to get away with anything. One of his fans told me he got it at a pawn shop but when I asked Erik if this was true he told me it was actually given to him in Green Bay by someone who was moving and didn’t have any more room in his vehicle for it. It happened at music store, which refused to take it. When the fellow who was trying to pass it on asked if there was anyone who would use it, the music store person pointed to Erik, who just happened to be standing there. And so that was how he added the Kay to his 25-plus guitar collection!

At one point Koskinen pointed out the smallish drum set that Medek was playing, teasing that Richard had gotten it when he was only 10 years old. The front bass drum was small because it was a “Questlove Drum Kit” by Ludwig designed by The Roots drummer Ahmir K. Thompson (AKA Questlove) for beginning 4-10 year old drummers! 

In any case the laughing Medek had a regular large bass drum besides the smaller one.

Near the end of the evening Koskinen told of his tune “Polkabilly Polka” being picked up by a Finnish group that had a hit with it back in Finland. 

As far as music goes, the band played just one cover (a John Lee Hooker song) and 16 original numbers from a list of 63. Among them was one of my favorites “Pony To Ride” a track on his album, Burning The Deal, released in 2019 which I purchased. Note that Koskinen’s last gig of this residency is on Thursday, Feb. 27. Kiss The Tiger will be opening. 

On Saturday evening, Feb. 22, there were two music events I wanted to attend. One was an album release event by Ponyfolk at the Quaker Meeting House on East 1st Street. 

The second was the Jack Klatt Trio at Cedar Lounge. 

At the first, Sonja Martin opened for Ponyfolk. It’s always pleasant to hear Sonja’s singing, she has a beautiful voice and some wonderful original songs, such as “Long Gone,” which she performed. Unfortunately this meant the Curmudgeon and I were unable to see much of Ponyfolk. However, we were there long enough to hear the well-known poet Barton Sutter read some poems – an additional treat for the packed audience in this small but beautiful venue. Videos of nature, trees, clouds and water were projected onto the wall behind the musicians that complemented the themes being played. 

Ponyfolk

The music composed by Ponyfolk and recorded on its debut album, The Woods Have Shown Us, has a soothing, meditative quality. They also played a few traditional Scandinavian folk songs.

By the time we got over to the Cedar, Superior Siren, who opened for Jack, was just finishing, so we missed hearing her. But we got to see all of the Jack Klatt Trio show. 

The trio includes Nick Salisbury on bass and Lars-Erik Larson on drums. (These two sidekicks are based in the Twin Cities and also play with the Mike Munson Trio.) 

Klatt plays harmonica as well as both electric and acoustic guitars and has a sweet finger-picking style. Several of Klatt’s original songs are in a country western vein, others just sounded like old timey tunes, which I am partial to. 

Jack Klatt Trio

The one cover played was Spider John Koerner’s “I Ain’t Blue.” I must admit that what I wrote in last week’s column that implied Klatt sounds like Charlie Parr was wrong. Klatt’s voice is higher and silkier – great for listening. 

He certainly knows how to craft a compelling song. His finale was “Tell Me Everything Will Be Alright” (which bemoaned today’s partisanship) had the wonderful line, “A circle has no sides.” 

This was a fun evening and I’m only sorry so few people showed up to hear the trio or to join me on the dance floor. We enjoyed every minute of this gig and hope he’ll return to entertain the Twin Ports in the not-too-distant-future!

UPCOMING: There’s another residency at Cedar on Wednesdays in March: Junkyard Mule, a new folk-grass band comprised of some local favorites: Nate Hynum, Jen Krussow, Clancy Ward and Leander. They will be playing original songs as well as some covers. The music starts at 6 pm. March holds other musical goodies, including the Head of the Lakes Jazz Festival toward the end of the month. I plan to check that out. See you there!