All for one and one for all

Concerts voluntarily organized by HCC community

  Tampa, Fla.-The Guitar Series concerts have been sponsored by the Hillsborough Community College Student Government Association. These Guitar Series concerts have been a tradition of HCC for many years. All concerts start at 8:00 p.m . at the Dale Mabry campus and are held in the Student Services building. The concerts are free for all students who present their Student ID and $10 for others.

  The guitar series started with an invitation from the University of Miami with a plan of different colleges and universities working together to bring different artists to their campuses so that students would be exposed to the classical world. After a while, the classical guitar string company that sponsored the concerts had to stop doing so due to the economic difficulties they were facing. At that point, SGA continued to fund the Guitar Series.

  The main initial and continuing goal of the Guitar Series is to expose HCC student and professors to music they would not usually listen too. Dr. Mark Switzer and Kathryn Pantelis are the two main people in charge of these concerts that have volunteered their time to keep enriching and exposing the Tampa Bay Area community to the classical guitar.

  In the beginning, only four concerts were offered per year, two in the fall and two in the spring; that number has now been increased to five. The powerful meaning of each concert has also given an outstanding reputation to the Guitar Series within the community and nationwide. The Guitar Series has given young artists, who are very focused in music and are planning on playing classical guitar for a living, the opportunity to perform in front of an unknown audience.

  This academic year 2014-2015, became another memorable year for all HCC students who had the chance to experience these concerts. Concerts such as the concert in memory of John King, who was a dear friend to many people in the music industry, especially in the Tampa Bay Area, and the Switzer and friends concert; being the last concerts of this academic year.

  The Guitar Series Concert will continue on, giving the opportunity to many young artists who are yet to be discovered in the years to come. It will also keep strong with the collaboration of the HCC and Tampa community that has been the foundation of this concerts since the beginning, and maintain the prestige of the concerts that have changed the lives of many students and faculty that show their support and appreciation by coming back every year.