Vancouver Guitar Quartet

Alan Rinehart is a co-founder, with Michael Strutt, of The Vancouver Guitar Quartet. The Quartet became a regular part of the Vancouver and Western Canadian music scene in the late 1980’s with many concert and radio appearances including broadcast concerts on CBC’s ARTS NATIONAL and numerous appearances on CBC’sWestcoast Performance. They were perhaps best know to CBC listeners as the performers of the guitar theme of the long running CBC radio show Disc Drive.

Highlights of the life of the Quartet include;

-performing in the Vancouver International Jazz Festival

-giving several enthusiastically acclaimed performances as featured artists in the host pavilion at EXPO 86

-being featured at a National guitar festival in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan where they shared the stage with country great Red Shea, jazz legent Ed Bickert and Toronto’s Wilson McAllister Duo

-being invited several times to perform at the Northwest Guitar Festival

-performing in Vancouver’s Holy Rosary Cathedral with the Vancouver Cantata Singers on a nationally broadcast concert

The VGQ was committed to the creation of new repertoire for the guitar quartet and commissioned and/or premiered major works by Maximo Diego Pujol (Cinco Piezas Artesanales), Mark Armanini (Blue Green Canyons) and John Oliver (Prismophony).  They also brought to the concert stage many other shorter works created for, or arranged for, guitar quartet.

After a hiatus of a number of years the Quartet reformed in 1996 and released its debut recording “Estampas” in 1999. The Quartet disbanded in 2003.

Through the four ‘generations’ of the Quartet the group was constantly committed to providing entertaining and informative performances and the development of the guitar quartet repertoire by encouraging composers to write for them and by premiering many new works.

1984-1985 the VGQ members were Michael Strutt, Alan Rinehart, Allan Morris and Don McAbney

1985-1987 the VGQ members were Michael Strutt, Alan Rinehart, Allan Morris and Mary Ellenton

1996-2001 the VGQ members were Michael Strutt, Alan Rinehart, Paul McDermot and David Sugars

2001-2003 the VGQ members were Bruce Clausen, Alan Rinehart, Paul McDermot and David Sugars