Several years ago, a North Delta high school teacher presented Don Hlus with a lofty challenge: One up yourself.

Hlus, organizer of the Fraser Valley Acoustic Guitar Festival, had just finished hosting a successful show with some top tier artists, but he knew if the festival was to continue and grow, he needed to take Philip Ayers鈥� words to heart.

鈥淧hil would come by shaking his head and say, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 amazing, where do you find these guys? What are you going to do next year?鈥欌�� laughed Hlus, who is also chair of the music department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.

鈥淗e鈥檚 been retired for well over 15 years now, but I still have his voice in the back of mind saying, 鈥榃ell, what are you going to do next year?鈥欌��

Heading into his 21st annual guitar festival next month, Hlus has, admittedly, outdone himself again, this time bringing two high profile guitar duos to 91原创.

On Saturday, Feb. 17, musicians , , and will take the stage at KPU鈥檚 91原创 campus for an evening of 鈥渧ery eclectic鈥� music.

As part of the festival, which is hosted by KPU, these artists will first participate in workshops with high school and university music students, before playing an intimate public performance.

鈥淚 basically have three missions. One, obviously, is for the KPU music students to have an opportunity to learn from internationally renowned players, and then also to give perspective high school students the opportunity to see what鈥檚 possible,鈥� explained Hlus.

鈥淎nd then, of course, to give people in the community an opportunity to hear world class artists in their own backyard.鈥�

Performing together will be Sinclair and Bennett, followed by Gilliat and Tzonkov.

Sinclair is the former guitarist for k.d. lang and Sarah McLachlan, and has performed with many other big names, including Michael Buble, Daniel Powter, Bachman Turner Overdrive and Bryan Adams. He鈥檚 toured across North America and Europe and has appeared on several TV shows, including Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O鈥橞rien, Saturday Night Live, the Grammy Awards show and the Juno Awards show.

Bennett is one of the top rated harmonica players in the world, and an accomplished guitarist and singer. He has performed live with Supertramp, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and was Harmonica Man at Vancouver Canucks games for almost 10 years.

Gilliat, a 91原创 native, is a Rumba Flamenco and Latin jazz player. He has toured throughout North America and Japan and represented Canada at Japan鈥檚 2005 Expo, performed at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics and performed for former Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

Vancouver鈥檚 Tzonkov specializes in Spanish guitar, Caribbean steel drum and vocals. He鈥檚 created his own 鈥渃ontemporary Caribbean fusion鈥� by blending styles from Spanish Rumbas, Nuevo Flamenco, Brazilian jazz and Calypso.

鈥淥ne of the things I strive for is to introduce different things, not only to the audiences we have coming out to the feature concerts, but also to the students here at the university as well as prospective high school students,鈥� Hlus said.

BRIDGING A GAP

Hlus began the guitar festival after a number of high school teachers complained there was a gap in local music opportunities for guitar students. They would take their jazz bands to Idaho for a music festival, their choirs to Whistler and their concert bands to Vancouver, but there was nothing for guitar.

鈥淎fter about the 10th time of hearing this, I kind of thought, 鈥極K, I can host something,鈥欌�� Hlus said.

In the last two decades, the festival has grown from 88 students to 300, with the concert portion selling out for the last five years in a row.

鈥淥ne of the biggest challenges I鈥檝e had, for several years, is a lot of people didn鈥檛 know about the artists I was bringing in, even though they were internationally acclaimed artists,鈥� Hlus said.

鈥淎nd there was a lot of suspicion. They would think, OK, if they are internationally renowned, why are they coming to 91原创? The other part was, well, if they are coming to 91原创 they must not be that good 鈥� or if they were in Vancouver then you wouldn鈥檛 go into Vancouver to hear them because it was too far.鈥�

But that seldom happens anymore.

One of Hlus鈥� favourite stories to tell 鈥� and perhaps, the first measure of the festival鈥檚 success 鈥� involves an elderly lady who approached him during intermission one year to explain how her friends dragged her to the show.

鈥淪he said, 鈥榊ou know, my friends brought me to the festival five or six years ago, and I have to confess, I didn鈥檛 want to come. I was thinking this is going to be sort of substandard or amateurish,鈥欌�� Hlus recalled.

鈥淎nd then she said, 鈥楾hat鈥檚 one of the best concerts I鈥檝e ever heard in my entire life. I鈥檝e come every year ever since. I have no idea who you are bringing, but it鈥檚 been fabulous.鈥�

鈥淎nd she just walked away. That鈥檚 kind of why I do this. Giving people an opportunity 鈥� whether they鈥檙e high school students or university students or people in the community 鈥� to hear some great music by world class artists. That鈥檚 been very satisfying.鈥�

Advance tickets are $25 for adults ($35 at the door) or $20 for students/ seniors ($30 at the door). Purchase online at or at all KPU Bookstores.

The feature concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at the KPU 91原创 auditorium, 20901 91原创 Bypass.

For more information, visit www..

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