Thanks to the support of generous donors, you can now enjoy a lunchtime concert with the new "Tuneful Tuesdays" music series at Rock Island Public Library.

Starting Tuesday, December 4,  the library will host live musical performances from noon to 1:00 pm on the first Tuesday of the month at the Rock Island Downtown Library, 401 19th Street. Participants are invited to bring a sack lunch and enjoy live music at the library.

The December 4  Tuneful Tuesday features a performance by Quad City Visiting Artist Jason Vieaux, an American classical guitarist. Grammy-winner Jason Vieaux, “among the elite of today's classical guitarists” (Gramophone), is the guitarist that goes beyond the classical. Among his extensive discography is the 2015 Grammy Award winning album for Best Classical Instrumental Solo, Play. Performance highlights include the Caramoor Festival as Artist-in-Residence, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Buenos Aires’ Teatro Colon, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, New York's 92Y, and Ravinia Festival. Frequent chamber music collaborators include Escher Quartet, harpist Yolanda Kondonassis, and accordion/bandoneon virtuoso Julien Labro. He has soloed with over 100 orchestras and has fostered premieres by Jonathan Leshnoff, Avner Dorman, Jeff Beal, Dan Visconti, David Ludwig, Vivian Fung, and José Luis Merlin. In 2018-2019, Vieaux will release new albums on Azica, BIS, and Naxos, and recent recordings include Infusion (Azica) with Labro; Ginastera’s Guitar Sonata, on Ginastera: One Hundred (Oberlin Music); and Together (Azica) with Kondonassis.

In 2012, the Jason Vieaux School of Classical Guitar was launched with ArtistWorks Inc., an interface that provides one-on-one online study with Vieaux for guitar students around the world. Vieaux has taught at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 1997, heading the guitar department since 2001. He has received a Naumburg Foundation top prize, a Cleveland Institute of Music Distinguished Alumni Award, GFA International Guitar Competition First Prize, and a Salon di Virtuosi Career Grant. Vieaux was the first classical musician to be featured on NPR’s “Tiny Desk” series. Jason Vieaux plays a 2013 Gernot Wagner guitar with Augustine strings.

All performances are free and open to the public. Future performances in the Tuneful Tuesdays series include a Quad City Orchestra quartet of horn, bassoon, cello, and piano on January 8; Tony Sconyers singing Nat King Cole on Feb. 5; another Quad City Visiting Artist performance on March 5, the Gaudete Brass Quintet, and the Augustana Percussion Ensemble on April 2.

Tuneful Tuesdays is funded by Carol and Jim Horstmann through The Rock Island Public Library Foundation. Additional support for the January 8 performance comes from the Quad City Symphony Orchestra.

For more information about Rock Island Library events and services, call 309-732-READ (7323),visit the library website, or follow Rock Island Library on social media.