press
CD Reviews
"Throughout the disc, Sheu performs with authority, sensitivity, and flair, demonstrating the musicianship necessary to back up her programming choices. The recorded sound is clear and open, allowing the playing to come through unhindered while also providing a fair share of aural indulgence. I don’t simply recommend that you check out Connie Sheu’s excellent The Woman’s Voice, but also urge you to accept her implied invitation to explore this seldom-heard side of the repertoire."
-Giacomo Fiore, The Classical Guitar Blog, August 7, 2012
-Giacomo Fiore, The Classical Guitar Blog, August 7, 2012
Concert Reviews
"Sheu presented these relatively unfamiliar works as if we were all visiting a gallery. She gave brief verbal introductions for each of the pieces on the program without ever going into excessive detail, allowing those of us on audience side to then “browse” among the selections she had prepared. In many respects the overall spirit was one of encounter, similar in nature to Kruisbrink’s musical memory of her encounter the Segovia. By all rights, these are acquaintances worthy of another visit or two."
-Steve Smoliar, Examiner.com, March 23, 2013
"Sheu's program was entitled "The Woman's Voice: Original Music for Guitar by Female Composers." This program was a unique set which illuminated the fact that history's female guitar-composers are often under appreciated...Connie Sheu is a superb character player. And, through the lens of feminism, she was able to provide a fresh perspective on the music and begin a conversation about gender equality. Sheu's capable and energetic hands provide perhaps the most convincing performances of these works today. She is a brilliant advocate for women's contribution to the guitar."
-David DeDionisio, Soundboard Magazine, Vol. 39 No. 1
"Women composers are seriously underrepresented in classical music. Richard Taruskin, in his Oxford History of Western Music, maintains that the necessary institutional connections were rarely available to women and suggests highlighting the music of women as a reminder that men have no monopoly on compositional talent. In this vein, the brilliant guitarist Connie Sheu gave a revelatory recital devoted to the music of distaff composers. Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi was a daughter of the famed Mauro Giuliani and performed with him in a duo in the last years of his life. Her Variazioni su un tema di Mercadante, Op. 9, is in very much in the virtuosic classical style of her famous father, and Sheu played it with appropriate flamboyance and panache.
The Sei preludi, Op. 46, was written in the Romantic style of Emilia’s generation. The pieces are intimate and redolent of a deeply felt solitude, and Sheu responded with an expressive rubato and warm tone. The most striking work on the program was Segovia, a neoclassical homage to the early 20th-century Spanish master, by Ida Presti, an outstanding guitarist composer well-known in midcentury."
-Scott Cmiel, San Francisco Classical Voice, July 18, 2012
"Her playing was seamless; every note was played with care."
-MaryLou Roberts, American Suzuki Journal, Vol 40 #4
-Steve Smoliar, Examiner.com, March 23, 2013
"Sheu's program was entitled "The Woman's Voice: Original Music for Guitar by Female Composers." This program was a unique set which illuminated the fact that history's female guitar-composers are often under appreciated...Connie Sheu is a superb character player. And, through the lens of feminism, she was able to provide a fresh perspective on the music and begin a conversation about gender equality. Sheu's capable and energetic hands provide perhaps the most convincing performances of these works today. She is a brilliant advocate for women's contribution to the guitar."
-David DeDionisio, Soundboard Magazine, Vol. 39 No. 1
"Women composers are seriously underrepresented in classical music. Richard Taruskin, in his Oxford History of Western Music, maintains that the necessary institutional connections were rarely available to women and suggests highlighting the music of women as a reminder that men have no monopoly on compositional talent. In this vein, the brilliant guitarist Connie Sheu gave a revelatory recital devoted to the music of distaff composers. Emilia Giuliani-Guglielmi was a daughter of the famed Mauro Giuliani and performed with him in a duo in the last years of his life. Her Variazioni su un tema di Mercadante, Op. 9, is in very much in the virtuosic classical style of her famous father, and Sheu played it with appropriate flamboyance and panache.
The Sei preludi, Op. 46, was written in the Romantic style of Emilia’s generation. The pieces are intimate and redolent of a deeply felt solitude, and Sheu responded with an expressive rubato and warm tone. The most striking work on the program was Segovia, a neoclassical homage to the early 20th-century Spanish master, by Ida Presti, an outstanding guitarist composer well-known in midcentury."
-Scott Cmiel, San Francisco Classical Voice, July 18, 2012
"Her playing was seamless; every note was played with care."
-MaryLou Roberts, American Suzuki Journal, Vol 40 #4
"...This guitar suite by Martin, titled "Quatre pieces breves," takes full advantage of the unique sonority of the instrument, allowing the player to pierce individual notes through space with crystalline accuracy. Connie Sheu was particularly good at this type of accenture and did an excellent job of framing the more bizarre notes meant by the composer to shock. Ms. Sheu intoned the third piece, titled "Plainte," in a ruminative and searching manner,and her measured interpretation of the final "Comme une gigue" was scholarly."
-Fred Kirshnit, New York Sun, April 14, 2006
-Fred Kirshnit, New York Sun, April 14, 2006
Interviews
Above: Interview in American Suzuki Journal, Vol 40.3, Summer 2012
 Suzuki World, March-April, 1987
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Classical Guitar Magazine, October 2009
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