The UNLV Performing Arts Center (UNLV PAC) begins its 47th season on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7:30 p.m. with Las Vegas-based guitar duo Rio Sueño.
The duo includes Ricardo Cobo, multi-award-winning guitar virtuoso, and Parsa Sabet, who took the classical guitar world by storm with his early competition wins and appearance on NPR’s “From the Top.” This concert is sponsored by Dr. Mitchell and Pearl Forman.
The journey of these two remarkable musicians to become a duo performing together began in fall 2016. The dreams of a 15-year-old young man to meet and study with one of the world’s greatest classical guitarists brought him over 7,600 miles.
Born in Cali, Colombia, Ricardo Cobo began taking guitar lessons at the age of 8, on a twenty-dollar souvenir guitar that his uncle bought him in Brazil. He quickly outpaced his lessons, so his parents enrolled him in the Antonio Maria Valencia Conservatory, now part of Colombia’s national school for the fine arts.
Following high school, he attended Peabody Conservatory as a student of Aaron Shearer, a widely known master of the classical guitar. Cobo ultimately received the bachelor of music degree from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the master of music degree at Florida State University. While at FSU, he pursued postgraduate studies under Bruce Holzman, both as a graduate assistant and university doctoral fellow.
Cobo won many international competitions, including the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Concert Artist Competition, Alirio Díaz International Competition, and Casa de España Competition. Cobo’s professional career began when he was 17 and performed with the Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá (Columbia) for a television audience of over nine million. Cobo’s recordings are on the ESSAY, NAXOS, Ellipsis Arts, and Angel/EMI labels.
Parsa Sabet was born in Tehran and made the extremely difficult decision to leave Iran, his friends, and some family members to pursue his dream of becoming a classical guitarist. He traveled with his mother and brother to the United States, first stopping in Turkey for 18 months.
Upon arriving in Las Vegas, he enrolled as a sophomore at Sierra Vista High School and pursued lessons with Cobo, who quickly recognized the talent that this young man possessed. The ability to express himself through music is Sabet’s greatest passion. He has competed in numerous competitions since he started studying with Cobo, including Guitar Foundation of America’s International Youth Competition, Denver Guitar Festival & Competition, Texas Guitar Competition & Festival, and the Louisville Guitar Festival & Competition.
Additionally, in 2018, Sabet was selected as a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist scholarship recipient by NPR’s’ “From the Top.” Sabet was his bachelor’s degree from UNLV in 2022.
During their concert, Rio Sueño will perform breathtaking solos and extraordinary duet work – certain to be recognized by classical guitar aficionados, and sure to be enjoyed by all.
The performance is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Judy Bayley Theatre. Single tickets are priced at $35 (discounts available) and will go on sale on Tuesday, Aug. 29. Season ticket packages for all seven performances of the 47th season lineup may also be purchased by telephone at 702-895-ARTS (2787), online at pac.unlv.edu or at the UNLV PAC box office from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.
When purchasing a ticket or subscription package, consider making a donation to UNLV PAC to provide local students the opportunity to work with all the outstanding artists.
About UNLV Performing Arts Center
The UNLV Performing Arts Center is the original home for the arts in Southern Nevada; it opened in 1976, celebrates its 47th season in 2023/24, and welcomed more than 60,000 people last year.
A self-sustaining unit of UNLV, the PAC operates like many other arts organizations: costs for shows we produce, some facilities improvements, and other projects we undertake come from ticket sales, rentals, and donations.
It hosts a variety of performances and events and is home to self-produced events plus productions of the Nevada Conservatory Theatre, UNLV School of Music, UNLV Dance, the Las Vegas Men’s Chorus, among many other community arts presenters, and various Clark County School District fine arts festivals and concerts. For further information, visit pac.unlv.edu.
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