Historic Courtroom Opens For Classical Guitar Series

Imagine sitting in the Historic Courtroom of the Hamilton County Courthouse in downtown Noblesville, listening to classical guitar.

Legacy Keepers Music’s new Classical Guitar Series will offer four concerts in 2023 in the Historic Courtroom.

The first concert is Saturday, April 1, and features 2021 Noblesville High School graduate, guitarist Santiago Baptista, “who will take the stand to give his own musical testimony prior to featured artist of the evening, Joseph Jones, a 2020 graduate of Butler University Masters Guitar program.

“Along with fiery numbers from modern day, high-brow compositions that were significant during Noblesville’s founding era will be heard to bridge 200 years in Hamilton County history,” according to Legacy Keepers’ director Janet Gilray of Noblesville, who offered a colorful, tongue-in-cheek, description of the Historic Courtroom performances.

The production also includes “a smattering of light-hearted banter” by “Judge Janet Gilray, regarding the musical testimony to be heard before the evening audience assigned to ‘jury duty,’” she said.

The community already knows Gilray and Legacy Keepers Music, which brings us the annual free summer outdoor String-Time on the Square series.

“As a practicing guitarist, Baptista is expected to plead guilty to the charge of needing more opportunities to perform for John Q Public. Jones is anticipated to confess to neglecting many responsibilities over the years in favor of playing his exquisite classical guitar music, in particular compositions such as ‘Recuerdos de la Alhambra.’”

The four-concert series is set to convene in the historic courtroom on April 1 as part of the Bicentennial Celebration.  This opening “hearing” by Baptista and Jones will be followed on May 6 by a case put forth by Brett Terrell and Friends. Nolan Winter’s “hearing” is slated for Nov. 4 with John Alvarado on Dec. 2.

Gilray became interested in playing music inside the Historic Courtroom after hearing its history.

“When I heard from our (Hamilton) County Commissioner Mark Heirbrandt that documents left by our town founders indicated that when (William) Conner donated property for the Town Square, he wanted citizens to enjoy the Courthouse grounds for social purposes,” Gilray said. “Our Legacy Keepers advisory board felt by adding beautiful indoor classical guitar music to our long-established outdoor folk offerings, it would be a wonderful way to commemorate our bicentennial year.”

Tickets are $20 per show, with “season” tickets for the series for sale at $60 for 4 shows, a savings of $20 for the series. Sponsors include Noblesville Township Trustees Office, Mark Heirbrandt, Jean Roberts, Ginger’s Cafe, Renaissance Music Studios, Deco Indy Signs and Apparel and Hedgehog Roadshow.

Here’s the skinny on the performers:

Baptista, also known as “Bap,” has been playing guitar since age 7. He has performed at a variety of venues around the county, including the Hunt Club of Sheridan. He performs as a solo guitarist, as well as in a duo with his father, and as the lead player in his own group, Santiago Bap Trio. He plays electric and acoustic guitar, specializing in blues, jazz, rock, African and Latin music. He also teaches guitar lessons.

Joseph Jones, a 2020 graduate of Butler University Masters Guitar program, is a classical guitarist from Indianapolis who finds himself frequently playing in venues ranging from restaurants, such as Auberge in Zionsville, to concert halls, such as Red Skelton Performing Arts Center in Vincennes. He is Vincennes University’s professor for classical guitar studies and previously taught in University of Indianapolis’ pre-college program and a semester of classes at IUPUI.

Brett Terrell has been instructor of guitar at Butler University’s School of Music since 1979 and owner and teacher at Renaissance Studios since 1976. He is vice president and a founding father of Indianapolis Society of the Classical Guitar, an artist-in-residence for Ben Taylor Guitars and a studio musician at Aire Born Studios in Zionsville. He studied guitar with Javier Calderon at Indiana University and continued his training in guitar at Roosevelt University in Chicago with Maestro Manuel Lopez-Ramos. He was awarded a Distinguished Performer certificate while playing in a master class series at Rice University with international recording artist Pepe Romero. Terrell was a featured artist for the City of Indianapolis during the Pan-American Games. He accompanied international vocalist Luciano Pavarotti when he performed in Indianapolis. In 1995, he was runner-up as Ambassador of Music for the United States of America. He has played on several movie tracks and worked on a project called Gems with the late Whitney Houston. He has performed for celebrities, including William Shatner, Robert Redford, Gene Hackman and Paul Newman.

Winters, an Indianapolis native, studied under Nemanja Ostojic at the University of Indianapolis, where he obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Guitar Performance with a concentration in Composition. Since 2018, he has performed and taught in domestic and foreign settings, including the Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, and the Borguitar Festival in Borgo Val di Taro, Italy. He has been a guest artist at Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, Vincennes University, and with Pablo Sainz Villegas at Hilbert Circle Theatre. He currently teaches music at Saint Michael and Saint Rose of Lima Catholic schools.

Alvarado earned his Bachelor of Music from DePaul University and his Master of Music at Arizona State University. He studied Flamenco at the Taller Flamenco School in Seville, Spain. He has performed at an array of venues, including Indiana History Center, Indianapolis Art Center, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis Artsgarden, IUPUI and Butler University. He is a founding member and current president of Indianapolis Society of Classical Guitar. In 2008, he received the Innovative Artist award from Indiana University and in 2013 received the Creative Renewal Arts Fellowship by the Arts Council of Indianapolis. He is senior lecturer of guitar for the IUPUI Department of Music and Arts Technology.

Baptista and Winters performed a “Sound Check” earlier this month in the Historic Courtroom in the Courthouse, which was constructed 1877-1879. This Second Empire-style structure was built by A.G. Campfield company and designed by architect Edwin May, who was influenced by French Renaissance architecture. The courthouse was restored to its original appearance 1992-94. A clock tower holds the original clock that is still functional. Gilray gleaned this historical information from “Primitive History of Hamilton County” published in 1901, plaques inside the Courthouse and “Historic Noblesville” by Noblesville Main Street, Hamilton County Tourism and Noblesville Preservation Alliance.

According to Hamilton County Historian David Heighway, the Historic Courtroom had been divided up in the mid-20th century, including a floor dividing it into two stories. During the Courthouse restoration in 1992, they used photographs from the D.C. Stephenson trial. “You could say that it reflects the 1920s era. The style is all recreated.”

-Betsy Reason writes about people, places and things in Hamilton County. Contact Betsy Reason at betsy@thetimes24-7.com.