A Night of Classical Guitar was an intimate performance of solo guitar music by Naeim Rahmani, Bellevue College guitar professor. The event was sponsored by the Office of International Education (OIE) at 5 p.m. on Friday, Feb 15 in the Student Housing lobby. OIE provided snacks and drinks for those who participated.
Rahmani was born and raised in Iran and came to the states in 2004 as an immigrant. Rahmani started his music education in the U.S. and took his first guitar lesson in 2006. After graduating from UW in 2010, Rahmani moved on to the University of Victoria in Canada to work on his master’s degree. Later, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he finished his master’s degree. Rahmani lived and taught classes in Milwaukee before moving back to Seattle last year, and he’s been teaching here at BC since last quarter.
Rahmani said, “I love teaching, and it is a great opportunity for me to be here. I love music and being around with students, and I like to share what I have… Right now, I am teaching the guitar classes, music appreciation and some private classes. There are two guitar classes – Beginning Guitar and Intermediate Guitar.” Rahmani suggested, “If you would want to come and learn how to play guitar, the beginning class is your pick as it does not require any experience. The intermediate Guitar class recommends students to have some background experience in music or guitar.
“The more we get students exposed to the different types of music we offer, the better we can build the rich BC community. I really want to thank Eva Juarez from the OIE for supporting this event,” continued Rahmani. “My vision is to build a guitar culture on campus. We will have a guitar club, guitar concerts and workshops. That is my goal and vision for being here – add something to the department.”
Eva Juarez, International Students Engagement Specialist from the OIE said, “This is the Office of International Education’s first Night of Classical Guitar. We would love to host whatever programs want us to host to highlight more involvement of international students. We are open to do that… Today, we had a fantastic event with over 20 students came to the lobby of the student housing and enjoyed some amazing treats, and they got to listen to some music they may not had heard before,” continued Juarez.
Sophia Ward, a campus resident who participated in the event said “I am here because I just want to get involved on campus, and I want to hear some nice music. The event was impressive but it could be better if more people were here. I think everybody should come at least once.”