20180313 WHITE okomito EuroStrings_logo_RGB_1

EUROSTRINGS
inspirierende klassische Gitarristen

co-foundet-white

Der innovative Umfang von EuroStrings wird die Aufmerksamkeit vieler Menschen wecken und das Interesse an Gitarrenkonzerten vergrößern sowie die Bedeutung dieses äußerst schönen und vielseitigen Instruments hervorheben.

Assad Btothers

assad-min

EUROSTRINGS
European Guitar Festival Collaborative

Ein Fest – die ersten vier Jahre
2017–2021

INHALTE

Vorwort

Einleitende Worte des Künstlerischen Leiters der Eurostrings Platform Festivals
Teil I: EuroStrings
Wer wir sind
Ziele
Wer sind die Eurostrings Künstler?
Woran erkennt man die Eurostrings-Künstler?
Wie wird man EuroStrings-Künstler
EuroStrings Austausch-Programm
Entwicklung neuer Business Modelle
Aufbau von Grundwissen über klassische Gitarrenfestival
Wie das Eurostrings Projekt untertützt werden kann
Eurostrings -Konferenzen

  • Erste Eurostrings-Konferenz
  • Zweite Eurostrings- Konferenz

TEIL II: EuroStrings Künstler
EuroStrings Gitarren-Wettbewerb

  • Erster Eurostrings Gitarren-Wettbewerb 2018
  • Zweiter EuroStrings-Gitarren-Wettbewerb 2019
  • Dritter EuroStrings Gitarren-Wettbewerb 2020

EuroStrings Competition-Contest

  • Vorwort der Jury von Stephen Gross
  • Erster EuroStrings Composition Contest 2018/2019
  • Zweiter EuroStrings Composition Contest 2019/2020

EuroStrings Guitar Festivals
EuroStrings-Künstler: 2017/2018, 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2020/2021

EuroStrings Festivals und Künstler

  • Gitarren-Festival Antwerpen und seine Preisträger
  • Internationales Gitarren-Festival  Guimaraes und seine Preisträger
  • Harmonia Cordis International Classical Guitar Festival und seine Preisträger
  • International Festival of Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer und seine Preisträger
  • International Guitar Festival Mottola und seine Preisträger
  • International Guitar Festival Nürtingen und seine Preisträger
  • Internationales Gitarren Festival Rust und seine Preisträger
  • London Guitar Festival und seine Preisträger
  • Montenegro International Guitar Wettbewerb und seine Preisträger
  • Paris International Guitar Festival und seine Preisträger
  • Plovdiv GuitArt Festival und seine Preisträger
  • Sarajevo International Guitar Festival und seine Preisträger
  • Szeged International Guitar Festival und seine Preisträger
  • Tallinn Guitar Festival und Preisträger
  • Tampere Guitar Festival und Preisträger
  • Twents Gitaar Festival und Preisträger
  • Uppsala International Guitar Festival und Preisträger
  • Zagreb Guitar Festival und Preisträger

EuroStrings Associate Festivals

  • Copenhagen Guitar Festival
  • Peja International Guitar Festival
  • Vojvodina Guitar Fest und Preisträger

Zugehörige Festivals

Eurostrings-Stipendien

  • EuroStrings Stidendien-Empfänger 2017/2018
  • EuroStrings Stidendien-Empfänger 2018/2019
  • EuroStrings Stidendien-Empfänger 2019/2020

CD-Aufnahmen von EuroStrings-Künstlern

TEIL III: Interviews
Rückblick und Ausblick

  • Interview mit Ružica M. Ciglenecki
  • Interview mit Antonio Rumenovic
  • Interview mit Mak Grgic

Nachwort: Covid 19 im Jahr 2020 und danach

aniello-min

Ich bin stolz auf die Zusammenarbeit mit EuroStrings, es ist ein sehr schönes Projekt, welches allen jungen großartigen Gitarristen sehr viel bedeutet.

Aniello Desiderio

Eine wunderbare Chance, junge Talente zu fördern und die Gitarrenmusik lebendig zu erhalten. EuroSTrings ist ein Meilenstein in der Geschichte der modernen Gitarre.

Margarita Escarpa

escarpa-min

VORWORT

EuroSTrings – die European Guitar festival Collaborative – startete als unser Traumprojekt vor vier Jahren. Wir waren hocherfreut, dass es nun Realität geworden war durch die Unterstützung aller Mitbeteiligten an diesem Projekt. Die Mitbegründung durch das Creative EuropeProgramme der Europäischen Union war der Schlüssel zu diesem wundervollen künftigen Projekt.

Als zwei Personen, die ihr Leben der musikalischen Bildung gewidmet haben, gründeten wir die Musikschule Bonar in Zagreb , wo es viele Musikstudenten gibt. Dabei kam uns die Idee zu versuchen, das Leben junger Menschen durch die Gitarre zu verändern. Junge professionelle Künstler brauchen besondere Hilfe in den sehr schwierigen Anfangsphasen ihrer Karriere. Es gibt auch viele Kinder und Jugendliche, die aus verschiedensten Gründen keinen Zugang zur Musik hatten. Aus dieser Idee ist EuroSTrings entstanden.Unser Projekt verbindet beides miteinander:  junge professionelle Gitarristen wie die EuroStrings Artists spielen nicht nur Konzerte in ganz Europa – sie unterrichten auch minderbemittelte Kinder und Jugendliche durch zahlreiche verschiedene Outreach-Aktivitäten.

. Beim Durchlesen dieser Broschüre, welche unsere Arbeit in den letzten drei Jahren und am Beginn des vierten Jahres beschreibt, wird  ein wesentlicher Aspekt der Eurostrings deutlich: dass es sich vor allem um ein Gemeinschaftsprojekt in allen Bereichen handelt . Wir sind stolz auf  das erfolgreiche Projekt, weil es nicht nur alle unsere Ziele erreicht hat, sondern auch weitere Möglichkeiten für Zusammenarbeit und Outreach eröffnete, welche in der fortbestehenden Phase der Covid-19 Pandemie enorm wichtig geworden sind.

Die EuroStrings-Platform-Mitglieder haben sich gegenseitig unterstützt in den ersten drei Jahren, mehr noch im letzten Jahr, wo wir uns alle anpassen, neue Technologien lernen und Lösungen finden mussten, wie wir unsere Arbeite fortsetzen  und die  11 11 EuroStrings-Künstler unterstützen könnten. Der Sinn unserer Plattform wurde unso deutlicher während der Corona-Krise.

 

Bei dieser Gelegenheit möchten wir allen unseren EuroSTrings-Platform-Mitgliedern danken für ihre Mitarbeit und ihr Engagement, welche diesem Projekt eine solide Struktur für die künftige Zusammenarbeit gegeben haben. Ein besonderes Dankeschön auch an unsere jungen EuroStrings-Künstler, welche uns sehr viel Freude mit ihren großartigen Darbietungen und ihrer großzügigen Unterstützung der jungen Kollegen bereitet haben.

 

 

Ružica Gelo Ciglenečki, Geschäftsführer

Boris Ciglenečki, Finanzchef

Ein Wort des künstlerischen Leiters der EuroStrings Platform Festivals

italy-logo-min

‘Das Guimaraes International Guitar festial setzte als erstes das wundervolle Eurostrings Programme ein! Wir sind sehr stolz darauf, Teil dieser einzigartigen beim Zagreb Guitar Festival gegründeten Plattform zu sein. Hier haben junge Künstler die Gelegenheit, auf einer regelmäßigen Basis zu spielen, denn das ist sehr wichtig in der frühen Phase ihrer Karriere.’

Nuno Cachada künstlerischer Leiter

Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães

Portugal

portiugal
romania-logo-min

‘Teil des EuroSTrings Programm  zu sein, ist eine wunderbare Erfahrung für uns und ich schätze besonders die Aktivitäten des Programms für die jungen Gitarristen auf der ganzen Welt.’

Dr István Ferenc Beke Vorsitzender

Harmonia Cordis International Classical Guitar Festival

Rumänien

romania-flag-large
spain-logo-min

'Eurostrings ist in sehr wichtiges Projekt für die Karriere junger Gitarristen, eine Plattform, bei der wichtige Gitarren Festivals Erfahrungen sammeln, besonders aber trägt es dazu bei, die Qualität der Gitarrenmusik zu verbessern.'

Pepe Payá künstlerischer Leiter

International Festival of Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer

Spain

spain-flag-medium
mottola-logo-min

'Die EuroStrings-Lokomotive setzt ihre wunderschöne Reise fort, um junge Gitarristen auf den sechs Saiten durch die wichtigsten europäischen Festivals zu führen.’

Michele Libraro künstlierischer Leiter

International Guitar Festival Mottola

Italien

italy-flag-square-medium
germany-logo-min

‘Es ist aufregend, an diesem einzigartigen Projekt mit all diesen fantastischen Kollegen in ganz Europa zu arbeiten. Die Zusammenarbeit bietet den jungen Gitarristen unbezahlbare Unterstützung zum Aufbau ihres professionellen Netzwerks.’

Katrin Klingeberg and Sebastián Montes künstlerische/r Leiter/In

International Guitar Festival Nürtingen

Deutschland

germany-flag-medium
austria-logo-min

‘Die Gitarre wird oft übersehen durch das Establishment der klassischen Musik. Dieses EuroStrings Project im Wiener Musik Verein, der Welthauptstadt der klassischen Musik, stellt die Gitarre in das Rampenlicht, in das sie hineingehört

Gabriel Guillén Künstlerischer Leiter

International Guitar Festival Rust

Öserreich

austria-flag-square-medium
igf_logo-bk-min

‘EuroSTrings ist ein hervorragendes Projekt! Mir gefällt besonders die Zusammenarbeit mit jungen Künstlern, sie sind sehr talentiert und brauchen in der Tat viel Hilfe in den frühen Phasen ihrer Karriere, Auch das Outreach Programm in den umliegenden Orten unterstütze ich sehr gern.’

Tom Kerstens Künstlerischer Leiter

London Guitar Festival

Vereinigtes Königsreich

united-kingdom-flag-square-medium
montenegro-logo-min

‘Seit seiner Gründung hat EuroSTrings die Welt der klassischen Gitarre sehr stark beeinflusst . Es brachte einige der wichtigsten Gitarren-Festivals zusammen bezüglich Qualität, einer Reihe von Programmen – die Plattform ist weltweit ein dynamisches und wachsendes Projekt, das seinesgleichen sucht.

Danijel Cerović Künstlerischer Leiter

Montenegro International Guitar Competition

Montenegro

montenegro-flag-square-medium
Logo FIGP-min

‘EuroStrings ist ein großartiges Projekt. Es gibt jungen Künstlern Chancen, Kodnzerte zu geben und Konzerte junger Künstler aus der ganzen Welt zu hören. Es ist auch eine fantastische Art, mit anderen europäischen Gitarren-Festivals zusammenzuarbeiten und Erfahrungen auszutauschen.’

Tania Chagnot Künstlerische Leiterin

Paris International Guitar Festival

Frankreich

fr
bul-logo-min

‘EuroStrings ist ein fantastisches Projekt, das den jungen Gitarristen große Karrierechancen, neue Erfahrungen und Motivation in ihrer künstlerischen Entwicklung ermöglicht

Hristo Kolikov Künstlerischer Leiter

Plovdiv GuitArt Festival

Bulgaria

bulgaria-flag-square-medium
sarajevo-logo-min

'Mit folgenden vier Begriffen könnte man die vier Jahre der EuroStrings umschreiben:

 Vision: Junge talentierte Gitarristen zu befähigen, ihre Leistung zu steigern.

Courage: zu zeigen, dass junge Künstler verschiedenster Herkunft gemeinsam Erfahrungen sammeln und eine gemeinsame Idee haben können.

Kreativität: die ein neues Konzept zur Pflege der klassischen Gitarrenmusik geschaffen hat, welches ein öffentliches Zeichen setzt, dass Kunst für jede und jeden zugänglich ist.

Energie: welche  Jugend, Talent und Wissen auf eine Ebene gestellt hat.'

Đani Šehu Künstlerischer Leiter

Sarajevo International Guitar Festival

Bosnien und Herzegovina

bosnia-and-herzegovina-flag-medium
hungary-logo-min

‘EuroStrings ist ein wahr gewordener Traum, der die zukünftigen Gitarrentalente mit den prominentesten Stars und ihren Zuhörern zusammenbringt – eine revolutionäre Kreation. Wir sind dankbar, daran teilzuhaben.’

Dávid Pavlovits Künstlerischer Leiter

Szeged International Guitar Festival

Ungarn

hungary-flag-square-medium
tallianna-logo-min

‘Die Gitarre wird oft im klassischen Musik-Establishment übersehen, dieses Eurostrings-Projekt bringt die Gitarre ins Rampenlicht, wohin sie gehört

Tiit Peterson Künstlerischer Leiter

Tallinn Guitar Festival

Estland

estonia-flag-square-medium
finland-logo-min

’EuroStrings ist eine fantastische Plattform, welche Fachleute für Gitarre von heute und morgen zusammenbringt und ein visionäres Licht auf Gitarrenstudenten und Organisationen wirft.’

Tomi Tolvanen Künstlerischer Leiter

Tampere Guitar Festival

Finnland

finland-flag-medium
holland-logo-min

‘EuroStrings ist eine wundervolle europäische Plattform, welche eine sehr gute musikalische Verbindung und ein großes Netzwerk zwischen verschiedenen Ländern und Kulturen und ihren jungen Gitarristen herstellt. Wir sind sehr stolz, Teil davon zu sein.’

Pim Weierink and Daphne Hodes Künstler Leiter

Twents Gitaar Festival

Niederlande

netherlands-flag-square-medium
swden-logo-min

‘’Eurostrings ist ein gutes Projekt in vielerlei Hinsicht. Es unterstützt die Entwicklung junger Künstler und gibt ihnen die Chance und die Reichweite der europäischen Festivals zu entdecken, indem sie das Leben auf der Bühne und das Management kennen lernen.Sie haben großes Talent und sehen, dass 16  diese Plattform ihnen wesentliche Unterstützung in der frühen Phase ihrer Karriere gab sowie die Bedeutung der Zusammenarbeit zwischen europäischen Gitarren-Festivals.’

Klaus Pontvik Künstler Leiter

Uppsala International Guitar Festival

Schweden

sweden-flag-medium
Webp.net-resizeimage (1)

‘Eurostrings ist wohl eine der besten Erfindungen auf dem Sektor der klassischen Gitarre in den letzten fünf Jahren. Dass wir zusammenarbeiten und Erfahrungen auf unserem Festival austauschen können, ist eine einmalige Chance. Hoffentlich wird sie noch viele Jahre andauern.’

Mak Grgić Künstler Leiter

Zagreb Guitar Festival

Kroatien

croatia-flag-square-medium

Es ist wirklich sehr beeindruckend zu sehen, welch positiven Einfluss EuroStrings weltweit auf die Entwicklung und Inspiration junger Gitarristen hat. Ich glaube, dass diese positive Arbeit sich auch positiv auf die Popularität der klassischen Gitarrenmusik und auf die Achtsamkeit der ständig wachsenden Anzahl talentierter junger Gitarristen auswirken wird. Die junge Generation braucht am meisten Aufmerksamkeit und Unterstützung, welche ihnen Kraft und Mut geben, um diese zähe Reise durchzustehen. Herzliche Gratulation an Eurostrings für die Widmung und Mühe und meine besten Wünsche für die Zukunft!

Ana Vidović

ana-min

TEIL I
EuroStrings

Für mich war das Wertvollste am EuroSTrings Wettbewerb, so so vielen Menschen aus der Welt der Gitarre zu begegnen, an Meisterklassen mit renomierten Gitarristen teilzunehmen war unglaublich wertvoll sowie die gemeinsame Arbeit, die Gespräche mit jungen Kollegen, daran denke ich besonders gern zurück.

Gewinner des ersten Eurostrings Guitar Wettbewerbs

Jesse-Flowers-4-min

WER WIR SIND

EuroStrings ist eine Plattform europäischer Gitarren Festivals im Rahmen des Zagreb Guitar Festival. Als erste Plattform dieser Art wird sie immer umfangreicher. 2018 startete sie mit 14 Festival-Mitgliedern, 2021 sind es bereits 17 Festival-Mitglieder geworden.; mit drei zusätzlichen Festivals im Jahr 2021 sowie Filialpartnern auf der ganzen Welt. Das Projekt wurde mitbegründet durch das Creative Europe Programme der EU und ist das erste EU-finanzierte Gitarren-Projekt.. 

EuroStrings hat Partner in Amerika und China und wird dadurch zu einem globalen Projekt. Jedes einzelne Festival veranstaltet auch einen internationalen Gitarren-Wettbewerb, öffentliche Konzerte, die Entwicklung neuer Businessmodelle, Erforschung und Entwicklung von Ressourcen für Festival- Organisatoren und Entscheidungsträger, aber im Mittelpunkt steht die Förderung junger Gitarristen. Zu diesem Zweck wählt Eurostrings einen Gastgeber für die Auftrittsmöglichkeiten der Preisträger, es wird bezeichnet als Eurostrings Austausch-Programm. Dieses Programm enthält auch eine umfassende Ausbildungskomponente. Die jungen Künstler besuchen nicht nur die Workshops der Meister-Gitarristen, sie selbst unterrichten auch flächendeckend Schulkinder aus der Umgebung in verschiedenen Gruppen.Das Projekt unterstützt auch junge minderbemittelte talentierte Schüler. Die Eurostrings-Künstler von 2020/21 sind die Preisträger der internationalen Gitarren-Wettbewerbe, welche von ihren 17 Festival-Mitglieder-Plattformen 2020 veranstaltet wurden. Eurostrings wurde mitbegründet durch das Creative Europe Programme der EU für den Zeitraum von 2017 bis 2021.

es-final-all-min

ZIELE

UNSERE ZIELE:

  • Die Förderung talentierter junger klassischer Gitarrenspieler durch Auftrittsmöglichkeiten, Meisterklassen, professionelle Entwicklung und internationale Wettbewerbe
  • Ausbildung und Vorbereitung junger begabter klassischer Gitarrenspieler auf Lehrtätigkeit, öffentliche Konzerte allein und im Ensemble
  • Den Sektor des internationalen europäischen Gitarrenfestivals weiterzuentwickeln und zu konsolidieren durch Zusammenarbeit, Informationen zu teilen sowie Ressourcen durch neue Technologien aufzubauen,sowie  digital einschliesslich die EuroStrings Digital Academy;
  • Weitere und nachhaltige Konzerte für klassische Gitarre zu entwickeln. Wir tun dies in einer Vielzahl von Initiatven einschließlich Auience Lab, das junge Leute mit unterschiedlichem Hintergrund und ohne Zugang zur musikalischen Ausbildung erreicht und ihnen neue aufregende, lebensverändernde Erfahrungen ermöglicht.

WER SIND DIE EUROSTRINGS KÜNSTLER?

Eurostrings Artists sind eine Gruppe junger professioneller Gitarristen, Preisträger der internationalen Wettbewerbe, die von den 17 Gitarren-Festival-Mitgliedern der Eurostrings Platform organisiert werden. Sie werden eingeladen, am Eurostrings Austausch Programm teilzunehmen, das vom Eurostrings Curriculum herausgegeben wird.

EUROSTRINGS FEATURED ARTISTS

Eurostrings-Künstler sind erfahrene professionelle Meister-Gitarristen, meist klassische Gitarristen , die weltweit anerkannt sind. Sie veranstalten 22 Konzerte, Meisterklassen und als Mentoren beraten und helfen sie den Nachwuchsgitarristen. Sie sind sowohl inspirierend als auch aufstiegsorientierend für die Generation der heranwachsenden Berufskünstler. Jedes Eurostrings- Platform- Festival lädt mindestens einen Eurostrings-Künstler zur Teilnahme an der Veranstaltung ein.

5-min

WIE WIRD MAN EUROSTRINGS-KÜNSTLER?

Um Eurostrings-Künstler zu werden, muss man den ersten Preis gewinnen bei einem der internationalen Gitarren-Wettbewerbe der Eurostrings Platform.In manchen Fällen können auch Zweitpreis-Gewinner Eurostrings-Künstler werden, wenn z.B. der Gewinner des ersten Preises bereits ein EuroStrings Preisträger im Vorjahr gewesen ist.

za-2-min

EUROSTRINGS AUSTAUSCH-PROGRAMM

Die zentrale Aktivität des EuroSTrings-Projektes ist der Programm-Austausch, der von EuroSTrings-Künstlern eingerichtet wurde, um klassischen Gitarristen zu einer professionellen Karriere zu verhelfen . Das Programm bietet Gelegenheiten, welche die von den jungen Gitarristen einstudierten akademischen Programme an ihren Konservatorien und Universitäten begleitet und ihnen neue Horizonte und internationale Erfahrungen eröffnet sowie professionelle Darbietungen und Vernetzung mit Gleichaltrigen und ein Angebot an Konzertförderung, Festivals und professioneller Musikindustrie vermittelt.

Das EuroStrings Austausch-Programm wird durch das EuroStrings  Curriculum herausgegeben und es bietet den jungen Teilnehmern folgende Angebote::

  • Solo Konzerte bei EurosTrings Platform Festivals in ganz Europa, mindestens drei pro Jahr.
  • Kammermusik-Konzerte gemeinsam mit Eurostrings-Künstlern
  • Teilnahme am Eurostrings Gitarren-Wettbewerb.
  • Masterklassen mit weltberühmten Musikern, auch solche von eigenen Eurostrings-Kümstlern, eine Gruppe der anerkanntesten Meistergitarristen der Welt
  • Vorlesungen und Workshops über reichhaltige Themen wie Marketing und PR, Fundraising, Audienz-Entwicklung und professionelle Fertigkeiten.
  • Teilnahme an der Herausgabe eines umfassenden gemeinsamen Ausbildungsprogramms, das das Unterrichten von Masterklassen für Kinder und Jugendliche einschließt , die oft Anfänger sind und in herausfordernden Umständen leben, sowie die Arbeit in der näheren Umgebung einschließlich Jugendclubs, Schulen und Krankenhäuser

ENTWICKLUNG NEUER BUSINESS-MODELLE

Jedes Jahr werden drei EuroStrings-Seminare veranstaltet, sie behandeln verschiedene Themen im Bereich von Konzert-Marketing und Public Relation (PR), Fundraising, Kultur-Marketing und Kultur-Tourismus. Diese Seminare stehen allen klassischen Berufsmusikern offen.

AUFBAU EINER WISSENSGRUNDLAGE FÜR KLASSISCHE GITARREN-FESTIVALS

Die Plattform führt jährliche Untersuchungen und Forschungen durch, welche auf der EuroStrings Website veröffentlicht werden und als Ressource für Festival-Organisationen und Entscheidungsträger dienen und die strategische Planung der Plattform unterstützen. Diese Wissensgrundlage vermittelt eine vergleichende Perspektive und schafft ein breiteres Bewusstsein für die Gemeinschaft des europäischen klassischen Gitarren-Festivals.

WIE LÄSST SICH DAS EUROSTRINGS-PROJEKT UNTERSTÜTZEN?

EuroStrings wurde mitbegründet durch das Creative Europe Programme der EU. Dieses mitbegründende Programm ermöglicht einen Großteil der Aktivitäten des Projekts, jedoch nicht flächendeckend. Wenn Sie uns gern unterstützen möchten als Sponsor oder durch eine Spende, kontaktieren Sie uns bitte unter: communication@eurostrings.eu

EUROSTRINGS KONFERENZEN

Alle Vernstaltungen der EuroStrings-Konferenz sind öffentlich zugänglich und warden via Facebook und youtube gestreamt über EuroStrings Digital.

Erste EuroStrings Conference
Zagreb Guitar Festival
Mimara Museum, Zagreb
4–6 April 2019

Vorträge
Carlo Marchione Fandango aus “Tres Piezas Españolas” -Analyse und Aufführung
Darko Karajić:   ‘Alte Musik heute’
Igor Vranić: ‘Alexander-Technik und gesundes Spiel
Brian Head: ‘Integrative Musikpädagogik'
Mak Grgić ‘Ziele und Umsetzung'
David Collett and Hrvoje Grgić: die Welt der High-End-Gitarren
Slobodan Sibinčič: Tips und Tricks für den Erfolg
Tom Kerstens:  ZGF über Business: Fundraising’
Tina Jukič and Ana Šilovič :  ‘Steigert die Zahl der Touristen bei kulturellen Veranstaltungen
Anera Štopfer: Bewerben Sie sich und gewinnen Sie das EU-Stipendium'
Matt Hinsley : Hinter den Kulissen einer erfolgreichen Gitarren-Gesellschaft'
'Thomas Offermann :‘D’addario

Darbietungn
Sérgio and Odair Assad
Jesse Flowers
He Zhiyuan
Aniello Desiderio mit dem EuroStrings Orchestra unter der Leitung von Thomas Offermann
EuroStrings Orchestra and the ZGF Orchestra

_KAL6578-min
77264901_552702478853771_5940933574260686848_o (1)-min

Zweite EuroStrings Konferenz
Uppsala International Guitar Festival
Online
14–15 November 2020

Vorträge
‘Kreative Tools für Musiklehrer aus der Community Perspektive: Eine praktische und theoretische Annäherung’ von Matthias Zloto
‘Covid-Performance-und Qualitätskontrolle – Italien versus Schweden: Unterschiedliche Ansätze zu Aufführungen während der Covid-19 Pandemie’ von Michele Libraro und Klaus Pontvik

Darbietungen
‘Tribut an Sérgio Assad’ durch ein Orchester der EuroStrings Artists und Gitarristen der Malmo Academy of Music unter Leitung von Christian Karlsen
Solokonzert von Mateusz Kowalski

151570475_867012007422815_8517061478013624382_o-min

... Die Schönheit unserer Musik und die hervorragende Qualität und Virtuosität unserer jungen Musiker lässt meines Erachtens keinen Zweifel an der glorreichen Zukunft der Gitarre.

David Russell

david russell-min

TEIL II
EuroStrings Artists

Gewinner des zweiten Eurostrings-Gitarren-Wettbewerbs im Juli 2019 in London:„Sieger des EuroStrings-Wettbewerbs zu werden war einer meiner größten Träume. Ich werde unzählige Preisträger-Konzerte geben. Jetzt stehen mir die bedeutendsten Regionen auf der ganzen Welt offen. Es ist ein unglaublicher Karriereschub.

Mateusz Kowalski
Gewinner des Zweiten EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs

MateuszUMFC-5-min

EUROSTRINGS GITARREN- WETTBEWERB

Das Highlight des EuroStrings Austausch-Programms ist der EuroStrings Gitarren-Wettbewerb.Der Gewinner erhält einen Geldpreis von 8000€ sowie eine Europa-Tournee und Konzerte in Asien und Amerika für das Jahr 2021/2022. Dieses Programm ermöglicht einen einzigartigen Start in eine Internationale Karriere.  

Gitarristen im Alter bis 35 Jahren können an diesem Wettbewerb teilnehmen.Am EuroSTrings Gitarren Wettbewerb können nur die 17 EurosStrings Künstler, die Preisträger der 17 Gitarren Wettbewerbe der EuroStrings Festival Member Platform sind, teilnehmen.Jedes dieser Festivals lädt Teilnehmer aus der ganzen Welt ein und folglich empfängt und präsentiert der EuroStrings-Gitarren-Wettbewerb die allerbesten jungen Gitarristen aus der anzen Welt.

*Der Geldpreis ist hoch und ist möglicherweise steuerpflichtig

Erster EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerb 2018

Der erste dieser prestigereichen Wettbewerbe der EuroStrings Artists 2017/2018 fand beim Zagreb Guitar Festival 2018 statt.. Jesse Flowers (Australien/Deutschland) war die Siegerin des Ersten EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs.

mateusz-kowalski-min

Dritter EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerb 2020

Lovro Peretić (Croatia) (Kroatien) war Sieger des Dritten EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs der EuroStrings Artists 2019/2020. Der Wettbewerb wurde online abgehalten vom 17.–20. December 2020, mit der Übertragung des Finale über EuroStrings Facebook am Sonntag, 20. December 2020. Two Phantasmas des Komponisten and Gitarristen Ozan Coşkun (Sieger-Komposition des Zweiten  EuroStrings Composition Contest) war das Pflichtstück in der Finalrunde.

Jesse-Flowers-4-min

Zweiter EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerb 2019

Mateusz Kowalski (Polen) war der Sieger des Zweiten EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs der EuroStrings Artists 2018/2019. Der Wettbewerb fand beimLondon Guitar Festival im Juli 2019 statt. Les Arcanes des Komponisten und Gitarristen Nicolas Khan (Gewinner-Komposition des Ersten EuroStrings Composition Contest) war das obligatorische Stück der Finalrunde..

lovro-min

EUROSTRINGS COMPOSITION CONTEST FOR CLASSICAL GUITAR

kahn-min

Beim Ersten EuroStrings Composition Contest zu gewinnend war wahrlich eine unglaublich prägende Erfahrung für mich. Es gab mir Kraft und Selbstvertrauen für weitere Kompositionen. Ich hatte jahrelang hart an meiner Musik gearbeitet, als ich den Wettbewerb gewann und so starke Rückmeldungen bekam von Komponisten , die ich immer bewundert habe, wie Steve Goss und Sérgio Assad, das war eine große Belohnung.. Ich bin auch Mateusz Kowalski, dem Sieger des 2019 EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs, sehr dankbar für seine leidenschaftliche und erfolgreiche Verteidigung meiner Komposition, Les Arcanes, auf der ganzen Welt.

Nicolas Kahn
Sieger des Ersten EuroStrings Composition Contest

Selbst wenn wir momentan ein weltweites Chaos erleben und Musiker hart davon betroffen sind, gib uns die EuroStrings-Organisation und ihre Aktivitäten Hoffnung und Motivation, weiter zu musizieren. Die Verbindung zu dieser “Gitarristen-Familie” ist für mich unbezahlbar in dieser Zeit.

Ozan Coşkun
Gewinner des Zweiten EuroStrings Composition Contest

ozan-min

EUROSTRINGS COMPOSITION CONTEST FUR KLASSISCHE GITARRE

Der EuroStrings Composition Contest für klassische Gitarre wurde von EuroStrings als Wettbewerb für klassische Gitarre für das Jahr 2019 konzipiert, um die klassische Gitarrenmusik auf ein neues hochqualitatives Niveau zu stellen.

Der Wettbewerb möchte auch begabte, bis 35jährige Komponisten fördern, deren Werke noch keine Chance hatten, an die Öffentlichkeit zu dringen. Es müssen Kompositionen für 6-saitige klssische Gitarre sein die weder veröffentlicht wurden, noch vorher einen Preis gewonnen haben. Die Bewerber sollten entweder EU-Staatsbürgerschaft besitzen oder wohnhaft in einem EU-Staat sein (gilt auch für europäische Nicht-EU-Mitgliedsländer, die Teil von Europa sind). Die Jury besteht aus drei international renomierten Komponisten und Gitarristen. Der Auswahlprozess erfolgt auf drei Ebenen: Der Gewinner des EuroStrings Composition Contest erhält einen Geldpreis in der Höhe von €1500* und die Sieger-Komposition ist das Pflichtstück im Finale des Vierten EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs, welcher während des International Guitar Festival José Tomás in Petrer/ Spanien im Juli 2021 stattfinden wird. Die Sieger-Komposition wird vom Gewinner des 4. EuroStrings Guitar Wettbewerbs bei den 16 EuroStrings Festivals vorgetragen.

•Ausleseverfahren: Die besten 12 Kompositionen werden aus allen Bewerbungen ausgewählt.

•Semi-Finale: die besten drei Kompositionen des Semi-Finale werden ausgewählt Finale: Eine Sieger-Komposition wird von den drei Finalisten ausgewählt.

Alle Details sind zu finden auf: https://eurostrings.eu/eurostrings-composition-contest-for-classical-guitar/

* dieser Preis wird voll ausgezahlt, es könnten Steuern anfallen

Ein Wort der Jury

Mehr als gefangen in einer Tradition, entwickelt sich das Gitarren-Repertoire konstant in eine neue Richtung, nicht festgelegt, aber sich ständig verändernd. Die Virtuosen unserer Zeit haben Technik und Musikalität auf der Gitarre auf ein Niveau gebracht, das in der letzten Generation noch unvorstellbar war. Zeitgenössische Darsteller brauchen zeitgenössische Musik, die ihre Talente bis an ihre Grenzen führt. Der EuroStrings Composition Contest ist die perfekte Plattform für mutmachende innovative neue Gitarrenmusik. Ich hatte das Privileg, Mitglied der Jury für die zwei EuroStrings Composition Contests zu sein. Komponisten aus vielen Ländern lieferten Stücke von überraschender Fantasie in den unterschiedlichsten Stilen. Die zwei besten Werke bekommen einen Platz in unserem immer weiter expandierenden Konzert-Repertoire. Besonders genoss ich die Zusammenarbeit in der Jury mit Komponisten aus anderen Musikbereichen, es war eine Bereicherung und eine Erweiterung des eigenen Horizonts.. Ich würde mir mehr solche Möglichkeiten wie den EuroStrings Composition Contest für talentierte Komponisten der Gitarrenmusik wünschen.

goss-min

Stephen Goss

Komponist und Professor für Komposition

Direktor des International Guitar Research Centre an derUniversity of Surrey,

Professor für Gitarre an der Royal Academy of Music, London

Treuhänder der International Guitar Foundation, London

EUROSTRINGS COMPOSITION CONTEST GEWINNER

Erster EuroStrings Composition Contest 2018/2019

Les Arcanes Nicolas Kahn Frankreich

Wohnhaft in Paris ist Nicolas Kahn tätig als Lehrer, Performer und Komponist.. ER absolvierte seinen Bachelor of Music an der Sorbonne Université und seinen Master Degree der Musikwissenschaft an der EHESS Paris. Er studierte klassische Gitarre bei James Szura am Conservatoire Gabriel Pierné, und bei Metz Gérard Abiton an der Ecole Nationale de Musique d’Orléans. Er erlangte Titel in Solo and Ensemble Performance mit Auszeichnung sowie das Lehrer-Diplom. Während seines Studiums besuchte er Meisterklassen bei Gitarristen wie Atanas Ourkouzounov, Roberto Aussel und Claudio Marcotulli.

Nicolas Kahn veröffentlichte die Puertas y Caminos Aufnahme  mit seinem Kantiga Alteli Ensemble (Stimme, Gitarre, Violine and Percussion) in 2017. Kantiga Alteli tritt regelmäßig in Frankreich und Europa auf and gewann den internationalen De Toonzaal Preis in Den Bosch, Amsterdam im Oktober 2012. Nicolas Kahn’s Kompositionen werden veröffentlicht durch Les productions d’Oz in Quebec

Zweiter EuroStrings Composition Contest 2019/2020

Two Phantasmas Ozan Coşkun / Turkey

Der junge Gitarrist Ozan Coşkun began erst vor sieben Jahren zu komponieren. Obwohl er oft seine eigenen Kompositionen im Konzertsaal spielt, ist er noch in der Musik-Ausbildung, er hat noch keine Werke veröffentlicht. Ozan wurde1993 in Ankara in der Türkei geborenDer began sein Musikstudium an der Hacettepe State 36 Conservatory, als er 18 Jahre alt war.In den ersten fünf Jahren studierte er Gitarre bei  Ahmet Kanneci. Er entdeckte seine Leidenschaft für die Musikkomposition  bei Can Aksel Akın und Önder Özkoç am Hacettepe Conservatory. Seit 2018 studiert Ozan bei Thomas Kirchhoff und Dale Kavanagh an der Musik Akademie Detmold in Deutschland. He besucht auch das Bilkent Guitar Festival in der Türkei und  das Gitarren Festival Iserlohn in Deutschland, um leitende Künstler, Professoren und Musiker kennenzulernen.

Coşkun’s Inspiration für Two Phantasmas stammt vom medizinischen Begriff ‘Phantasma’, das ist die erste Traumphase, wie Coşkun erklärt, ‘ die Komposition erforscht die emotionalen Übergänge  und ich  versuchte, die Ungewissheit der Ereignisse in dieser Traumphase zu reflektieren’.

EUROSTRINGS GITARREN-FESTIVALS

Antwerpen Gitaarfestival
Belgien
Festival International
de Guitarra de Guimarães
Portugal
Harmonia Cordis
International Guitar Festival
Rumänien
International Festival of
Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer
Spanien
International Guitar
Festival Mottola
Italien
International Guitar
Festival Nürtingen
Deutschland
International Guitar
Festival Rust
Österreich
London Guitar Festival (IGF)
Vereinigtes Königreich

 

Montenegro International Guitar Competition
Montenegro
Paris International
Guitar Festival
Frankreich
Plovdiv GuitArt Festival
Bulgarien
Sarajevo International
Guitar Festival
Bosnien und Herzegovina
Szeged International
Guitar Festival
Ungarn
Tallinn Guitar Festival
Estland
Tampere Guitar Festival
Finnland
Twents Gitaar Festival
Niederlande
Uppsala International
Guitar Festival
Schweden
Zagreb Guitar Festival
Kroatien

EuroStrings Associate Festivals

Copenhagen Guitar Festival
Dänemark
Peja International Guitar Festival
Kosovo
Vojvodina Guitar Fest
Serbien

EuroStrings ARTISTS

zuzanna-wezyk

Ich glaube, der größte Schatz von EuroStrings war das Netzwerk zwischen neuen und alten Freunden. Es war ein Vergnügen, so viele wunderbare, an Gitarrenmusik und generell an Musik interessierte Menschen zu treffen. Die Reisen und Auftritte quer durch Europa waren sehr aufregend – Dank EuroStrings durfte ich das in meiner anfänglichen Karriere erfahren.

Zuzanna Wężyk
EuroStrings Künstlerin, Jahr 2

2017/2018

Dominik Carević Kroatien
Boyan Doychev Bulgarien
Raphaël Feuillâtre France
Jesse Flowers Australien/Deutschland
Péter Girán Ungarn
Niklas Johansen Dänemark
Nicola Montella Italien
Antoine Morinière Frankeich
Domenico Savio Mottola Italien
Dmytro Omelchak Ukraine
Antero Pellikka Finnland
Andrea Roberto Italien
Giacomo Susani Italien
Davide Giovanni Tomasi Italien
Vedran Vujica Bosnien

2018/2019

Giulia Ballaré Italien
Misael Barraza-Díaz Mexico
George Dimitrov Bulgarien
Viktor Đuknić Serbien
Peter Graneis Deutschland
Gábor Hart Ungarn
Mateusz Kowalski Polen
Tomasz Radziszewski Polen
Simone Rinaldo Italien
Yuki Saito Japan
Katarzyna Smolarek Polen
Dimitris Soukaras Griechenland
Emmanuel Sowicz UK/Chile
Julia Trintschuk Deutschland
Radu Vâlcu Romänien
Zuzanna Wężyk Polen
You Wu China

2019/2020

Nino D’Amico Italien
Silvio Bilić Kroatien
Carlo Curatolo Italien
Jonas Egholm Dänemark
Dávid Fellegi Ungarn
Luis Alejandro García Spanien
Ema Kapor Serbien
Maja Kralj Slowenien
Flavio Nati Italien
Agustín Nazzetta Argentinien
Cassie Martin Frankreich
Pablo Menéndez Spanien
Lovro Peretić Kroatien
Bruno Pino Mateos Spanien
Pavel Ralev Bulgarien
Zsombor Sidoo Ungarn
George Tarlton Vereinigtes Königreich

2020/2021

Steve Cowan Canada
François-Xavier Dangremont Frankreich
Vuk Dragičević Serbien
Cristina Galietto Italien
Jack Hancher UK
Kevin Loh Singapur
Francisco Luis Portugal
Eleonora Perretta Italien
Marcin Kuźniar Polen
Álvaro Miranda Costa Rica
Filip Mišković Kroatien
Marcell Nickmann Ungarn
Özberk Miraç Sarıgül Türkei
Bianka Szalaty Polen
Álvaro Toscano Spanien
Cheng Shi China
Jiujiu Wu China

EUROSTRINGS FESTIVALS UND EUROSTRINGS KÜNSTLER

Das mittlerweile vier Jahre alte Eurostrings-Einrichtung wurde rasch das beliebteste Netzwerk für alles, was klassische Gitarre betriftt -nicht nur in Europa, sondern auch weltweit. Ursprünglich sollte es das Netzwerk zwischen den Festival Organisatoren und jungen Profis aufbauen, daraus ist in vielerlei Hinsicht eine Plattform zur Unterstützung und Pflege qualitativer klassischer Gitarrenmusik geworden mit dem Ziel, die Präsenz der Gitarre weiterzuverbreiten durch Outreach Initiativen und wo notwendig, mit Stipendien zu helfen. Der größte ERfolg von EuroStrings sind vielleicht die unzähligen Auftrittsmöglichkeiten für Eurostrings-Künstler. Diese jungen Profis, Preisträger unserer Festival-Partner-Wettbewerbe, werden zu Konzertreisen, Vernetzung, Zusammenarbeit, Aufführungen eingeladen und lernen ein Jahr lang innerhalb eines Entwicklungsprogramms die heutige Arbeit klassischer Gitarristen kennen. Die EuroStrings-Künstler sind die Zukunkt der klassischen Gitarre und wir hoffen, dass dieses Programm in den kommenden Jahren wächst und gedeiht.

 Mak Grgić, EuroStrings Artists Koordinator

antwerplogo-min

ANTWERPEN GITAARFESTIVAL

Belgien

Das Antwerpen Gitaarfestival ist eine Rode Productions N.P.O. Initiative. Brennpunkt dieses Festivals ist vor allem die klassische Gitrarre und ihre weltweit besten Protagonisten. Das macht das Antwerpen Gitaarfestival jedes Jahr wieder zum wichtigsten Event der Gitarrenliebhaber in Belgien. 2018 feierte es seinen achten Geburtstag und wie immer soll die Gitarre als geeignetes Instrument für Solomusik und ebenso als wertvoll für Kammermusik 44 Kombinationen vorgestellt werden. Beim Festival im November werden Meisterklassen auf hohem Niveau angeboten, ebenso auch ein Zwei-Kategorien-Wettbewerb. Die obligaten Stücke für den Wettbewerb werden immer von einem lebenden Komponisten gestellt, welcher auch beim Festival anwesend ist. In den letzten Jahren wird ein wachsendes Interesse auch unter Geigenbauern deutlich, seit das Festival auch Geigen-Ausstellungen und Vorträge der Geigenbauer vor Ort anbietet.

ANTWERPEN GITAARFESTIVAL LAUREATES

2018

Zuzanna Wężyk / Poland

Zuzanna Wężyk was born in Gdańsk, where she started playing guitar at the age of seven at the Ogólnokształcąca Szkoła Muzyczna (music school) in Feliksa Nowowiejski. She is a recipient of the prestigious Fahrenheit Scholarship, which is awarded to the best students from Gdańsk, who are studying abroad. In June 2018, she obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree under the direction of Marco Tamayo at the Universität Mozarteum University in Salzburg. She is currently based in London, where she is working on her Masters in Composing for Film and Television at Kingston University in London. Zuzanna Wężyk has won many prizes in music competitions, both as a soloist and in chamber music, including first prize at the Omiš Guitar Fest in Croatia in ensemble category in 2016. Besides performing as a classical guitarist, Zuzanna is also a vocalist and a composer and she collaborates with various ensembles and musicians.

zuzanna-wezyk

2019

Lovro Peretić / Croatia

Lovro Peretić was born in Zagreb in 1995 and started studying guitar with Xhevdet Sahatxhija. Later, he graduated from the Academy of Music in Zagreb, where he studied with Darko Petrinjak and spent one year in a student exchange programme at L’École Supérieure Musique et Danse Hauts-de-France, Lille with Judicaël Perroy. He has been successful in many national and international competitions. He has represented Croatia in many important festivals such as the Vladimir Spivakov International Foundation’s festival in Moscow and the European Union of Music Competitions for Youth’s Young Hearts for Music in Austria and Germany. He also regularly performs in his duo with violinist Katarina Kutnar and in the guitar trio Evocación. He has performed as a soloist with the Croatian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and Zagreb Soloists, among others. Lovro was awarded the Dean’s and Rector’s prizes of the University of Zagreb.

Lovro_Peretic_B&W-9
italy-logo-min

FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE GUITARRA DE GUIMARÃES

Portugal

The Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães is promoted by the Sociedade Musical de Guimarães, under the artistic direction of Portuguese guitarist Nuno Cachada. It aims to strengthen the position and pedagogical approach to the classical guitar and to foster a new attitude towards the classical guitar, which is still undervalued as a solo instrument. The festival has the support of Guimarães City Council as well as several Portuguese and international universities. Organised for the first time in 2014, the festival immediately attracted more than 100 young guitarists from Portugal and all over Europe to participate in concerts, masterclasses, workshops and its international guitar competition. The subsequent editions have reinforced and even extended these strands to include musicological research and conferences held in partnership with the University of Minho and specialist guitar researchers. Several internationally renowned guitarists and researchers have taken part in the festival in the six years since its inception.

FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE GUITARRA DE GUIMARÃES LAUREATES

2017

Nicola Montella / Italy

Born in 1987, Nicola Montella studied classical guitar from the age of eight with G.M. Fontanella. In 2009, he obtained his first-class degree from the ‘Gesualdo da Venosa’ Conservatory in Potenza, Italy. He later studied with Lucio Matarazzo at the ‘Domenico Cimarosa’ Conservatory in Avellino, Italy, obtaining his first-class degree in 2011. He has been awarded at several important national and international guitar festivals and contests. In 2015, he was awarded the prize for ‘Best Young Artist of promise’ at the Convegno internazionale di chitarra in Alessandria, Italy.Nicola Montella has performed at festivals such as the Girona International Classic Guitar Festival, Aranda de Duero International Classic Guitar Festival (Spain 2013–2015) and S. Giacomo Guitar Festival, Bologna (2015), as well as giving a concert tour in China in April 2015, at venues such as the Centennial Hua, Beijing University, and the Sunrise Concert Hall.

nicola-min

2018

Simone Rinaldo / Italy

Simone Rinaldo graduated Summa cum laude from the Conservatorio di Musica ‘Giuseppe Verdi’, Milan in 2013, where he studied with Maria Vittoria Jedlowski, and then again in February 2016, for his Masters with Francesco Biraghi. At the ‘Accademia Giulio Regondi’ in Milan, he studied with Andrea Dieci and Bruno Giuffredi. He is now attending the courses of Paolo Pegoraro and Adriano Del Sal at ‘Segovia Guitar Academy’ in Pordenone. He made his debut as a soloist with the Orchestra Sinfonica di Sanremo in November 2017, and in 2018 performed in the film music of The Circus by Charlie Chaplin with the Orchestra ‘I Pomeriggi Musicali’, conducted by Helmut Imig. In 2017, his recording Simmetrie e Contrasti del Novecento was released by Dotguitar. His new recording of Anton Diabelli’s Three Sonatas, Op. 29 for guitar has been released by Sinfonica Edizioni Musicale.

Simone_18042018_©Francesca_Salamone_16 (1)

2019

Bruno Pino Mateos / Spain

Born in Salamanca in 1997, the Spanish guitarist Bruno Pino Mateos studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca, where he was awarded a degree Summa cum laude. He continued his studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Castilla y León, studying with Fernando Espí and later with Marisa Gómez. He has participated masterclasses with David Russell, Roberto Aussel, Marco Socías, Roland Dyens, Ricardo Gallén, Aniello Desiderio, Carlo Marchione and Judicaël Perroy, among others. Bruno Pino Mateos has performed at the Teatro Liceo de Salamanca and at the festivals of Coria, Amarante and Petrer. Among his numerous awards, he received First Prize at: the V International Guitar Festival of Guimarães 2018; the International Guitar Festival José Tomás Villa de Petrer Competition in the Youth category; the XIX International Guitar Competition Ciudad de Coria in the youth category; and the II Alhambra International Guitar Competition for Young People, Valencia.

bruno-min

2020

Álvaro Toscano / Spain

The musical qualities of the classical guitarist Álvaro Toscano has been endorsed by his winning of more than 15 international awards, among which are First Prize at: 96th Concurso Permanente de Juventudes Musicales of Spain and Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães in Portugal. He is also proud to have won several ‘Audience’ prizes that reflect his immense communication skills as a musician. Apart from his solo work, Álvaro Toscano was the soloist with the Malaga Philharmonic Orchestra performing music by Enrique Baños. In ensemble, he has also performed with the F.I.P Guadalquivir Ensemble and the Leonor Quartet, among others, and premièred Proserpina and Brumas del Guadalquivir by Antonio Blanco Tejero at the Teatro Góngora in Cordoba. Álvaro Toscano has offered more than 70 recitals throughout Europe, highlights include his participation in the Szeged International Guitar Festival in Hungary, International Festival of Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer, Lope de Vega Theatre in Seville and International Guitar Festival ‘Ciudad de Coria’, in Cáceres. He also offers recitals in unusual venues such as ‘Sofar Sounds’, trying to bring classical music closer to all kinds of public. His 2021 programme, titled ‘The Cosmic Guitar’, comprises music based on ethereal, spatial and natural themes by Frederic Mompou, Antonio Blanco Tejero, Vicente Asencio and Marco Smaili.

Alvaro Toscano_foto (1)
romania-logo-min

HARMONIA CORDIS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Romania

The Harmonia Cordis International Guitar Festival is located in the city of Târgu Mureș, Romania and organised by the Harmonia Cordis Association under the artistic direction of its founder Dr Beke István Ferenc, who is a classical guitarist and chamber music teacher at the ‘Gheorghe Dima’ National Music Academy in Cluj-Napoca. The festival’s first edition took place in 2007 and its main purpose was to promote the classical guitar in Romania as well as helping the artistic development of young guitarists by giving them a chance to perform in the opening half of the concerts and by bringing in quality teachers to give masterclasses and workshops. During the festival, there are numerous conferences on music. The competitions of the guitar festival are organised in several age categories and offer substantial prizes to the winners. All of these activities serve two major goals: the popularisation of these kinds of musical events as well as building an educational platform for cultural instruction and exchange of experience and knowledge during these meetings.

HARMONIA CORDIS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Boyan Doychev / Bulgaria

Born in 1988 in Varna, Bulgaria, Boyan Doychev took his first musical steps at ‘Marin Drinov’ school under Stanimir Dikov. Later, from 1998–2006, he studied at the National Music School ‘Dobri Hristov’ with Liuben Haralambiev, Neli Nedeva and Sevdalin Stefanov. In 2012, he graduated from the National Music Academy ‘Pancho Vladigerov’ Sofia where he studied with Rossen Balkanski. As a student, Boyan Doychev received three distinguished awards as a gifted and promising student, including one from the mayor of Varna, for his contribution in fields of music and art. Boyan Doychev is a member of the ‘Friends of Classical Guitar’ association and is involved in organising ‘Days of Classical Guitar’ Festival in Varna, whose history dates back 30 years. Boyan is often performing as a soloist with the Pleven Philharmonic, New Symphonic Orchestra and the State Orchestra of National Music Academy. He has composed two works for solo guitar, which are soon to be published.

Boyan Doychev-min

2018

Radu Vâlcu / Romania

Radu Vâlcu was born in Bucharest in 1989. His first contact with music was at the age of seven, when he started learning violin. Shortly after, he discovered classical guitar music with which he fell in love with and has never stopped playing guitar ever since. His devotion has led him to win many awards for his playing, including First Prize at Volos International Guitar Festival and First Prize at Terra Siculorum International Guitar Festival.

radu-min

2019

Nino D’Amico / Italy

Born in Salamanca in 1997, the Spanish guitarist Bruno Pino Mateos studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música in Salamanca, where he was awarded a degree Summa cum laude. He continued his studies at the Conservatorio Superior de Castilla y León, studying with Fernando Espí and later with Marisa Gómez. He has participated masterclasses with David Russell, Roberto Aussel, Marco Socías, Roland Dyens, Ricardo Gallén, Aniello Desiderio, Carlo Marchione and Judicaël Perroy, among others. Bruno Pino Mateos has performed at the Teatro Liceo de Salamanca and at the festivals of Coria, Amarante and Petrer. Among his numerous awards, he received First Prize at: the V International Guitar Festival of Guimarães 2018; the International Guitar Festival José Tomás Villa de Petrer Competition in the Youth category; the XIX International Guitar Competition Ciudad de Coria in the youth category; and the II Alhambra International Guitar Competition for Young People, Valencia.

Nino dAmico_B&W-12

2020

Francisco Luis / Portugal

Francisco Luis, one of the rising stars of Portuguese classical guitar, was born in Caldas da Rainha, in 1998. He started his guitar studies at the age of ten with Luís Roldão, in the Conservatory of Caldas da Rainha. After five years, he began his studies at the Music School of the National Conservatory, in Lisbon; studying guitar with Eurico Pereira, chamber music with Júlio Guerreiro and Paulo Amorim and basso continuo with Helena Raposo. He completed his Bachelor degree with distinction with Carlo Marchione, at the Maastricht Conservatorium, before beginning his Masters with Zoran Dukić at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. Francisco Luis’s numerous international awards include First Prize at both the Harmonia Cordis International Guitar Festival and the Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães, as well Second Prize at both Uppsala International Guitar Competition and the Aalborg International Guitar Competition. In 2015, Francisco Luis was soloist in the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo with the symphony orchestra of the National Conservatory of Lisbon. His varied repertoire includes transcriptions of works by Bach, Scriabin, Telemann and Rameau. He also frequently performs classical improvisations, mixing his musical knowledge with his creativity and distinctive musical personality. He has performed in venues such as Casa da Música in Porto and the Palácio da Ajuda in Lisbon.

Francisco Luis
spain-logo-min

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF GUITAR JOSÉ TOMÁS VILLA DE PETRER

Spain

The International Guitar Festival José Tomás Villa de Petrer has been held since 1998. In July 2020, the festival celebrated its 23rd edition, which included the 19th International Guitar Competition José Tomás Villa de Petrer, its prize being an international tour in countries including Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Portugal and Finland, with more than 30 concerts for the winners. The festival takes place in the city of Petrer in Alicante, Spain, and offers two weeks of intensive guitar and musical activities such as masterclasses, concerts, international competitions, conferences and exhibitions. Each year, the José Tomás Honorific Guitar Award ‘in memory of the Alicante teacher’, is given to great teachers such as Léo Brouwer, David Russell, Carles Trepat, Hopkinson Smith, Roberto Aussel, Roland Dyens and Julian Bream.

INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF GUITAR JOSÉ TOMÁS VILLA DE PETRER LAUREATES

2017

Raphaël Feuillâtre / France

Raphaël Feuillâtre was born in 1996 and he started classical guitar lessons at the age of nine, first with Hacène Addadi at the Conservatoire de du Choletais, Cholet and later with Michel Grizard at the Conservatoire in Nantes. In 2014, he began his studies with Roland Dyens and his assistant Jean-Marc Zvellenreuther at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP) and received his Bachelor of Performing Arts with highest honours in 2017. He is currently working on his Masters in Classical Guitar Performance with Tristan Manoukian. Raphaël Feuillâtre has been a prizewinner at many international competitions. He is regularly invited to perform chamber music at the Folle journée de Nantes Festival and as a soloist recently performed the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo in a five-concert tour with the Ensemble Orchestral du Pau.

raph-min

Davide Giovanni Tomasi / Italy

Davide Giovanni Tomasi was born in 1991 in Pavia, Italy. When he was only eighteen years old, he graduated cum laude from the ‘Guido Cantelli’ Conservatory in Novara, where he studied with Guido Fichtner. Afterwards he studied with Oscar Ghiglia at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. He attends masterclasses with Paolo Pegoraro and Adriano Del Sal at the Segovia Academy in Pordenone and completing a Masters with Paolo Pegoraro at Kunst Universität Graz in Austria. He has won more than twenty-five prizes in international competitions such as the First Prize at the Tokyo International Guitar Competition and International Festival of Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer, and Second Prize at the ARD International Music Competition in Munich (the First Prize was not assigned), as well as the National Prize of Arts awarded by the Italian Ministry of Education to the best music students. He has been a D’Addario Artist since 2016

davide-min

2018

Giulia Ballaré / Italy

Giulia Ballaré was born in 1987 in Novara, Italy. She graduated from the Conservatorio Guido Cantell in Novara with Guido Fichtner with honours. At present, she is preparing her Masters with Paolo Pegoraro at Kunst Universität Graz in Austria. Despite her young age, she has already won over 25 classical guitar prizes, including first prizes at: Concurso Internacional de Guitarra Clásica ‘Comarca del Condado’, in Spain, in 2014, Concurso Internacional de Guitarra Villa de Aranda, in Spain, in 2015, Forum Gitarre Wien, in Austria, in 2016, Concurso Internacional de Guitarra ‘Ciudad de Coria’, in Spain, in 2017 and the Omiš Guitar Fest, in Croatia in 2017. Giulia Ballaré released her first recording in 2013, Lirically Spain (dotGuitar) and since then has been regularly winning competitions. She has been a D’Addario Artist since 2018. Giulia Ballaré has performed as soloist with Alessandria’s Orchestra in Italy and Musica Viva’s Orchestra of Moscow

giulia-min

2019

Luis Alejandro García / Spain

Luis Alejandro García was born in Tenerife in 1993. He has more than 20 national and international awards to his credit: he has won First Prize at: the Certamen Internacional de Guitarra de Barcelona Miquel Llobet in 2017, the Concurso Permanente de Juventudes Musicales de España in 2018, the Concurso del XXIII Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Coria in 2019, and the 47th Concurso Internacional de Guitarra Fernando Sor in Madrid in 2019, among many others. Luis Alejandro García has given concerts and masterclasses in Europe, the United States and Latin America, and has collaborated with orchestras such as the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra and OSLP. In 2018, he released his first recording, Lazos sobre el Atlántico (JSM Guitar Records). He is a member of Canary Guitar Quartet, who released their first recording, called 21. In October 2019, he gave his debut recital as a soloist at the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona.

Luis_A_Garcia_B&W-10

2020

Cheng Shi / China

The classical guitarist Cheng Shi was born in Liaoning Province, China in 1991. She began learning the guitar with Professor Guangxu Jiang in Shenyang in 2006. After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from Shenyang Conservatorium in 2010, she left for Germany in 2014. There, she completed a one-year professional performance course (Zertfikat) with Reinbert Evers at the Musikhochschule Münster, where she completed her Masters summa cum laude in 2018. In 2020, she graduated from Musikhochschule Münster again with summa cum laude for the Konzertexamen. Early on in her studies, Cheng Shi began winning prizes, such as First Prize at the Longshan CUP in Heilongjiang in 2006, at the Internationalen Vladivostok Competition for Classical Guitar in Russia, in 2009 and First Prize at the Liaoning International Guitar Competition in 2011. Since 2016, Cheng Shi has been performing with the Korean guitarist KyungHeon Yoo, in a guitar duo called ‘Le Due’; they both are also members of the Polaris Guitar Quartet with the German guitarists Andreas Maria Marcus and Peter Kersting. Cheng Shi has been invited to perform as a soloist in recital and with orchestra in Germany, Italy, China and South Korea

Cheng Shi
mottola-logo-min

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL MOTTOLA

Italy

The International Guitar Festival – City of Mottola, which was founded in 1992, is organised by the Associazione M. & C. Accademia della Chitarra. The distinguishing feature of the festival is its itinerant format, embracing the surrounding towns of Mottola and also cities in different provincial administrations. Usually, the Festival lasts for ten days, with an average of 70 musicians participating. The festival’s guests come from all over Italy and stay in the Ionian city. They can enjoy many festival activities, such as the International Competition of Musical Performance for Guitar, the International Competition ‘Young Guitarists’, concerts, masterclasses, the Biennial Exhibition of ‘Luiteria’ and the Orchestral Workshop for young guitarists. The festival is held in historic venues, such as Church S.S. Immacolata (Convento), Evangelical Baptist Church and the Auditorium of the A. Manzoni Junior High School.

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL MOTTOLA LAUREATES

2017

Domenico Savio Mottola / Italy

Domenico Savio Mottola was born in Gragnano in 1993. He began to play the guitar in 2004 with Fabio Mastroianni and then with Marco Caiazza from 2006. In 2012, he began studying with Vincenzo Amabile at the Royal Conservatory San Pietro a Majella, in Naples, graduating with honours in 2015. Following this, he studied with Paolo Pegoraro and Adriano del Sal at the Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone and is now working towards his Masters with Frédéric Zigante at the ‘Antonio Vivaldi’ Conservatorio in Alessandria. Domenico Savio Mottola has won prizes at many competitions, including first prizes in the National Guitar Competition ‘Giulio Rospigliosi’, in Lamporecchio. in 2013, the Andrés Segovia International Guitar Competition, Pescara, in 2014 and at the Second International Guitar Competition ‘Andrés Segovia’, in Linares, Spain in 2015. Since 2009, has been performing concerts as a soloist and playing chamber music in Italy and abroad.

motolla-min

2018

Dimitris Soukaras / Greece

Born in Corinth in 1995, Dimitris Soukaras received his first guitar lessons from his father, Nikos Soukaras, at the age of 11. In 2011, he began his studies with Yorgos Bechlivanoglou, for his guitar degree and guitar diploma, both with honours. He was the first student to complete the five-year course in three years at the Ionian University Department of Music Studies, with Costas Cotsiolis and Korina Vougiouka. He is completing his Masters at the Royal Academy of Music, London. Among many competition prizes and awards, he received the Academy of Athens Music Award/Scholarship in 2018. As a soloist, Dimitris Soukaras has performed with the Ionio Symphony Orchestra as well as the Athens Mandolin Orchestra ‘N. Lavdas’. He works as a composer, particularly for the theatre. Since 2016, he has been cooperating with the Theatrical Organization of Hiliomodi in Corinth and has already composed music for three theatre productions.

Dimitris Soukaras_BW-min

2019

Carlo Curatolo / Italy

Carlo Curatolo began his studies with Pino Forresu, Francesco Taranto and Stefano Palamidessi and graduated with honours from the Conservatorio di Musica ‘G. Paisiello’ of Taranto in 2010. He continued his music studies at the Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone with Paolo Pegoraro and Adriano del Sal, and at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Oscar Ghiglia. He is currently enrolled on a postgraduate course in music performance and interpretation at the Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in Parma. He has also taken masterclasses with Carlo Domeniconi, Judicaël Perroy, Jorge Cardoso, Leo Brouwer and Carlo Marchione. Alongside his musical studies, in 2016, Carlo Curatolo achieved a Masters in Physics from Sapienza University of Rome. He has been awarded prizes in more than 30 international competitions in Italy and abroad. Since 2006, he has been performing both as soloist and in ensemble in Italy, Austria, Portugal, Slovakia and Hungary.

carlo-min

2020

Eleonora Perretta / Italy

The classical guitarist Eleonora Perretta was born in Naples, in 1995, and began studying the guitar at the age of six. As early as 14, Eleonora Perretta won First Prize at the International Guitar Competition ‘Luigi Denza’ in 2010 and has continued to win prizes in national and international guitar competitions. She won First Prize at ‘Eduguitar’ International Guitar Festival in 2016. In 2018, she graduated summa cum laude from the Conservatory of Music ‘San Pietro a Majella’, Naples, where she studied with Vincenzo Amabile. She also studied with Aniello Desiderio at ‘Stefano Strata’ Academy in Pisa. In 2020, Eleonora Perretta won the ‘Special Edition Prize’ at Koblenz International Guitar Competition and First Prize at Mottola Festival International Competition. She is currently studying with Aniello Desiderio for a Masters at the Conservatorio di Musica ‘Domenico Cimarosa’ in Avellino, and with Paolo Pegoraro at Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone, Italy. Eleonora Perretta has several recording projects for DotGuitar records: as soloist, she is recording a collection of guitar sonatas, as well as an album dedicated to J.S. Bach; in duo, with Lucio Matarazzo, a première recording of music by Ida Presti for two guitars. They are also working on Perretta–Matarazzo Collection of original music and transcriptions for two guitars for the publisher Ut Orpheus; the first volume is of Scarlatti’s Sonatas.

Eleonora Peretta
germany-logo-min

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL NÜRTINGEN

Germany

The International Guitar Festival Nürtingen is an internationally renowned festival, which takes place every two years in the beautiful town of Nürtingen, close to Stuttgart in Germany. Since 1995, guitarists from all over the world have met in the town hall and in the Kreuzkirche church to enjoy around 15 concerts throughout the week. Guitar students can participate in public masterclasses or workshops held by the visiting artists and spend their leisure time either at the exhibition or in cafés nearby. The young guitar players are the future – that’s why the International Guitar Festival Nürtingen places emphasis on the promotion of opportunities for young guitarists. The international guitar competition at Nürtingen is always a major attraction for audiences and guitar students and not only because of the substantial prizes offered. The winner of the Audience Award is invited to play a concert at the following festival.

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL NÜRTINGEN LAUREATES

2017

Jesse Flowers / Australia/Germany

Born in Sydney, Jesse Flowers was inspired to pursue a career in music from a young age. He completed his Bachelor of Music at the Australian National University studying with Minh Le Hoang and Timothy Kain. In 2014, he moved to Germany to further his studies with Tilman Hoppstock at the Akademie für Tonkunst Darmstadt. He completed his Masters of Music at the Universität der Künste Berlin with Thomas Müller-Pering. The Australian composer Phillip Houghton was an important mentor throughout his studies. Currently based in Berlin, Jesse Flowers is developing a reputation as an exciting talent among the next generation of classical guitarists. Further recent awards include the Musicians’ Company Award 2018/2019 New Elizabethan Award. In 2017/2018, he performed over 20 chamber music recitals throughout Germany as part of the Bundesauswahl Konzerte für Jünger Künstler

Jesse Flowers_EuroStrings Winner 2018

2018

Peter Graneis / Germany

Peter Graneis was born in Stuttgart and received his first guitar lessons at the age of nine. As a young scholar, he began his studies with Johannes Monno at Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart, where he later received a Bachelor of Music degree with distinction. After completing a Master of Music under the tutelage of Professor Zoran Dukić at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, Peter Graneis continued with Zoran Dukić at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague, the Netherlands. There, he published a research exposition on classical guitar technique and received his Master of Music degree in 2018 with distinction. Peter Graneis performs as part of Yehudi Menuhin’s Live Music Now scheme and is a scholarship holder of the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). He recorded his first CD, Portraits (Trekkel Records) in 2017. He regularly gives recitals in Europe

peter-min

2020

Bianka Szalaty / Poland

Bianka Szalaty was born in Wrocław, Poland, in 1994. She first performed with orchestra at the age of 13 – Concerto in D by Antonio Vivaldi with the Koszalin Philharmonic Orchestra; since then Bianka Szalaty has played the guitar concertos by Joaquín Rodrigo, Manuel Maria Ponce and Heitor Villa-Lobos. Currently, she is preparing for her Konzertexamen with Tomasz Zawierucha at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen. She completed her Masters at the Ignacy Jan Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań with Łukasz Kuropaczewski. As a soloist, Bianka Szalaty has been a prizewinner at numerous international competitions – she won First prize at the 10th J.S. Bach International Guitar Competition in Tokyo, Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra ‘Alirio Diaz’ in Rome and at the International Guitar Competition Nürtingen in Germany – and has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and Prime Minister of Poland. She performs music by John Dowland and J.S. Bach, as well as more modern music by Leo Brouwer, Stephen Dodgson and Peteris Vasks. Bianka Szalaty has given solo and duo concerts at many international festivals in Moscow, Brno and Copenhagen. She has a duo with the lyric mezzo-soprano, Ewelina Koniec, Meninas Duo, for which she transcribes the music of Leonard Bernstein, Benjamin Britten, Francis Poulenc as well as Manuel de Falla and Karol Szymanowski.

Bianka Szalaty
austria-logo-min

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL RUST

Austria

The International Guitar Festival Rust was founded by Gabriel Guillén in 1999. Since that time, the festival has grown into one of the most important guitar festivals in Europe. Initially, the festival was dedicated to international composer, tutor and journalist John W. Duarte, who passed away in 2005. Now, the International Guitar Festival Rust is dedicated to the memory of the virtuoso Venezuelan guitarist Alirio Diaz, who died in 2016. The Festival consists of five concerts (inaugural concerts, recitals, the winners’ gala and award ceremony), masterclasses, workshops, an international competition, and an exhibition of instruments and sheet music. Rust’s International Guitar Competition is judged by a panel of Austrian and international experts. In 2017, a composition competition for the promotion of classical guitar music was held for the first time. It was a great success with more than 40 contributions from composers from all over the world.

INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL RUST LAUREATES

2017

Niklas Johansen / Denmark

Niklas Johansen was born in 1989 in Copenhagen and began playing the guitar at the age of nine. He studied with Jesper Sivebæk at the Royal Danish Academy of Music. He completed his Master in Classical Guitar Performance, University of Alicante, Spain, in 2013 and spent a further year studying abroad with Ricardo Gallén at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt in Weimar, Germany in 2014. He has received international acclaim through winning First Prize in a number of international competitions, such as the 21st International Guitar Competition in Mottola, Italy in 2015, the 6th International Guitar Competition in Berlin, Germany in 2016, the 3rd International Guitar Competition in Pleven, Bulgaria, in 2017 and the Shenyang International Guitar Competition, China in 2016. He regularly performs as a soloist and in chamber ensembles. In 2016, he released his debut recording with the Italian label dotGuitar.

Niklas Johansen-min

2018

Mateusz Kowalski / Poland

Born in Koszalin, Poland in 1995, Mateusz started learning guitar at the age of seven. He went on to study with Ryszard Bałauszko at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, where he graduated with honours. Since October 2019, he has been teaching at The Frederic Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. He was awarded a scholarship winner by the Polish KFnRD and Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme ‘Young Poland’. Mateusz recorded his debut CD, Mateusz Kowalski Classical Guitarist, in 2018 with the Polish label CD Accord, distributed by NAXOS. He is also a scholarship winner of the polish KFnRD and Ministry of Culture and National Heritage programme ‘Young Poland’. As part of winning First Prize in the Second EuroStrings Guitar Competition in July 2019, Mateusz Kowalski has embarked on an international concert tour in Europe, America and Asia, where he is being received with critical acclaim. Classical Guitar Magazine describes him as a ‘spectacular’ musician with ‘truly breathtaking’ interpretations.

mateuszkowalskiguitarist1-min-1-min

2019

Agustín Nazzetta / Argentina

Agustín Nazzetta has studied with three renowned Argentinian guitar players Pablo Márquez, María Isabel Siewers and Javier Bravo. Born in 1990 in Argentina, he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in music from the National Arts University Institute (IUNA) Department of Musical Arts ‘Carlos López Buchardo’, studying with Javier Bravo. In 2012, he pursued a Masters at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg with María Isabel Siewers. He currently studies in Basel, Switzerland with Pablo Márquez. In February 2011, he was selected by the 2011 La Falda International Classical Guitar Meet as a soloist in a series of concerts with the Orchestra of the National Congress. He won First Prize at both the Incontri Chitarristici di Gargnano in Italy and the International Guitar Festival Rust 2019 in Austria. In addition to his career as a soloist, his interest in contemporary music has led him to work with young composers, ensembles and conductors.

augustion-min

2020

Jiujiu Wu / China

Jiujiu Wu was born in 2001. At the age of nine, he began to learn classical guitar with his father. He later studied with Bing Wu. Jiujiu Wu has been educated and cultivated by Associate Professor Bao Xu of Sichuan Conservatory of Music and the Chinese guitarist You Wang. Jiujiu Wu’s studies with Guillem Pérez-Quer at the Liceu Conservatory of Music, in Barcelona, also offered many performing opportunities. Jiujiu Wu has won awards at international competitions, including Third Prize in the 14th Boston International Guitar Festival Competition in 2019, Second Prize of Shenzhen Guitar Art Festival in 2020 and First Prize at the International Guitar Festival ‘Alirio Diaz’ 2020 in Rust, Austria. As a soloist, Jiujiu Wu enjoys repertoire such as La Maja de Goya by Enrique Granados and Serenata Española by Joaquín Malats, contrasted with the virtuosic Caprice No. 24 by Paganini. His flute and guitar repertoire includes Valses Poéticos by Enrique Granados, Astor Piazzolla’s Café 1930 and the Sonatina Burlesca by Herbert Baumann. Jiujiu Wu arranges music, from J.S. Bach’s Chorales: ‘Nun komm der Heiden Heiland’, BWV 599 and G.F. Handel’s Allegro in D minor, HWV 475, to songs from Japanese anime, such as ‘I Always Smile, But My Eyes are Sad’ by Keiichi Oku from Marmalade Boy. He also plays pop and jazz music on fingerstyle guitar.

Jiujiu Wu
austria-logo-min

LONDON GUITAR FESTIVAL (IGF)

London

London Guitar Festival is one of four or five annual festivals, which the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) presents in the UK, alongside concert series, summer schools and outreach projects. IGF is a charitable organisation (nonprofit) founded in May 1994. Its work is defined by the LISTEN.PLAY.CREATE programme, which features the guitar as the ideal vehicle for diverse and accessible concert and festival programming (Listen), participatory music making (Play) and an extensive new music commissioning programme (Create). IGF stages a range of events nationwide including festivals in London, the northeast (Newcastle and Gateshead) and south-west (Bath). Two of IGF’s key objectives are young artist development and the commissioning of new music: so far 97 from mostly mainstream composers including Terry Riley, Max Richter, Kevin Volans, Léo Brouwer, Sérgio Assad, Howard Skempton, Laura Snowden and Errollyn Wallen. IGF has presented 232 world, European and UK premières of works for guitar solo and in ensemble. IGF’s young artist development programmes offer performance opportunities to young guitarists as well as training in subjects such as PR and marketing and business skills. Many of its alumni and laureates have gone on to important international careers such as Ana Vidovic, Laura Snowden, Amanda Cook and Daniela Rossi.

LONDON GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Giacomo Susani / Italy

Giacomo Susani was born in Padua in 1995. He started playing the guitar at the age of seven and eventually studied with Stefano Grondona in Italy, graduating with the highest marks and honours in 2013. He continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, with Michael Lewin, where he has completed his Bachelor of Music, gaining First Class Honours and Bach Fund Prize, and is now studying for his Masters. He was awarded the prestigious Julian Bream Trust Scholarship, after an audition with Julian Bream himself. Giacomo Susani has regularly taken part in guitar competitions from an early age, always obtaining excellent results. In 2015, he released his first solo recording Giacomo Susani plays Petrassi, Bach, Tansman, Weiss (Stradivarius). He composes and often premières his own works. He is the Artistic Director of Momùs-More Music, a Musical Association based in Italy, which promotes and organises classical music concerts.

giacomo-min

2018

Emmanuel Sowicz / United Kingdom / Chile

Born in London to British and Chilean parents, Emmanuel graduated from the University of Chile in 2014 with Ernesto Quezada. He later received a scholarship to study under Michael Lewin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he completed his Master of Arts and Advanced Diploma with Distinction, the DipRAM award for an outstanding final recital, and the Dove Prize for an outstanding studentship. He also completed a postgraduate course with Marco Tamayo at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg. Radio Beethoven FM in Chile described Emmanuel Sowicz as ‘the next star of the guitar’, demonstrated by his increasingly prestigious performances as a soloist and with orchestra. Recent engagements include performances at London’s Barbican, Abbey Road Studios, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Kings Place, Canterbury Festival, and a televised concert as soloist with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chile under maestro Maximiano Valdés.

emmanuel-sowicz

2019

George Tarlton / United Kingdom

From a young age, George Tarlton began singing with the South London-based choir ‘Libera’, performing on television, for recordings and in concerts in Britain and abroad. The guitar later became an all-consuming passion and he studied with Robert Brightmore and David Miller as a scholarship student at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, graduating with first-class honours in 2015. In 2015, he performed Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez as a soloist with the Cerddorfa Dinas Powys Orchestra. In 2012, he formed the Housden-Tarlton Duo with Jiva Housden. The duo went on to perform on IGF’s Young Artist Platform, including a concert at London Guitar Festival 2018, where they premièred a work written for them by the composer Errollyn Wallen. George is also a member of the Mela Guitar Quartet, who released their recording of Stephen Dodgson’s Guitar Chamber Works in 2017 and a second album called Pluck, Strum, and Hammer in 2018.

tarlton-min

2020

Kevin Loh / Singapore

Born in Singapore, Kevin Loh is one of the leading classical guitarists of his generation, having won many international awards, including the Cambridge University Musical Society Concerto Competition and, in 2020, London International Guitar Competition. Kevin Loh has performed at Wigmore Hall, London, Konzerthaus Berlin and Suntory Hall, Tokyo. In 2013, he premièred the Guitar Concerto by Bernard Tan with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra. In 2019, as Singapore Symphony Orchestra’s ‘President’s Young Performer’, he performed the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo. Kevin Loh’s broad repertoire includes Bach, Dowland and Weiss, his arrangements and transcriptions of Schubert and Schumann, as well as modern works by Stephen Dodgson, Graham Fitkin and Steve Reich. Kevin Loh is passionate about giving back to society. He actively visits schools to share more about the guitar and music education. He also raises funds in Singapore and in the region for various charities and initiatives such as ChildAid, to provide opportunities for underprivileged children to have exposure in the arts. Kevin Loh studied with Richard Wright for seven years at the Yehudi Menuhin School in Britain. After finishing two years of mandatory military service in the Singapore Armed Forces, he is now pursuing his undergraduate degree in Music at Girton College, University of Cambridge as the College Music Scholar and a scholar of the Loke Cheng-Kim Foundation.

kevin-min
montenegro-logo-min

MONTENEGRO INTERNATIONAL GUITAR COMPETITION

Montenegro

The Montenegro International Guitar Competition was founded in 2006 under the auspices of Nikšić Guitar Festival and the patronage of the Nikšić Municipality. Since then, it has established itself as a significant professional and international event, with the aim of promoting the highest achievements in the contemporary performance of classical guitar. Due to its rich prize pool, the competition has been recognised as an important opportunity in the career development of young classical guitarists. The award winners of the previous editions have come from all over the world and many are today the leading guitarists of the younger generation. Until recently, Montenegro International Guitar Competition had been the only professional competition for classical music in Montenegro, which was broadcast live by RTV Atlas until 2016, and since 2017, the competition has been broadcast live on National Television RTCG. The competition is organised by NGO Anagastum Guitar Society and Montenegrin Music Centre.

MONTENEGRO INTERNATIONAL GUITAR COMPETITION LAUREATES

2017

Antoine Morinière / France

Antoine Morinière first started guitar with Jean-Luc Rocchietti, continuing then with Olivier Chassain at the Conservatoire Jacques Thibaud in Bordeaux, where he graduated with the highest jury distinction. In 2016, Antoine Morinière obtained his Masters degree with the highest distinction from the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), where again he studied with Olivier Chassain. He also received professional guidance from Jérémy Jouve during two years. Antoine Morinière is now in pedagogic studies at the CNSMDP and he teaches in the Conservatoire de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés in France. The Japanese composer Rikako Watanabe dedicated his piece Suite pour guitare to Antoine. He performs in a guitar clarinet duo with the clarinettist Raphaël Sévère, in a guitar duo with Thibaut Garcia, and with the soprano Marianne Croux, the violinist Marianne Pikett and the pianist Jean F. Neuburger.

antoinne-min

2018

Julia Trintschuk / Germany

Julia Trintschuk was just four years old when she began playing guitar, studying initially with her father Anatoli Trintschuk and then, at age six, became a student of Mario Sicca in Stuttgart. Later, she also studied with Martin Wiedmann, Johannes Monno, Ivo and Sofia Kaltchev and Mateus dela Fonte. Julia Trintschuk launched her career at the age of 16 with a performance of Concierto de Aranjuez for guitar and orchestra by Joaquín Rodrigo. She has won numerous prizes in competitions such as the Certamen Internacional de Guitarra de Barcelona Miquel Llobet and the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb, and first prizes at the International Bratislava Guitar Youth Competition, the Hannabach Guitar Competition, the Heinrich Albert Guitar Competition, as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of romantic music at the Forum Gitarre Wien. She made her debut recording in May 2017. She has been a ‘Savarez Artist’ since 2017.

julia-min

2019

Silvio Bilić / Croatia

Silvio Bilić started playing guitar at the age of eight in the small town of Omiš with Neno Munitić. In 2017, he began his studies with Maroje Brčić at the Arts Academy of Split. Since 2008, he has won 20 first prizes as a soloist and 12 first prizes as a member of chamber ensembles at competitions such as the International Competition for Young Guitarists ‘Andrés Segovia’ in Velbert, Germany, the Montenegro Guitar Competition, the Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra Classica ‘Enrico Mercatali’ in Gorizia, Italy, and the Omiš Guitar Fest and Poreč Fest in Croatia. In 2014, 2017 and 2019, Silvio Bilić won the award ‘Oscar of Knowledge’ from the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports for winning the First Prize at the National Competition both as a soloist and as a member of chamber ensembles. He often works in collaboration with well-known Croatian actors at various cultural events.

silvio-min

2020

Marcin Kuźniar / Poland

Marcin Kuźniar was born in Krakow, Poland, in 1992. He started studying the guitar at the age of six with Adam Makowski and, later, with Wlodzimierz Lerner. During his university years, he worked with Alina Gruszka, Marcin Dylla and Paolo Pegoraro. By age 20, he had performed the Concierto de Aranjuez and Fantasia para un Gentilhombre by Joaquín Rodrigo, and Concerto by Heitor Villa-Lobos – all with orchestra; and later also Concierto del Sur by Manuel María Ponce and Guitar Concerto, Op. 36 by Mauro Giuliani. By 25, he had won prizes in about 40 guitar competitions, such as Grand Prize at Ex-Aequo International Classical Guitar Competition, New York, in 2020, Special Prize for the Best Interpretation of Contemporary Music at Forum Gitarre, Vienna, in 2019. Marcin Kuźniar has a strong interest in performing the works of contemporary composers not often heard in guitar recitals, such as Tristram Cary and Tristan Murail. His debut CD of 2018, Song Without Words, includes works by Richard Rodney Bennett, Alan Rawsthorne and György Ligeti complemented with a transcription of Moments Musicaux by Schubert (rarely performed on guitar), and music by Mertz and Tárrega/Arcas. During 2020, he released videos of Escarraman by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco and Variations on a Theme of Debussy by Tilman Hoppstock, and began to transcribe music by Polish composers Penderecki, Weinberg, Szymanowski and Lutoslawski.

marin-min
Logo FIGP-min

PARIS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

France

The Paris International Guitar Festival, which is celebrating its 16th edition this year, continues in its ambition to promote the classical guitar. For 35 years, Paris was a major international centre for the classical guitar, which had at its heart the prestigious International Guitar Competition of Radio France, created by Robert J. Vidal (1925–2002). When this event ended in 1996, guitar concerts became a rarity in Parisian cultural life. Addressing this void was the impetus behind the establishment of the Paris International Guitar Festival by the Association ‘Vous avez dit guitare?’ The objective of the annual Paris International Guitar Festival is to offer a high quality programme featuring some of the most prestigious guitar players in the world giving concerts and masterclasses, and to establish an international competition, a luthier exposition and a venue for the promotion of young guitarists.

PARIS INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2019

Cassie Martin / France

Cassie Martin started playing the guitar at the age of five and, by the age of nine, was already win prizes in competitions. More recently, she won First Prize at: the International Guitar Competition in Béarn, at the Roland Dyens-Révélations International Competition Classical Guitar Magazine in 2018, and at the International Competition in Carry-le-Rouet. After training at the Conservatoire d’Orléans with Josiane Rabemananjara, she entered the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional in Paris, where she studied with Gérard Abiton and obtained her Diplôme d’Études Musicales. She has participated in masterclasses with Jérémy Jouve and Judicaël Perroy. In 2018, she worked with Sérgio Assad and played Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Concerto No. 1, conducted by Xavier Delette with the youth orchestra of the Conservatoire, in at concert at the CRR in Paris. Presently, she divides her time between the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Dance in Paris, where she studies with Olivier Chassain, and performing, which is her absolute love, with repertoire ranging from early to contemporary music.

Cassie_Martin_B&W-6

2020

François-Xavier Dangremont / France

François-Xavier Dangremont began playing guitar at the Le Mans Conservatory in Brigitte Palisson’s class, with whom he obtained his Diplôme d’étude musicale (DEM). After having followed a specialised course with Tania Chagnot at Hay-lesRoses, he entered Judicaël Perroy’s class at the Pôle d’enseignement supérieur de Lille (ESMD). In 2017, he obtained his diplomas in musicology, performance (DNSPM) and pedagogy (DE). Eager to develop as an interpreter, he participated in several international competitions, winning First Prize at: the Concours International de Carry-le-Rouet in 2017, in France; Concurso Internacional de Guitarra ‘Ciudad de Coria’, in Spain in 2018; and at Kutna Hora International Biennial Guitar Competition, in Czechia in 2019; and Second Prize at: the Amarante International Guitar Competition, in 2018, in Portugal, the Alberto Ponce International Competition, in France, and the Forum Gitarre Wien International Competition, in Austria; as well as Third Prize at the Koblenz International Guitar Competition, in Germany. Inspired as much by the great works of the repertoire as by the search for forgotten pieces, François-Xavier Dangremont performs early music such as Francesco da Milano, to Dionisio Aguado through to the twentieth-century composers such as Eduardo López-Chavarri and Sérgio Assad in his concerts. In 2020, he began teaching at the Conservatoire de Grenoble and also organises a guitar workshop at the Carlton Hotel in Lille, with Raphaël Feuillâtre and Antoine Fougeray.

francois-min
bul-logo-min

PLOVDIV GUITART FESTIVAL

Bulgaria

The GuitArt Festival is an event driven by the passion of the local musical community for the guitar and its ability to unite professional musicians and amateurs from diverse cultural backgrounds. As one of the most popular and widely played musical instruments, the guitar is celebrated in all its facets. The festival aims to be an educational and social platform for the development of Bulgarian musical talent, and to underscore the place of the guitar in the history and development of modern music across the globe. By organising workshops with local and world-renowned guitarists and educators, panel discussions with popular local musicians, an expo of Bulgarian guitar manufacturers and musical instrument importers, free lessons, showcases, film screenings and children’s activities, the festival immerses its visitors in the world of the guitar in all its colours.

PLOVDIV GUITART FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2018

George Dimitrov / Bulgaria

Born in Sofia in 2000, George Dimitrov began his classical guitar studies at the age of ten with Stolina Dobreva and Tsvetan Andreev at the National School of Music ‘L. Pipkov’, Sofia; he graduated in 2018. He is a student of Paolo Pegoraro at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria. George Dimitrov won the Olga Kamburova Award at the Bulgarian Annual Ceremony ‘Musician of the Year’, of Bulgarian National Radio in 2017. He made his solo concert debut with the Sofia Soloists Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Plamen Djuroff, in 2017. His first recording, performing Tres Piezas Españolas by Joaquín Rodrigo and La Catedral by Agustín Barrios Mangoré, was released by Bulgarian National Radio. George Dimitrov performs regularly as a soloist with orchestra at music events such as the Art Foundation Stoyan Kambarev Annual Charity Ball in London under the patronage of HRH Prince Kyril of Bulgaria, among many others.

George Dimitrov-min

2019

Pavel Ralev / Bulgaria

Pavel Ralev is a Bulgarian guitarist based in London. Shortly after his first guitar lessons at age twelve, Pavel began studying with Milena and Valentin Valtchev at the National School of Music and Dance Arts ‘Dobrin Petkov’ in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. He studied with Michael Lewin at the Royal Academy of Music, London on a full scholarship and received his Masters with distinction from the University of Surrey with guitarist-composer Professor Stephen Goss. Pavel Ralev has performed live on both the Bulgarian National Radio and Television, and in venues such as Royal Academy of Music, London, University of Surrey, House of Commons, St. James’ Piccadilly and Bulgarian National Opera. He often performs music by young composers such as Stanislav Hvartchilkov, Giacomo Susani and Kiril Boshikyov. Pavel Ralev is a founding member of the Metropolitan Guitar Quartet, together with guitarists Michael Butten, Giacomo Susani and Emmanuel Sowicz, who made their debut in October 2019.

Pavel_Ralev_B&W-13

2020

Jack Hancher / United Kingdom

Jack Hancher is an award winning classical guitarist. He completed his Master in Performance at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London in 2018 where he studied with Gary Ryan and Chris Stell and won the RCM Guitar Award 2014 while still in his second year as an undergraduate. In 2020, Jack Hancher won First Prize at both the Zagreb Guitar Festival Competition and the Plovdiv GuitArt Festival Competition. He was also awarded Fourth Prize at the Changsha International Guitar Competition 2020. In 2015, in duo with the guitarist Haydn Bateman, he performed for the IGF Aspire Stage Concert at Kings Place, and later that year as a soloist at Proms at St Jude’s performing music by Rodrigo, Piazzolla and Houghton. In 2017, he was accepted onto the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) Young Artists Platform, and performed at the IGF London Guitar Festival at Kings Place in October that year. Jack Hancher made his debut at Wigmore Hall, London, in July 2018, performing his arrangements of Albeniz’s piano music and at the Cheltenham Contemporary Arts Festival with music by Arnold, Britten and Dowland. He has performed in European venues such as the Großer Ehrbar Saal, Vienna and the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi, Turin.

jac hancher-min
sarajevo-logo-min

SARAJEVO INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Sarajevo International Guitar Festival has a continuing history of nourishing art
music in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was established in 2011 by the Association of
Guitarists in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with the desire to advance
the art of guitar playing in the country. Since then, the festival has offered over 40
concerts by internationally renowned guitarists, while the educational component
has featured lecturers and pedagogues from over 20 countries, whose workshops
have been attended by over 700 young guitarists, teachers and professors.
The main goals of the festival include strengthening national and international
cooperation among artists, pedagogues and instrument makers, all of whom, by
forging mutual ties, allow students to elevate their own knowledge to a higher
level and spread their positive artistic experiences and impressions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina across the world. Thus, the Sarajevo International Guitar Festival
structure is based on four fundamental elements: concerts, an international guitar
competition in five categories, masterclasses and a Guitar Expo aimed at
promoting regional instrument makers.

SARAJEVO INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Vedran Vujica / Bosnia

Vedran Vujica was born in 1993, in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), where
he finished Elementary and Secondary Music School with Lejla Ekinović and Igor
Mijatović. He graduated in 2016 from the Music academy in Sarajevo, where he
studied with Đani Šehu. During his studies, he participated in many national
and international competitions (in BiH, Croatia, Montenegro and Italy), where
he received numerous awards.
He is a member of the Sarajevo Guitar Quartet, with which he performed a
series of concerts. The Quartet has also performed at three international
competitions where they won prizes. Guitarras Contreras have generously
loaned one of their guitars for him to perform on as a EuroStrings Artist. He is
currently studying for his Master’s Degree of Musical Arts in Sarajevo.

Vedran-min

2018

Viktor Đuknić / Serbia

Viktor Đuknić began playing at the age of eight. In 2011, he enrolled in the
Faculty of Arts in Novi Sad, Serbia, studying with Zoran Krajišnik and later
completed his Masters there with Srđan Tošić, receiving highest commendations. He was awarded a scholarship by the Embassy of Azerbaijan as
the most relevant soloist of the Faculty of Arts in Novi Sad. He has worked with
renowned professors such Ernesto Bitetti, Roman Viazovskiy, István Römer and
Johannes Möller, among others.
Since 2014, Viktor Đuknić has been winning prizes in many competitions
continues to impress audiences. He was the soloist in a performance of Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Romancero Gitano, Op. 152, with the choir of Faculty of
Arts in Novi Sad in 2016.

viktor-djuknic

2019

Jonas Egholm / Denmark

Jonas Egholm was born in 1997 and started playing the guitar at the age of
seven. As a ten-year old, he went on his first concert tour in Denmark and
Germany as part of winning the First Prize in the Danish National Symphony
Orchestra’s competition for young musicians. He is currently finishing his Masters
in classical guitar at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with
professors Jesper Sivebæk and Per Pålsson.
Jonas has performed as a soloist with the South Denmark Philharmonic
Orchestra, Vejle Symphony Orchestra and the Fredericia City Orchestra. He
regularly performs at music events and festivals in Denmark, China, Japan,
Germany, Sweden and the Faroe Islands; he has upcoming concerts and tours in
France, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Turkey, Faroe Islands and more. In January 2020, he
will start the Master in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of
Alicante, Spain.

jonas-min

2020

Özberk Miraç Sarıgül / Turkey

The Turkish guitarist Özberk Miraç Sarıgül was born in 2000. From a young age,
he began performing not only as a soloist but also with orchestra, including
performances of the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo with the Bilkent
Symphony Orchestra in 2017, and the Fantasía para un Gentilhombre by Joaquín
Rodrigo with BGSO in 2019. As a soloist, he plays a broad range of repertoire,
from the Elizabethan music of John Dowland, to the Baroque music of J.S. Bach
to more contemporary music by Joaquín Rodrigo, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
and Joaquín Turina.
In 2018, Özberk Miraç Sarıgül was selected for the prestigious 8th Donizetti
Classical Music Awards for ‘Under 18, Musician of the Year’ in Turkey. He has won
prizes in many national and international competitions, winning First Prize at the
International Istanbul Guitar Festival Competition, at the Estonia Lions – Thomas
Kuti European Classical Guitar Competition and at the Florida Guitar Foundation’s
Virtual Competition Intermediate Division in 2020. Sarıgül is currently studying in
Bilkent University Music and Performing Arts Faculty with Kağan Korad and has
had masterclasses with leading guitarists such as Leo Brouwer, Pepe Romero,
Aniello Desiderio, Hopkinson Smith, David Russell and Hubert Käppel. Özberk
Miraç Sarıgül has performed in duo with Mesut Özgen at the Türkiye Gitar
Buluşması Festival, as well as being invited as soloist to perform there and at
other festivals.

oz-min
hungary-logo-min

SZEGED INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Hungary

The Szeged International Guitar Festival (Szeged IGF) is a multi-venue, regional
festival in Hungary for open-minded and curious fans of the guitar, which presents
diverse music genres, innovative combinations of various art forms, an exciting
competition and a showcase for the young stars of classical guitar, as well as a
networking platform for amateurs and professionals.
Since 2018, the festival has presented its wide range of programmes not only in the
city of Szeged, but also in its neighbouring regions. These performances are often
sold out quickly as Szeged IGF invites great guitar maestros from all over the world.
The Szeged IGF was founded by the guitarist-composer Dávid Pavlovits in 1999.
The aim of the festival is not only to create a long-lasting tradition in Szeged, but
also to bring internationally acclaimed musicians to local audiences every year.

SZEGED INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Péter Girán / Hungary

Péter Girán was born in Hungary in 1994. He started playing the guitar at the
age of eight. Since then, he has received several prizes both in national and
international competitions. Some of his recent achievements include the first
prize in international competitions in Budapest, Szeged, Belgrade, and the third
prize and the audience prize in Gorizia. He graduated at the University of
Szeged in 2017 under professors Dávid Pavlovits and András Csáki.

giran-min

2018

Gábor Hart / Hungary

Gábor Hart was born in 1995 and has been immersed in professional music since his childhood. Inspired by rock music, he started playing guitar at the age of 11 and he is proud to say that his music is still influenced by rock. In 2010, he was admitted to Szeged Music Secondary School where he studied with Andrea Bozóki. During this period, he fell passionately in love with classical music. He studied at the University of Szeged Music faculty, where he was mentored Dávid Pavlovits and András Csáki. Gábor Hart has been working at the Szeged National Theatre since 2016, playing not only classical guitar but also electric guitar and sometimes even banjo. He is also often performing in rock/funk/jazz bands and with chamber ensembles. This varied background has brought him success at international classical guitar competitions, where he has won a number of first prizes.

gabor-min

2019

Dávid Fellegi / Hungary

Born in 1995 in Pécs, Dávid Fellegi started studying the guitar at the age of eight. After winning a number of competitions, he studied at the High School of Arts of Pécs with Tamás Straub, where he also showed an interest in composition. In 2014, he began his studies with András Csáki and József Eötvös at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he completed both his Bachelor’s degree with honours and his Masters. He has participated in masterclasses with Roberto Aussel, Costas Cotsiolis, Ricardo Gallén and Judicaël Perroy, among others. Dávid Felligi’s interests cover both classical and jazz music. As a composer, he won First Prize and the ‘Special Prize for Best Composition’ at the 2019 International Guitar Contest of Szeged. Dávid premièred his own Sonata Fantasy for solo guitar in November 2018; and the Venti Chiavi Guitar Trio premièred his Mixations in October 2016.

David_Fellegi_B&W-4

2020

Marcell Nickmann / Hungary

Marcell Nickmann was born in Budapest, Hungary and started playing the classical guitar at 14 with his first teacher, Sándor Árok. He quickly achieved success in regional and national competitions, winning several first prizes, which offered opportunities such as performing with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Chamber Orchestra in their matinée series. In 2016, he began studying with Andrea Bozóki at the Music Faculty of University of Szeged. Since 2018, he has been working with Dávid Pavlovits. In 2019, after finishing his Bachelor degree, Marcell Nickmann won Third Prize in the Tallinn International Guitar Competition and Second Prize in the Harmonia Cordis International Guitar Competition. Marcell Nickmann is involved in contemporary music projects playing in different chamber formations. In February 2019, he premièred Claude Vivier’s Pour guitare in Hungary, and with his duo partner, the guitarist Dóra Cserenyec, they premièred Salita in discesa – a microtonal work written for them by the electroacoustic composer Ákos Nagy. In 2020, as well as continuing to première pieces in Hungary with Dóra Cserenyec, and performing Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Tierkreis, Marcell Nickmann began to focus on early music, recently transcribing the works of the French Baroque composer Louis Couperin. In October 2020, Marcell Nickmann won First Prize in the Szeged International Guitar Competition.

hickmann-min
tallianna-logo-min

TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL

Estonia

The Tallinn Guitar Festival’s objective is to develop the guitar culture in Estonia and more widely in the rest of Europe. The festival has been running since 2006 and is a significant entity in the Baltic states and in Europe generally. It offers concerts, seminars, workshops and masterclasses as well as educational events for guitar teachers. The Tallinn Guitar Festival is a part of a cultural network of 40 different events in Estonia. It takes an active role in the cultural sector and has launched several innovative projects. Tallinn Guitar Festival also has strong connections with other European guitar festivals and professionals in the arts internationally and offers experience in music project management and international cultural affairs.

TALLINN GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Andrea Roberto / Italy

Andrea Roberto was born in Foggia, Italy in 1995. He began studying guitar at age of four with his father. At nine years of age, he was admitted to the Conservatorio di Musica Umberto Giordano in Foggia to study with Sandro Torlontano; by the age of 14, he received his diploma with honours. Subsequently, he studied with Aniello Desiderio both in Naples and at the Koblenz International Guitar Academy in Germany. He completed his studies with Carlo Marchione at the Conservatorium Maastricht in the Netherlands. Andrea Roberto has won numerous prizes and awards. In June 2010, he won the Valter Cococcia Prize as the youngest graduate of all conservatories in Italy with the highest grades. Since May 2012, when he was selected to participate in the Parkening International Guitar Competition – the youngest guitarist in the history of the competition – he has continued to win prizes at numerous international competitions.

roberto-min

2018

Tomasz Radziszewski / Poland

After graduating from the Grażyna Bacewicz Elementary School of Music in Nowa Sól and the Mieczysław Karłowicz Secondary Music School in Zielona Góra, Tomasz Radziszewski now studies at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław with Piotr Zaleski, the teacher of many of Poland’s finest guitarists. Tomasz Radziszewski was awarded the ‘Eurydiki Prize’ by the mayor of Zielona Góra city for his artistic achievements. In 2014, in duo with the guitarist Monika Konik, Tomasz Radziszewski recorded a collection of easy pieces for elementary school students, composed by Zdzisław Musiał. He is also a tenor and has sung in the National Forum of Music conducted by Andrzej Kosendiak in a number of opera projects as well as with Warsaw Chamber Opera. Not only is Tomasz Radziszewski an awarding winning guitarist and a tenor but he is also a composer, and has composed chamber music for guitar, string quartets and an opera.

tomasz-radzizewski

2019

Ema Kapor / Serbia

Ema Kapor was born in 1998 in Belgrade, where she graduated from Stanković Music School having studied with Boris Đujić. Afterwards, she completed two years of study at the Koblenz International Guitar Academy, Germany with Hubert Käppel. Currently, she is studying at the Cologne University of Music and Dance with Hubert Käppel. Ema has taken summer courses at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg with Marco Tamayo, the Zbaszyn International Masterclass, Poland with Łukasz Kuropaczewski and the International Music Academy – MusicAlp in Tignes, France with Judicaël Perroy, as well as masterclasses with Oscar Ghiglia, Pepe Romero, David Russell, among many others. Ema Kapor has won more than 40 prizes at national and international guitar competitions. She regularly gives solo recitals in Europe. As a soloist, she has performed Joaquín Rodrigo’s Fantasia para un Gentilhombre in Timisoara, Romania and in Belgrade. Ema Kapor is promoted by the association Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now – Cologne

Ema_Kapor_B&W-7

2020

Steve Cowan / Canada

The Canadian guitarist Steve Cowan has performed as a soloist and in ensemble throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. His debut album of Canadian music, Pour guitare (McGill Records, 2016), helped to establish him as ‘one of Canada’s top contemporary classical guitarists’ (Classical Guitar Magazine). In 2018– 2019, Steve Cowan made his concerto debut with Ensemble del Arte in Germany, his New York solo recital debut, and released his second solo recording Arctic Sonata (EMEC discos). As a chamber musician, Steve Cowan performs regularly with Forestare, a Montréal-based string ensemble; in 2022, he will tour New Zealand with flutist Hannah Darroch, as well as the Canadian Prairies with guitarist Adam Cicchillitti. The Cowan–Cicchillitti duo has premièred 15 new works and released an album of Canadian music titled FOCUS (Analekta, 2019); their next recording, Impressions intimes (Analekta, 2021), features original arrangements of Debussy, Ravel, Mompou and Tailleferre. Steve Cowan has won awards at ten national and international competitions, including First Prize at the Tallinn Guitar Competition in Estonia. Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, Steve Cowan holds degrees from Memorial University, the Manhattan School of Music and McGill University. His teachers include Sylvie Proulx, David Leisner and Jérôme Ducharme. Since 2019, Steve Cowan has been a guitar instructor at Schulich School of Music of McGill University in Montréal.

owan-min
finland-logo-min

TAMPERE GUITAR FESTIVAL

Finland

The Tampere Guitar Festival (TGF), which was established in 2005, presents the gems of acoustic guitar from various styles for a wide range of audiences. This world-class guitar music is heard in churches, cafés and concert halls, and also in more unusual and informal venues such as a Finnish sauna; in this way, it reaches new friends of this intimate instrument. Guitar lessons for all ages, lectures and workshops complement the programme in which half of the events are free to attend. An important part of this annual festival is The International Classical Guitar Competition of Finland.

TAMPERE GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Antero Pellikka / Finland

Antero Pellikka was born in 1988. He was given his first guitar at the age of seven and soon after began his guitar studies with Esko Virtanen. After graduating from the Music Institute, Pellikka studied with Petri Kumela at the Helsinki Conservatory and Metropolia University of Applied Sciences. In 2016, he completed his Master’s degree at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague with distinction under the guidance of Zoran Dukić and is currently finishing his studies at the Sibelius Academy in Finland. He complements his studies by having masterclasses with such teachers as Eliot Fisk, Marcin Dylla, Ricardo Gallén, Carlo Marchione and many others. Antero Pellikka also performs in various chamber music ensembles as well as being involved in a variety of contemporary music projects. Pellikka has been awarded in various competitions as a soloist and as a part of an ensemble.

Pellikka-min

2018

Misael Barraza-Díaz / Mexico

Misael Barraza-Díaz is one of the most outstanding Mexican guitarists of his generation. In 2018, he was awarded first prize at the most important national competition in Mexico – the XLIII Concurso Nacional de Intérpretes de Guitarra Clásica. Since 2013, he has been winning first prize at international competitions including the Montreal International Guitar Competition and the Indiana International Guitar Competition. He graduated Summa cum laude from the Master in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of Alicante, Spain. He holds a second Master’s degree from the University of Arizona, where he is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Musical Arts and continues to study with Thomas Patterson, David Russell and Sérgio and Odair Assad. Misael Barraza-Díaz was the soloist in the première of Viva Piazzolla! a collaboration of Ballet Tucson and the Tucson Guitar Society at the 2019 Tucson Desert Song Festival.

misral-min

2019

Flavio Natir / Italy

Flavio Nati graduated with honours from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in his hometown, Rome, in 2012, where he studied with Arturo Tallini. He gained his Masters in Classical Guitar Performance studying with Carlo Marchione at the Conservatorium Maastricht, the Netherlands. He has a Masters in the Interpretation of Contemporary Music from the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia and in Guitar Performance from Conservatorio di Musica Arrigo Boito in Parma. Flavio Nati recently gave a series of recitals in Japan and Korea. Since 2013, he has been a member of the guitar octet Supernova, directed by Arturo Tallini. He has won prizes at competitions such as the Tokyo International Guitar Competition and First Prize at the International Guitar Competition ‘Ferdinando Carulli’ in the chamber music section. In 2018, he won the Respighi Prize offering him the opportunity to play as a soloist with the New York Chamber Orchestra in 2019/2020, at Carnegie Hall.

Flavio_Nati-bw-min

2020

Álvaro Miranda / Costa Rica

The classical guitarist Álvaro Miranda was born in San José, Costa Rica in 1993. He received his first guitar lessons with Jorge Aguilar and Sergio Carrera. In 2014, he studied with Juan Carlos Laguna in Mexico for three years. In recent years, he has received virtual classes with Denis Azabagić and Carlo Marchione. Currently, he has virtual lessons with Paolo Pegoraro through the Segovia Guitar Academy in Pordenone, Italy. Álvaro Miranda won First Prize at: Florida Guitar Foundation Guitar Competition, National Guitar Competition in Costa Rica, Competition of the Latin-American Guitar Festival in Chicago and the International Music Competition ‘Salzburg and Amsterdam’ Grand Prize Virtuoso, among other awards. Álvaro Miranda has participated in a movement to rescue the music and traditions of his native Costa Rica, attending different festivals of music and traditional dance around the world. In 2012, he was chosen to represent Costa Rica at the World Folkloriada in Anseong, South Korea, an event of the International Council of Organizations of Folklore Festivals and Folk Arts (CIOFF) where he performed traditional music of his country adapted to solo guitar. He has also performed in the United States, England, Mexico, Czechia and Switzerland.

alvaro-min
holland-logo-min

TWENTS GITAAR FESTIVAL

Netherlands

The Twents Gitaar Festival has been held in the beautiful city of Enschede in the very east of the Netherlands for the past 14 years. Every year, the festival starts on Ascension Day. The festival offers a great variety of concerts of classical guitar, as well as different styles such as flamenco and fingerstyle. The concerts take place in different theatres around the city and on the outdoor stage at the historic Old Market. Most invited artists also give masterclasses and workshops, which are open to everyone – professionals as well as amateurs. The festival ensemble is an integral part of the programme, where guitarists of all levels can enjoy the fun of playing together. As part of the festival, competitions in different categories are held such as solo guitar competitions and ensemble competitions both for guitars or guitar with other instruments.

TWENTS GITAAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Dmytro Omelchak / Ukraine

Dmytro Omelchak was born in 1990 and first started to play the guitar when he was eight years old. From 2005, he studied at the College of Arts in Lugansk and continued his studies at the National University of Arts in Kharkov from 2010. In 2013, Dmytro Omelchak began studying with Reinbert Evers at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in Münster, Germany and has been studying since 2015 with Tomasz Zawierucha at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany. Since 2010, he has been winning prizes in international guitar competitions. He has had the privilege of attending and participating in masterclasses with musicians such as Marcin Dylla, Olaf van Gonnissen, Allan Neave, Roman Viazovskiy, Hubert Käppel, Jens Wagner and Zoran Dukić.

Dmytro-min

2018

Yuki Saito / Japan

Yuki Saito was born in Tokyo and started playing the guitar at the age of five. His early music studies in Tokyo included composition, French horn and double bass. For guitar, he studied guitar under Japan’s leading teachers and performers such as Kazuhito Osawa, Noboru Muraji, Daisuke Suzuki, Mariko Tsubokawa, Kiyoshi Shomura, Tsuneo Ema, Yong Tae Kim and Soichi Muraji. Since 2016, he has been combining studies with Ricardo Gallén in Weimar, Germany with continuing success on the international competition circuit. Yuki Saito has won more than 50 prizes at national competitions and several international competitions in Europe, Asia, the USA and Australia, including the Melbourne International Guitar Festival Competition in Australia, Omiš Guitar Fest in Croatia, Veria International Guitar Competition in Greece and the Aalborg International Guitar Competition in Denmark.

yuki-min

2019

Pablo Menéndez / Spain

Pablo Menéndez was born in 1992 in Asturias, Spain and started playing guitar at the age of ten. He completed his Bachelor’s degree with Marco Socías at Musikene, in San Sebastian, Spain and obtained his Masters ‘cum laude’ after studying with Carlo Marchione at the Conservatorium Maastricht in the Netherlands. He also studies orchestral conducting with orchestral conducting with Miguel Romea and Andrés Salado. Pablo Menéndez has won prizes in several international music competitions and has given solo concerts in Spain, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy. He played on the recording Oda a Jovellanos (Cantata) y Canciones de su tiempo – nineteenth-century Spanish music performed with the tenor Joaquín Pixán and pianist Mario Bernardo and the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias and the Coro de la Fundación Príncipe de Asturias. Pablo Menéndez combines his concert activity with teaching at the Conservatorio Nacional Superior de Música in Córdoba, Spain.

pablo-min
swden-logo-min

UPPSALA INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Sweden

Held in a beautiful university city, the Uppsala International Guitar Festival is the most influential guitar event in Scandinavia; it is a meeting place for celebrating music and learning. Artists such as John Williams, Paco de Lucía, the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, Anabel Montesinos, Marco Tamayo, Anoushka Shankar, David Russell, Duo Assad, Badi Assad, Manuel Barrueco, Pat Metheny, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Léo Brouwer and Vicente Amigo have all been part of this festival’s great story over the past 15 years. The festival organises an annual International Young Talent Competition, masterclasses, workshops as well as open forums and a guitar fair. The festival was founded by Klaus Pontvik in 2003 in a small cultural centre in Uppsala – Ekocaféet. Today, the festival takes place at the impressive Uppsala Concert Hall bringing audience, artists and guitar enthusiasts from all around the world. The festival is now led by its Executive Director Klaus Pontvik and Stefan Löfvenius, a well-known guitarist who holds a prominent position in the field of music education in Sweden.

UPPSALA INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2018

Katarzyna Smolarek / Poland

Katarzyna Smolarek was born in 1995 and she started playing the guitar at the age of eight. She studied classical guitar in Polish music schools with Lidia Przyłęcka and Ryszard Bałauszko. In 2015, she began her Bachelor studies at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg with Marco Tamayo. She has been awarded over 20 prizes in competitions across the globe from Austria to Australia, including first prizes at the Internationale Gitarrenwettbewerb des Kunstinstituts BAJA in Templin, Germany, in 2007, at the International Guitar Festival in Trzęsaczu, Poland, in 2009, and at the Sydney Eisteddfod Guitar Competition in Sydney, in 2016, at the International Guitar Competition Sinaia, Romania, in 2017 and at the Sanremo International Guitar Festival, Italy, in 2017.

katarzyna-smolarek-eurostrings-artist

2019

Maja Kralj / Slovenia

Maja Kralj was born in 1999 and started playing guitar at the age of seven at the elementary music school Sežana with Nataša Črnugelj. She continued her education at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet in Ljubljana, studying with Anton Črnugelj. Maja has participated in masterclasses with guitarists such as Judicaël Perroy, Andrea De Vitis, Paolo Pegoraro, Álvaro Pierri, Brian Head, Xuefei Yang, Margarita Escarpa, Mak Grgić, Xhevdet Sahatxhija, Nejc Kuhar, Gabriel Bianco, Anders Miolin, Costas Cotsiolis, Olaf van Gonnisen and Laura Young. She won First Prize at the Zagreb International Guitar Competition in 2017 and First Prize at the Uppsala International Guitar Festival in 2019. She now studies at the Academy of Music Ljubljana with Andrej Grafenauer.

Maja Kralj-min

2020

Cristina Galietto / Italy

Cristina Galietto is a 20-year-old classical guitarist from Naples in Italy, whose guitar playing has taken her to many countries in Europe, where she has given concerts, participated in masterclasses with artists such as Aniello Desiderio and Carlo Marchione. Among the numerous international competitions that she has won, the highlights include winning First Prizes at: Rago International Guitar Competition in Stuttgart, International Competition for Young Guitarists ‘Andrés Segovia’ in Monheim am Rhein and the Uppsala International Guitar Festival competition in Sweden. She began her musical studies at the age of seven with his father, a guitar teacher and then attended the Music High School ‘Margherita di Savoia’ in Naples studying with Enzo Amat. She completed her studies at the Conservatory of Music ‘San Pietro a Majella’ of Naples and the Conservatory of Music ‘Domenico Cimarosa’ in Avellino in the class of Lucio Matarazzo with honours and a special mention and is currently studying with Paolo Pegoraro and Lukasz Kuropaczewski at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, in Graz. Her new album Avant l’Aube, released at the end of 2020 (Timespan recordings), features music by composers such as Joaquín Rodrigo, Domenico Scarlatti and Alexis Rago, all of whom are representative of an intimate, delicate and passionate musical feel – characteristics that stand out in her playing and to which her audience are drawn.

Cristina Galietto-min
Webp.net-resizeimage (1)

ZAGREB GUITAR FESTIVAL

Croatia

The Zagreb Guitar Festival was founded in 2015 by the Music School Bonar of Zagreb with two main development programmes in mind: Striving for Excellence and Guitar for All. Striving for Excellence includes promoting excellence on several levels by organising: concerts of the world’s foremost established guitarists and the top guitarists of the younger generation, an international competition of classical guitar and masterclasses with the world’s leading guitar masters. Guitar for All includes organising performances by festival orchestras, guitar exhibitions open to all visitors, a strategy designed to retain the existing success and work towards the further expansion of the audience, through the development of cultural marketing strategies to reach out to wider multicultural audiences. The ultimate goal is to promote fine music, to create a cultural experience and additionally to promote Zagreb as one of the leading cultural centres in Europe.

ZAGREB GUITAR FESTIVAL LAUREATES

2017

Dominik Carević / Croatia

Dominik Carević was born in 1998 in Zagreb. He started playing the guitar at the age of 11, studying with professor Hrvoje Ton at Ivan Zajc Music School and immediately showed a distinct talent for music. He continued his education at Fortunat Pintarić Art School in Koprivnica with professor Antonio Rumenović, where he completed three years of High School and then enrolled at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria with Paolo Pegoraro. Dominik Carević has won prizes in over 20 competitions; at the age of 18, he won First Prize at the International Guitar Competition Bale-Valle 2016 in Croatia, in open age category. He continues to study with renowned professors such as Łukasz Kuropaczewski, Hubert Käppel, Carlo Marchione, Zoran Dukić, Lorenzo Micheli, Marcin Dylla, Petrit Çeku, Martin Mysliveček, Brian Head, Margarita Escarpa and Jorgos Panetsos among many others.

crevavic-min

2018

You Wu / China

You Wu was born in 1993 in Lishu, China. She has been winning prizes regularly since 2006, when she won First prize at the Liaoning Guitar National Guitar Competition; in 2009, she won First prize at the Shanghai National Guitar Competition. After graduating from the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, he was accepted by the guitar programme in Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst, in Vienna, where he continues to study with Álvaro Pierri. In April 2018, You Wu made his debut at the Musikverein in Vienna. You Wu has won multiple awards and has held a scholarship from Thyll Durr Foundation in Switzerland since 2015. The internationally renowned Japanese guitarist Shinichi Fukuda has referred to You Wu as the ‘Lang Lang of the guitar world’.

you-wu-eurostring-artist

2019

Zsombor Sidoo / Hungary

Zsombor Sidoo was born in Budapest in 1997. He received his early musical training from József Eötvös at the Franz Liszt Academy for Music in Budapest. In 2013, he began studying with Paolo Pegoraro at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz and, in 2016, received a scholarship from the city of Graz for the best music student. He graduated in 2019, with the highest marks and is now pursuing his Masters. He has been studying composition with the Swiss-born Austrian composer and conductor Beat Furrer. Zsombor Sidoo has won many competitions in Hungary, Italy, Germany and Austria and he performs at venues such as the Ehrbar Saal, Vienna, Mozarthaus, Augsburg and Fricsay Hall, Szeged. He has often performed the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo, as well as the guitar concertos Trois Graphiques by Maurice Ohana and Luca Francesconi’s A fuoco: ‘4 studio sulla memoria’. His debut CD with sonatas by J.S. Bach, Manuel María Ponce and Hans Werner Henze was released in October 2019.

Z_Sidoo_B&W-15

2020

Filip Mišković / Croatia

Filip Mišković was born in Split, Croatia, in 2002. At the age of nine, he started his guitar studies at the Music School ‘Josip Hatze’, Kaštela with Vicko Novak and, in 2013, he continued with Maroje Brčić. At 17, two years earlier than usual, he began studying at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, where is now in his second year, studying with Darko Petrinjak. Filip Mišković has won First Prize in more than 40 guitar competitions, including Anna Amalia Competition for Young Guitarists in Weimar, Rago International Guitar Competition in Stuttgart and the International Guitar Competition for Young Guitarists ‘Andres Segovia’ in Monheim am Rhein; he won Second Prize in the Senior Division of the GFA Annual International Youth Competition in Miami 2019. In the open age category, he won First Prize at the Poreč Fest Competition and Second Prize in the Zagreb Guitar Festival Competition. As a soloist, Filip Mišković has performed a Vivaldi Concerto with ‘I Giovani Solisti’ from the USA, conducted by Emmet Drake, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Concerto with Croatian National Theatre Orchestra in Split, conducted by Gianna Fratta. The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports awarded him five ‘Oscars of Knowledge’. In 2019, he was given the title ‘Splitski pupoljak’ as a rising star in Split and, in 2020, he received the Rector’s Prize from the University of Zagreb.

Filip Mišković

EUROSTRINGS ASSOCIATE FESTIVALS

In its fourth year, EuroStrings has introduced another level of participation in the form of Associate Festivals.

The winner of an Associate Festival’s an international competition has the privilege of competing in the EuroStrings Guitar Competition, as well as taking part in one of the 17 EuroStrings full member festivals.

Associate Festivals take part in the EuroStrings Conference.

Associate Festivals receive one of the EuroStrings Artists to take part in their festivals and give out one scholarship to a local young artist of modest means.

In addition, Associate Festivals promote a concert for the Winner of the EuroStrings Guitar Competition.

COPENHAGEN GUITAR FESTIVAL

Denmark

Copenhagen Guitar Festival was created in 2013 by the classical guitarist and composer Peter Strömgren. It is a derivative of the International Guitar Festival Aarhus, Denmark, which was created by Strömgren in 2001. The simple aim of the festival is to create and present musical joy, using the classical guitar and related instruments as its vehicle. Copenhagen Guitar Festival presents musical quality above all from talented artists of all ages to enchant their audiences.

PEJA INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Kosovo

The Peja International Guitar Festival was launched in 2015 as a joint initiative of the Cultural Administration of the City of Peja and its Artistic Director, Xhevdet Sahatxhija, to present an international event celebrating the long tradition of classical guitar playing in this city. So far, this four-day festival has attracted over 400 guitarists from all over the world, and the festival has become one of the main guitar events in this part of Europe for young guitarists to gain higher professional knowledge; it features lectures, guitar exhibitions, as well as masterclasses by leading professors, and the International Classical Guitar Competition ‘Ehat Musa’.

VOJVODINA GUITAR FEST

Serbia

On its fifteenth anniversary, the Vojvodina Guitar Fest has become a part of the EuroStrings platform, in the same year that the City of Novi Sad will proudly take the title of European Capital of Culture. Through the International Guitar Competition ‘Dr Jovan Jovičić’, the festival is keeping alive the memory of one of the most important guitarists of the twentieth century in Southeast Europe. In 2010, Vojvodina Guitar Fest launched its World Guitar Competition, which has pushed the boundaries of the traditional classical guitar and composition competitions.

EUROSTRINGS ASSOCIATE FESTIVALS

VOJVODINA GUITAR FEST LAUREATES 2020

Vuk Dragičević / Serbia

Vuk Dragičević was born in 1996, in Novi Sad, Serbia. While he was still studying at Josip Slavenski Music School, with Slobodan Milivojević, he won prizes at national and international competitions, including: First Prize at the Guitar Art Festival in Belgrade in 2013 and 2015, First Prize at the Serbian Republic Competition in 2012 and 2014, and in the chamber music category in 2015, First Prize at the Sarajevo International Guitar Festival. As a competitor, in the open age category, he won the Third Prize at International Jeunesses Musicales Competition, in Belgrade, in 2018, as well as Second and Third Prizes on the Guitar Art Festival in 2017 and 2018. He completed his Bachelor and Masters degree with Srđan Tošić at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. As well as performing solo recitals, Vuk Dragičević plays in the ‘Quintessence’ guitar trio. He has also performed in duo with cello covering a range of repertoire and also with a guitarist/singer, focusing only on English Renaissance music. He has performed the Concierto de Aranjuez by Joaquín Rodrigo with the Radio and Television of Serbia Symphony Orchestra. Vuk Dragičević is expanding his repertoire by transcribing works such as two harpsichord sonatas by Rameau (for two guitars), and encouraging composer friends to write for both the six-string guitar and eight-string guitar; and he also composes.

EUROSTRINGS AFFILIATE FESTIVALS

EuroStrings has Affiliate Partners in China and America, making this is a truly global project.

Affiliated Partners in America

Austin Guitar Society
www.austinclassicalguitar.org

Connecticut Guitar Festival
connecticutguitarfestival.com

Friends of the Guitar Hour, Spokane Washington
www.spokanepublicradio.org/programs/guitar-hour

Internal Creations, New York
www.internalcreations.org

Las Vegas Academy
www.lasvegasacademy.net

Louisville Kentucky Guitar Society
www.louisvilleguitarsociety.org

New York City Guitar Society
www.nyccgs.com

US Classic Guitar
www.usclassicguitar.org

Affiliated Partners in China

Altamira Foundation
www.altamiraguitars.com/foundation

vuk-min

EUROSTRINGS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

To help young people of modest means study the guitar in an international context, EuroStrings has developed an annual scholarship programme for young guitar students. Every EuroStrings platform festival gives one scholarship, resulting in 17 scholarships being granted each year. The scholarship includes entry to all festival concerts, lectures and masterclasses as well as participation in the festival’s international competition. The open call for scholarships is launched on the EuroStrings website in advance of each EuroStrings platform festival.

eurostrings.eu

EuroStrings Scholarship Recipients 2017/2018

Ana-Maria Bibescu / Romania
Scholarship Winner of Montenegro
International Guitar Competition

 

Ricardo Brito / Portugal
Scholarship Winner of Festival International
de Guitarra de Guimarães

 

Carlotta Dalia / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Zagreb Guitar Festival

 

Marija Grujić / Serbia
Scholarship Winner of Sarajevo International
Guitar Festival

 

Nelli Kiviaho / Finland
Scholarship Winner of Tampere Guitar Festival
Kasperi Leponiemi FinlandScholarship Winner of London Guitar Festival

 

Giorgos Lyratzis / Greece
Scholarship Winner of Plovdiv GuitArt Festival

David Marton / Serbia
Scholarship Winner of International Guitar
Festival Nürtingen

 

Rebeca Oliveira / Portugal
Scholarship Winner of Tallinn Guitar Festival

 

Bianka Szalaty / Poland
Scholarship Winner of International Guitar
Festival Rust

 

Martin van Hees / Holland
Scholarship Winner of Szeged International
Guitar Festival

 

Marco Vega / Chile
Scholarship Winner of International Guitar
Festival José Tomás Villa de Petrer

 

Mauricio Zúñiga / Chile
Scholarship Winner of Twents Gitaar Festival

EUROSTRINGS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

EuroStrings Scholarship Recipients 2018/2019

Emanuele Addis / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Plovdiv GuitArt Festival

 

Sotiris Athanasiou / Greece
Scholarship Winner of Montenegro
International Guitar Competition

 

Gianluca Cappetta / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Mottola Guitar Festival

 

Chiara Corriero / Italy
Scholarship Winner of London Guitar Festival

 

Nino D’Amico / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Harmonia Cordis
International Guitar Festival

 

Dominic Flynn / USA
Scholarship Winner of Szeged International
Guitar Festival

 

Cristina Galietto / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Festival International
de Guitarra de Guimarães

 

Valeria Galimova / Russia
Scholarship Winner of International Guitar
Festival Rust

Finlay Hay  / UK
Scholarship Winner of Twents Gitaar Festival

 

Ema Kapor / Serbia
Scholarship Winner of Tallinn Guitar Festival

 

Tamás Kőrös / Hungary
Scholarship Winner of Tampere Guitar Festival

 

Beatrix Kovács / Hungary
Scholarship Winner of Zagreb Guitar Festival

 

Maja Kralj / Slovenia
Scholarship Winner of Uppsala International
Guitar Festival

 

Milica Ristić / Serbia
Scholarship Winner of International Guitar
Festival José Tomás Villa de Petrer

 

Stanislav Steshenko / Ukraine
Scholarship Winner of Antwerpen Gitaarfestival

 

Miloš Vuković / Serbia
Scholarship Winner of Sarajevo International
Guitar Festiv

EUROSTRINGS SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

EuroStrings Scholarship Recipients 2019/2020

Dimitar Angelov / Macedonia
Scholarship Winner from Plovdiv GuitArt Festival

Florian Babțan-Varga / Romania
Scholarship Winner of Szeged International
Guitar Festival

Joan Furió Vivas / Spain
Scholarship Winner of Paris International
Guitar Festival

Eleanor Kelly / UK
Scholarship Winner of Uppsala International
Guitar Festival

Cosmin Mariciuc / Romania
Scholarship Winner of Harmonia Cordis
International Guitar Festival

Elia Portarena / Italy
Scholarship Winner of Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães

Harald Trass / Estonia
Scholarship Winner of Tallinn Guitar Festiva

EUROSTRINGS EMERGING ARTISTS CD RECORDINGS

These CD recordings were inspired by the wish to share the EuroStrings project –
and especially the wonderful playing of the young EuroStrings Artists – with a
wider audience.

The first two CDs were recorded in London, simply because the highest number of EuroStrings Artists came together there, especially in 2019 when 17 young players competed in London in the prestigious Second EuroStrings Guitar Competition. In the days after this competition, the second CD was recorded at Strongroom Studios in London.

Our intention is that the next CDs will also be recorded at the next EuroStrings Festivals that organise the EuroStrings Guitar Competition.

In addition to the physical CDs, these recordings are also available on the usual digital platforms.

EuroStrings Artists: The 2018 Players

This CD features ten of these brilliant young players. It was recorded at London Guitar Festival 2018. All the performers will no doubt develop into even greater players in the future so rather than offering performances one could describe as in some sense ‘definitive’, they should be seen as a particular moment in time of the development of these very talented young guitarists.

1 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Largo and Allegro Assai
Dominik Carević

2 Miklós Rózsa (1907–1995)
Sonata for Guitar, Op. 42, 1st movement
Péter Girán

3 Rossen Balkanski (b. 1968)
Cradle Song
Boyan Doychev

4 Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806–1856)
Elegie
Vedran Vujica

5 Gregorio Huwet (1550–1617)
Fantasia
Domenico Savio Mottola

6 Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Invierno Porteño
Andrea Roberto

7 Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (1583–1643)
La Frescobalda
Giacomo Susani

8 Arthur Kampela (b. 1960)
Percussion Study
Antero Pellikka

9 John Dowland (1563–1626)
Come Heavy Sleep
Antoine Morinière

10 Philip Houghton (1954–2017)
Kinkachoo, I Love You
Jesse Flowers

Recorded at Strongroom Studios, London, in October 2018
Produced and engineered by Robin Kelly
Artistic Direction by Mak Grgić and Tom Kerstens
Executive Producer: Matt Buchanan for BGS Records
Track 10 was engineered, edited and produced by John Schneider and recorded at
Earthstar Studios, Venice, California: 27 October 2018
Mastered by Mike Hatch at Floating Earth

body-min
cd1

EUROSTRINGS EMERGING ARTISTS CD RECORDINGS

EuroStrings Artists: The 2019 Players

1 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)
Prelude in E major from Suite BWV 1006a
Viktor Đuknić

2 Antonio José (1902–1936)
Pavana Triste from Sonata
Katarzyna Smolarek

3 Marek Pasieczny (b. 1980)
Two Stories About Patrick
Zuzanna Wężyk

4 Johann Kaspar Mertz (1806–1856)
Fantaisie Hongroise, Op. 65, No. 1 from Trois Morceaux
Emmanuel Sowicz

5 Manuel María Ponce (1882–1948)
Intermezzo
Misael Barazza-Díaz

6 Leo Brouwer (b. 1939)
Toccata de Pasquini from Sonata No. 1
Gábor Hart

7 Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Lob der Thränen (arr. J.K. Mertz)
Dimitris Soukaras

8 Catalin Stefanescu-Patrascu (b. 1971)
Tarantella
Radu Vâlcu

9 Manuel De Falla (1876–1946)
Homenaje pour le Tombeau de Claude Debussy
Simone Rinaldo

10 Astor Piazzolla (1921–1992)
Invierno Porteño
Mateusz Kowalski

11 Carlos Guastavino (1912–2000)
Andante from Sonata No. 1
Julia Trintschuk

12 Vlastimir Trajković (1947–2017)
Prelude No. 9
Peter Graneis

13 Agustín Barrios Mangoré (1885–1944)
Una Limosna por el Amor de Dios
Yuki Saito

Recorded at Strongroom, London, in July 2019
Produced and engineered by Robin Kelly
Artistic Direction by Mak Grgić and Tom Kerstens
Executive Producer Matt Buchanan for BGS Records
Mastered by Mike Hatch at Floating Earth
Album artwork design by Colourblind
EuroStrings logo and branding by Jurana Puljic Jacmenovic
Liner Notes by Thérèse Wassily Saba

body-min
cd1
leo-IvanSoca-2-min

I would like to congratulate EuroStrings once again for the excellent work in favour of the guitar at European and world level. Twenty or thirty years ago it could be said that the guitar was like an unwanted child with almost no rights and no place in an adult conversation. The guitar is no longer that unprotected, fragile child, it has become stronger and has a voice of its own. In the last two decades, the guitar has grown in number of performers, recordings, videos, concerts, contest and festivals. Thanks to EuroStrings and its creators who work for a more united guitar.

Léo Brouwer
1 March 2021

PART III
Interviews

LOOKING BACK AND THE FUTURE

An Interview with Ružica Gelo Ciglenečki

The EuroStrings project is a huge project, requiring great imagination and many hours of work. As you had already been organising the Zagreb Guitar Festival, perhaps that made it easier?

Ružica Gelo Ciglenečki: Zagreb Guitar Festival is a relatively young festival that only existed for three years when we developed the idea for EuroStrings platform and applied for the Creative Europe call. But, Zagreb Guitar Festival is just one of the projects organised by the Music School Bonar, which is also the initiator of EuroStrings. Music School Bonar was established more than 20 years ago, and during that
time, we have had various big projects, therefore the organisation of the festival was not so difficult for us. EuroStrings is a demanding and large project but when the platform members gather together, we make a great team, sharing a collegiate spirit, so then working on this project is not only a job, but it also brings pleasure.

Before you began the EuroStrings project, were European guitar festivals collaborating with each other?

As far as I know, there were several regional collaborations and connections between festivals, which is very important for the survival of such events. Ours is a classical guitar field in which the enthusiasts who lead it often encounter the problem of financing concerts and other accompanying expenses. Therefore, collaboration is one of the most important ways through which we can, much easier and louder, send the message and fight for all of us.

The most important people here are the young guitarists and the support that EuroStrings offers. So you can be happy with the success you have achieved over the past three years. Is it much greater than you imagined it would become?

Yes, the most important part of this project is the young EuroStrings Artists. The
measure of EuroStrings is not only in how much this platform has been heard or in
the number of EuroStrings Artists who have gone through it, but also in what we have
given them. EuroStrings offers young artists the opportunity of networking,
connecting, playing concerts, of educating them both as artists and guitarists, but
nowadays that is not enough for them. A well-known Croatian poet and songwriter,
Arsen Dedić, stated that: ‘young people should be held back, and old people should be
encouraged’. In Croatia, this saying is often jokingly mentioned whenever a young
artist gets encouraged because we are all aware of how absolutely important this
encouragement is in their development. For this reason, here in EuroStrings, we try to
teach young people that alongside perseverance, hard work and effort, they must also
cultivate professionalism, modesty, respect and relationships with the people they
work with, and I think all the artistic directors of our platform insist on that.

Do you feel that you have created a change in attitude among the platform members?

I didn’t think about it in that way because we are just doing what we believe in. It took time for EuroStrings name to be heard but, in the last few months, as we have started to expand, I can see the changes have started to happen. Now, big guitar names that previously we could only have dreamed of collaborating with are reaching out to us for collaboration. This means that we have been heard, and that we have expanded on our original idea. Over these past three years, a New Year’s greeting from the EuroStrings Artist Mateusz Kowalski has cheered me up the most. In it, he thanked us and said that we changed his life! My reply to him was that now he should also try to change the lives of young guitarists through his work and influence, because this is the message that is spreading. I sincerely believe in this project and I have no fear for the future of my own children, because that linking of support and kindness will reach them as well.

Ruzica-min

Each year you have added new aspects to the EuroStrings platform, and now there is
an even greater expansion to include non-European countries as Associate and
Affiliate festivals.

In fact, since the first year, the EuroStrings winner has been performing in the USA
and China and thus spreading the European culture beyond Europe. This is not
something new, as these opportunities have existed since the beginning of the
platform, but what is new is the addition of Associate Partners. The idea behind
Associate Partners is to connect as many festivals as possible within the EuroStrings
project. After all, the goal of European platforms is expansion and sustainability. We
are just at the beginning of our journey, and we believe that we are going to keep
moving forward.

An Interview with Antonio Rumenović

Coordinator of the EuroStrings Guitar Competition and Coordinator of the EuroStrings
Composition Contest
Speaking with Thérèse Wassily Saba and Tom Kerstens

Antonio Rumenović is also the main guitar teacher at the Bonar Music School (Glazbena škola Bonar) in Zagreb, which has a large number of guitar students.

Antonio Rumenović: I have been working as a guitar teacher since 2005. After I graduated from Music Academy, then I started to teach in one school, and then five years ago, I was invited to teach at the Bonar Music School in Zagreb. Along with piano, in Croatia, the most popular instrument is the guitar. In the Bonar Music School, we have five or six teachers and they all have full classes of students, with nine
students in each class, which means more or less 60 guitarists. In Croatia, many children and young people play the guitar; according to government sources, the numbers are very high indeed. As a
result, there are many competitions in a variety of age groups. I have often been invited to be a jury member over the years, which is how I have built my knowledge and experience. I saw
that there are many approaches to organising competitions and how rules are formulated and implemented. When I was invited by the Zagreb Guitar Festival to help them create the rules and guidelines for the Zagreb Festival Guitar competition, I had a good idea of what to do. I imagine what I did worked well because later I was also invited to be the Coordinator of the EuroStrings Guitar Competition.

As the Coordinator of the EuroStrings Competition, Antonio Rumenović also developed a digital application for use by juries in competitions, which also has a very efficient scoring system.

We created an application which is called Music Score because we wanted to make the processes involved in a competition much more simple and to produce the jury results much faster and, mostly
importantly, we wanted to make everything in that process transparent. For EuroStrings, I created rules and systems that are result of the knowledge that I gained from being on the jury of many different competitions, and I developed it into an application that I am satisfied with. We wanted to create something that reflects the time that we live in by using the advanced technology that we have at our disposal in 2021. The Music Score application for scoring a competition is very simple and very easy to use. It has various options to choose from, depending on how you would like to score participants in the
competition: you can score from 0–25 or 0–100, or vote who is the winner and the application will do the counting. The setting up of the system was more or less my idea but of course, developers were
brought in to put my ideas into practice. It was a big job as the process of creating this application was complex in order to make it work in a simple way. We did test it in several competitions, using the demo version. Everything ran perfectly, however, with experience you always have little ideas on how things could be made even better and to run more smoothly, so that is what we are doing at the moment. We still have some little things that we want to improve but I am an optimist by nature, so I believe that the
application will be finalised within a matter of months. In general, I would say the application is innovative and is a perfect system for use in competitions.

The application was made by the Zagreb Guitar Festival and we are using it for the EuroStrings Competition but, in the future, we believe that the application will be useful for many festivals, that also might want to simplify the competition process. The application requires a lot of preparation before the competition because you can uploadall of the participants’ programmes and copies of the scores, pictures and biographies of the competitors, and all the necessary information for the jury, but once the
competition starts, everything is set up there in the application and ready. There is a place where every jury member can add some remarks as well as the scores. Once you input your scores, the application adds it all up quickly, so you have the final scores immediately after the moderator closes the competition. It can immediately be printed out. It makes things so much simpler. In many competitions where I was on the jury, we had to wait for a few hours for the results, which is particularly difficult in a competition for young players, with impatient children and their parents waiting for the results.
We have 17 platform members in EuroStrings and I believe they should all keep the autonomy of their judging system, including their scoring systems and choice of jury members. They are all doing excellent work. I always believe that there is room for improvement but my opinion is that they should continue working as they do now and then take the initiative to change things when they feel the need. At the same time, I do think that our Music Score application will have a use in the future throughout the world.

You are giving the EuroStrings Artists the opportunity to perform in very prestigious venues, and although EuroStrings is Europe-based, you are reaching out and making connections for the EuroStrings Artists beyond Europe, to America and the Far East, giving you a global outreach.

That is something that we are very proud of and I can tell you that all of the EuroStrings Artists have had success after being a part of the programme: one went on to get a teaching post at an American university, another won the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, so they are presenting their work in many different countries and at many festivals and building connections throughout Europe. There are so many positive results from the EuroStrings project for young performers, we can conclude that it is working!

Rumenović-min

The EuroStrings Guitar Competition is only for the laureates of the EuroStrings platform festival – top young performers and with a broad range of musical personalities – so judging is not an easy task.

Yes, I must agree, with all due respect to all other international competitions, and I do respect everybody else’s work, but when you have 17 selected guitarists who are the winners of other international guitar competitions, then it is a really difficult job for the jury to decide who is the best because for each of them, they all perform very well and at a high level. It becomes a matter of personal preferences and how they performed on the day but these are really fine details. It is a big task but we have had three editions of
the EuroStrings Guitar Competition up until now, and I can say that we are extremely satisfied with the progress that we have made and with how the EuroStrings Guitar Competition has been going over the last three years.

Two years ago, the EuroStrings project also established the EuroStrings Composition Contest, which is also coordinated by Antonio Rumenović.

Over the past two years, we have had two winners EuroStrings Composition Contest, who each presented compositions of a very high standard – their compositions would fit well into the normal concert programme of a professional performer. In the first year, we had a very healthy number of participants; in the second year, we needed to make some changes because received some guidelines from Brussels and put an age limit on participants. Now, the participants must be not more than 35 years old but we still received a good number of applicants. We are satisfied with the development of the EuroStrings Composition Contest and the connection that it makes with the EuroStrings Artists: it is the set piece for the EuroStrings Guitar Competition and in addition, the winner will perform the winning piece throughout the world, in the United States, Europe and Asia. This is great exposure for the young composer and for EuroStrings in general. Another aspect of winning the EuroStrings Composition Contest is that the winning composer is invited to be on the jury of the next Composition Contest. This is also a great learning opportunity for them as a composer, to be on a judging panel with internationally renowned composers such as Sérgio Assad and Stephen Goss. Of course, being on the jury for the EuroStrings Composition Contest is a huge job, not only do they have to assess the composition but also its playability on the guitar. This is an honour for the winning composer and also shows an appreciation of their status as a composer.

You are giving the EuroStrings Artists the opportunity to perform in very prestigious venues, and although EuroStrings is Europe-based, you are reaching out and making connections for the EuroStrings Artists beyond Europe, to America and the Far East, giving you a global outreach.

That is something that we are very proud of and I can tell you that all of the EuroStrings Artists have had success after being a part of the programme: one went on to get a teaching post at an American university, another won the Guitar Foundation of America International Competition, so they are presenting their work in many different countries and at many festivals and building connections throughout Europe. There are so many positive results from the EuroStrings project for young performers, we can conclude that it is working!

An Interview with Mak Grgić

EuroStrings Artists Coordinator
Speaking with Thérèse Wassily Saba and Tom Kerstens

In your important role as EuroStrings Artists Coordinator, could you describe what it is
like to work with so many brilliant young guitarists?

Mak Grgić: The role is a rewarding but challenging one. Not only do we see how much
young talent is around in the world of classical guitar, but we are also witness to an
exponential growth of that pool of young players. For EuroStrings, this is a blessing
because each EuroStrings Artist we have worked with has brought so much to the
table, but this has also meant that our responsibility is growing. All of this talent
deserves to be heard, and I hope that we, as a platform, have been helpful in that
regard, and we will continue to do this as much as we can. Personally, I am
continuously inspired by the quality and dedication that our EuroStrings Artists exhibit
on both a personal and professional level.

Are there other aspects of this work that you find most rewarding?

With absolute certainty, the most rewarding part would be my very own education. It is said that we learn best from others who are great at what they do, and that is absolutely true. I have cherished every single friendship made with our EuroStrings Artists during the past four years and I have been privileged to have experienced a good deal of self-evaluation as well as learning a lot, while working with these young talented musicians; I would like to stress how thankful I am for this opportunity to work with our
EuroStrings Artists.

Of course, there must also be challenges?

The challenges are the other side of the coin to the rewards. Having so much diversity in talent, personalities, goals, aspirations, it is hard to be equally beneficial to each of the EuroStrings Artist, despite our aim to offering equal resources and support to all of them. I have been counting our blessings as we wrap up each year having achieved a sense of community with a positive attitude among our EuroStrings Artists because, in the long run, that is so important for all of us. The EuroStrings Platform members all have individual approaches, some of us are also performing musicians, but it is our community that supports us and provides us with attention. The main challenge is to acknowledge this and work towards maintaining that sense of a community.

Do you think there has been a change in the level of performance in recent years?

Absolutely so! Each year brings a higher and more dedicated level of playing. It has to do with the ever-evolving superb pedagogy that is becoming easier to access and also the hunger from all the young
players to be heard and resulting in their finding new ways of making themselves present on the international music scene. You were a very successful artist in your youth. Do you wish that EuroStrings had been around at that time? In what ways would it have made a difference? EuroStrings as a community has always been my dream. I would have loved to be able to forge long-lasting friendships with my peers instead of feeling the eagerness to be competitive. I know now that having those friendships would have benefitted me more, both musically and personally. Music is, in the end, a form of expression that we make together, be it on a high professional level or simply an amateur one. When we recognise that, it is easier to be happy about it. For me, ultimately, EuroStrings represents this potential and ideal. What impact do you think EuroStrings will make on the careers and lives of these young players? It is my hope that we have played and are still playing a role, however small, in a positive
unfolding of their development. Careers and lives can develop in so many ways, but if even just a handful of EuroStrings Artists will remember their experiences with a smile on their face, I will see this as an impact well achieved. The performing opportunities, educational opportunities, networking opportunities and ultimately the camaraderie are values that EuroStrings stands for to provide something positive for the EuroStrings Artists. I am hopeful we will continue doing this for years to come.

mak-min

AFTERWORD: COVID-19 IN 2020 AND BEYOND

The year 2020 and early 2021 have been very different times for everyone and
difficult ones for many. The Covid-19 pandemic, which began at the start of 2020,
changed all the plans that had been made for that year, which was also to be an
important one for the classical music world as we looked forward to celebrated the
250th anniversary of the birth of Beethoven in December 1770. For guitarists, the
loss of Julian Bream on 14 August 2020 was particularly sad, for he remains a great
inspiration for young guitarists, both as a performer and for the commissioning and
premièring of repertoire.

 

Despite the challenges that the Covid-19 lockdown has brought, most of
the EuroStrings platform festivals managed to feature some of their
planned events, online if not live, and each was able to hold its guitar
competition, so that new EuroStrings Artists for 2020/2021 could be
selected. The support and information sharing of EuroStrings platform
members was a vital part of their success.
Many EuroStrings platform festivals were pleased with the extension
of their audiences through their online activities and plan to maintain
these global connections for the future, even when the pandemic
restrictions have been lifted. Despite the steep learning curve
required to adapt to using new technology and produce quality
results, most festivals reported with pride that the increased efforts
were all rewarding.
In 2021, we will see a gradual return to normal and be able to move
from online concerts back to live events. However, some of the best
new practices, which have been developed during the lockdown,
could also be continued and hopefully will keep evolving.

EuroStrings Competition 2019©TW Saba431bbb-min

EuroStrings Contacts
Executive Director:
Ružica Gelo Ciglenečki
EuroStrings Artists Coordinator:
Mak Grgić
info@eurostrings.eu
Competition Coordinator:
Antonio Rumenović
Finance Director:
Ivan Barnjak
finance@eurostrings.eu
Communications Manager:
Dunja Stanković
communication@eurostrings.eu
International PR:
Larisa Lieberman / Tom Kerstens
internationalpr@eurostrings.eu
Design:
Jurana Puljić Jacmenović / Oliver McGhie

eurostrings.eu

Text written, compiled and edited by
Thérèse Wassily Saba and Tom Kerstens
Design by Colour Blind Design
EuroStrings logo and branding by
Jurana Puljić Jacmenović