October 5, 2005—When the world’s leading guitarists gather at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music from October 21st through the 26th, for the Guitar Foundation of America’s International Convention, they will perform the broadest range of classical guitar music imaginable. At the centerpiece of the convention is the 23rd Annual International Solo Guitar Competition, the largest and most prestigious such contest in America. Since its inception in 1982, the convention has been held in Ohio just one other time; several Oberlin alumni are registered for the competition.

This year also marks the first Youth Guitarist Solo Competition. The contest, which will be held October 22 and 23, is open to musicians who have not reached their 16th birthday by the time of the competition and who are not represented by professional management.

“This is the biggest guitar event in the Western Hemisphere, and it occurs only once a year,” says Oberlin’s Teacher of Classical Guitar Stephen Aron, who is serving as director of this year’s convention. “Bringing together a concentration of the greatest artists from all over the world at one time is a very rare opportunity. The concerts will offer listeners a snapshot of the best in guitar artistry — from senior, established players to the brightest young stars.”

Afternoon and evening concerts featuring distinguished musicians from around the globe will be held in Warner Concert Hall on the Oberlin campus. The evening concert series begins Friday, October 21, with Cuban guitar superstar Manuel Barrueco and ends on Wednesday, October 26, with the four finalists in the International Solo Competition. All evening concerts will be held at 8 p.m., and tickets range from $6 to $15. Late afternoon concerts will be held at 4 p.m., with tickets priced between $6 and $10. Early afternoon concerts will be held at 1 p.m., with tickets priced between $4 and $8. A vendor fair will be held in the Conservatory’s orchestra rehearsal room.

“I feel like the host of the biggest party in the music industry,” says Aron. “It’s a great joy to be able to offer this incredible event for the sake of my students and the entire Oberlin community. Thanks to the concert series, they’ll have the opportunity to hear the most astonishing guitarists — from Colombian virtuoso Ricardo Cobo to Ohio-born Dominic Frasca, who writes his own music and invented new ways of playing the guitar.”

Many winners from the International Solo Guitar Competition have gone on to enjoy major performing careers, including several who will perform at Oberlin, among them Ricardo Cobo, Antigoni Goni, and Lorenzo Micheli. The event typically draws 60 contestants and is conducted in three stages, including a qualifying round before a panel of judges and semi-final and final rounds, during which competitors perform before both a panel of judges and the public. The first-prize winner will receive $5,000, an extensive United States tour, and CD and DVD recording contracts. The second prize award is $2,000, third is $1,000, and fourth is $500.

Judges for the qualifying round of the adult solo competition will include John McClellan, Carlos Molina, Jonathan Kulp, Nathan Fischer, and Richard Greene. Joseph Mays, Frank Koonce, Enric Madriguera, Jeffrey McFadden, Andrew Zohn, Angelo Favis, and Richard Provost will judge the semifinal and final rounds.
In addition to the GFA and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, sponsors of this year’s convention include Mel-Bay Publications, Savarez, the D’Addario Foundation for the Performing Arts, the Eva and George Jordan Memorial Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation, and Guitars International.

Founded in 1973, the GFA offers its members the combined advantages of a guitar society, library, publisher, continuing educational resource, and an arts council. Today the GFA is the largest multinational guitar organization in the world, providing serious guitarists worldwide a full range of educational, literary, and performance resources and opportunities.

For general convention information, visit the official convention web site. For concert tickets, call Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169. Discounts are available to purchasers of series packages; ask the box office for more information.

The Oberlin Conservatory of Music, founded in 1865 and situated within the intellectual vitality of Oberlin College since 1867, is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States. Renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber and pronounced a “national treasure” by the Washington Post, Oberlin’s alumni have gone on to achieve illustrious careers in all aspects of the serious music world.

GUITAR FOUNDATION OF AMERICA AT OBERLIN: EVENING CONCERT SERIES

All concerts will be held at 8 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall on the Oberlin campus.Tickets range from $6 to $15 and are available by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169.

Friday, October 21
Manuel Barrueco

In a rare Ohio solo-performance, this world-renowned Cuban guitar superstar will play works by Scarlatti, Granados, Chick Corea, Piazzolla and others.

Saturday, October 22
Ricardo Cobo

Colombia-born Ricardo Cobo is recognized as one the world's supreme virtuosi of the new classic guitar generation. He is the first Hispanic to win consecutive prizes at the GFA’s International competition. He will play a program dedicated to the music of Latin America.

Sunday, October 23
David Tanenbaum

America’s leading classical guitarist will play Baroque music and works by Riley, Harrison and Kernis, assisted by Cleveland’s Kashii String Quartet.

Monday, October 24
Paul Galbraith

This Grammy-nominated Scottish virtuoso will perform works by Bach, Ravel and Santorsola, assisted by the St. Petersburg String Quartet.

Tuesday, October 25
Raphaella Smits

Called the Belgian “Grande Dame” of the guitar, Smits plays 19th century Romantic works of Mertz and Schubert, as well as contemporary works of Hendrix and Assad.

Wednesday, October 26
International Solo Competition Finals

The best four of this year’s competitors will vie for first prize in the Western Hemisphere’s most important guitar competition.

GUITAR FOUNDATION OF AMERICA AT OBERLIN: LATE AFTERNOON CONCERT SERIES

All concerts will be held at 4 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall on the Oberlin campus.Tickets range from $6 to $10 and are available by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service at 440-775-8169.

Saturday, October 22
Stanley Yates

This British virtuoso will play rarely heard works for Russian seven-string guitar.

Sunday, October 23
Chvatal-Kritzer Duo

Combining voice and guitar, this internationally acclaimed duo will perform art songs, folk songs, and arias.

Monday, October 24
Antigoni Goni

This Greek guitar icon will play a modern program featuring works by Takemitsu, Brouwer, Bogdanovic, and Hadjidakis.

Tuesday, October 25
Lorenzo Micheli

Italy’s premiere concert guitarist plays a varied program, including works by Sor, Britten, Barrios, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Wednesday, October 26
Dominic Frasca

Dubbed “Guitar Hero 2005” by Guitar Player magazine, this New York-based iconoclast plays his own incomparable works for amplified, prepared guitar.

GUITAR FOUNDATION OF AMERICA AT OBERLIN: EARLY AFTERNOON SERIES

All concerts will be held at 1 p.m. in Warner Concert Hall on the Oberlin campus. Tickets range from $4 to $8 and are available by calling Oberlin’s Central Ticket Service
at 440-775-8169.

Saturday, October 22
Goran Kripokavic and Duo Spiritoso

Yugoslavian guitarist Kripokavic, winner of 14 major international competitions, and Duo Spiritoso, featuring American guitarist Andrew Zohn and Canadian guitarist Jeffrey McFadden, will present mixed programs.

Sunday, October 23
Youth Competition Finals and Marronprater dance and music co.

The GFA will present the three finalists in its first competition for young guitarists, and Northeast Ohio’s premiere music/dance duo will perform their most famous original works.

Monday, October 24
Duo46 and Randall Avers

A Turkey-based violin/guitar duo will play new chamber works, and Avers, an Ohio native and Oberlin Conservatory graduate now residing in Norway, will play major mainstream solo works.

Tuesday, October 25
Niibori Ensemble

In a rare United States appearance, Japan’s premiere conducted guitar orchestra, which has performed more than 4,000 concerts worldwide, will offer a unique listening experience for Northeast Ohio residents.

Wednesday, October 26
Robert Barto and the Hanser-McClellan Duo

The world’s leading Baroque lutanist, an American-born resident of Germany, Barto will play works of Weiss and others; the American guitar duo will play new American and Latin American works for two guitars.

BRIEF BIOGRAPHIES OF KEY PERFORMERS

Randall Avers
When Avers placed second in the GFA’s International Solo Guitar Competition at the age of 17, he was the youngest finalist in the competition’s history. Since then, he has won several additional awards in international competitions. A 1996 graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, he has appeared at music festivals and on concert series throughout North America and Europe, and has toured North Africa and Egypt as an Artistic Ambassador for the U.S. Information Service. He currently resides in Oslo, Norway.

Manuel Barrueco
Recognized internationally as a leading figure in today’s guitar world, Barrueco is described as a superb instrumentalist and an elegant musician. His international tours take him to some of the most important musical centers in the world each season, and television stations in Japan, Germany, Spain, and the United States have broadcast his performances. The San Francisco Chronicle called his most recent recording “an extraordinary musical achievement.”

Chvatal-Kritzer Duo
Since their successful Kennedy Center debut in 1996, Janet Chvatal and Scott Kritzer have captured the hearts of song lovers across two continents while touring the United States and playing for audiences of more than 8,000 at two European venues. Acclaimed by the New York Times for his Carnegie Hall debut, Kritzer has since performed extensively throughout the U.S. on both classical and electric guitars. Meanwhile, Chvatal has had success as a soloist in major opera houses worldwide.

Ricardo Cobo
With an unprecedented array of gold medals from major international competitions, Colombia-born Ricardo Cobo is recognized as one the world’s supreme virtuosi of the new classic guitar generation. He gave his professional debut with the Orquesta Filarmonica de Bogota at age 16 for a nationwide telecast audience of more than nine million viewers. As a college student he gave his astonishing debut to American audiences as the first Hispanic to win consecutive prizes at the Guitar Foundation of America International competition. His busy touring schedule has taken him from New York’s Carnegie Hall to Korea’s Ho Ham Hall. Cobo’s award-winning solo recordings of classical and children’s music reflect his versatility.

Duo46
Since 1994, the American duo of guitarist Matt Gould and violinist Beth Ilana Schneider has established itself as an important advocate of contemporary art music with more than 70 commissioned and dedicated works, two critically acclaimed recordings, numerous premiere performances on three continents, and appearances at international music festivals and venues of international importance, such as the Styria Chamber Music Festival in Austria and the Kennedy Center.

Duo Spiritoso
The international guitar duo of Jeffrey McFadden and Andrew Zohn features an engaging blend of sound and a true driving energy. Both artists have established careers as soloists. While McFadden has performed extensively across North America and Europe and is frequently heard on CBC radio in Canada and NPR in the U.S., Zohn is both an acclaimed performer and composer who has won prizes in five international competitions, including the GFA competition.

Dominic Frasca
Referred to as “Eddie Van Halen for eggheads” (Entertainment Weekly) and as “a guitarist of original and rare genius” by GFA Soundboard, Frasca attended Yale University and studied with Stephen Aron, teacher of classical guitar at Oberlin. He recently won first prize at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame contest that included 3,000 entrants. “Dominic has invented remarkable new ways of playing the guitar. A true iconoclast, he breaks all the rules,” says Aron.

Paul Galbraith
Considered groundbreaking, Galbraith’s unique playing style and the extraordinary design of his guitar increase his instrument’s range to an unprecedented degree. One of his recordings was nominated for a 1998 Grammy and another reached the Top 10 on Billboard’s classical charts. A native of Scotland, his international career includes engagements with the world’s finest orchestras and music festivals. He has been featured twice on NPR’s All Things Considered and many times on Performance Today.

Antigoni Goni
A first-prize winner of several prestigious international guitar competitions, Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni has performed extensively in Europe, Russia, Canada, the Far East, and the U.S. and has participated in guitar festivals throughout the world. An enthusiastic supporter and interpreter of contemporary music, she currently heads the Guitar Department of the Juilliard Pre-College Division and serves as an associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

The Hanser-McClellan Guitar Duo
John McClellan and Kirk Hanser began performing together while co-directing the 1996 GFA conference in St. Louis. McClellan, a professor of guitar at Webster University, authored the fastest-selling book in the history of Mel Bay Publications, and performed with Luciano Pavarotti during his last world tour. Hanser is director of the St. Louis branch of the Childbloom Guitar Program, has received numerous teaching awards, and has performed as a soloist throughout the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

Goran Kripokavic
A first-prize winner in several international guitar competitions, Yugoslavian native Kripokavic has performed as a soloist with the Slovak Chamber, the Montenegro Symphony, the Montenegro Chamber and Chilean Symphony orchestras, and the Belgrade and Turin philharmonics. He has given solo recitals and master classes at guitar and music festivals, and has been the subject of several television and radio documentaries.

Marronprater dance and music co.
A collaborative union between choreographer Bethany Prater; composer-guitarist James Marron, and a company of dancers and musicians, this dynamic group “redefines the boundaries between music and dance” (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland). In addition to performing throughout Ohio, the group has participated in music festivals in four other states, as well as at the Chimera Project in Toronto. According to The Cleveland Free Times, “they will blow you out of your socks.”

Lorenzo Micheli
Hailed by music critics as a “virtuoso extraordinaire” (Nice Matin, France), a “prodigious talent” (Soundboard, USA), and “the prince of the guitar” (Suonare, Italy), Micheli is one of the most important and active Italian guitarists in the world. Since winning first place in some of the most important international guitar competitions, he has taken up a busy concert career throughout the world. He also teaches master classes at universities and music festivals throughout North America and Europe.

David Tanenbaum
Ranking among the most highly esteemed guitarists of his generation, Tanenbaum is recognized as one of the most eloquent proponents of contemporary works for guitar, has soloed with orchestras around the world, and has been featured at many leading international festivals. He can be heard on some 30 recordings, one of which was nominated for a 2002 Grammy. He currently chairs the guitar department at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.