The 2011 GFA International Concert Artist Competition winner Vladimir Gorbach is on the latest edition of the new guitar podcast, All Strings Considered hosted by guitarist Scott Wolf. Gorbach discusses how he prepared for the competition, his tour repertoire, and his philosophy on competitions in general.

For more information about the podcast, check out this page.

Hamilton International Guitar Festival 2012

by Heather Morand Clark

The second annual Hamilton International Guitar Festival took place in Hamilton Ontario from July 13 to 15, 2012. In only its second year of existence in this industrial city on the shore of Lake Ontario, the Hamilton Festival boasted registrations more than double the number from the previous year. Students ranged in age from teens to seniors, and came from the local area, as well as further away: Ottawa, New Brunswick, Rochester and Cleveland. Director Emma Rush was pleased with attendance at the concerts also, having brought in performers Jorge Caballero, Shawn Pickup, Isaac Bustos, Gohar Vardanyan, Kevin Manderville, and the Laura Young/Frances Pappas duo that call themselves Lagrimosa Belta. 

Jorge Caballero kicked things off with his concert at the MacNab Street Presbyterian Church, a different venue being tried out this year. Last year’s venue, the Hamilton Conservatory, was still the scene of all lessons, lectures, the vendor fair, and the afternoon concerts.

Jorge Caballero’s concert began with a Bach Partita, and continued with five pieces by Isaac Albeniz. After the intermission, only one more piece, but what a long one! Jorge is becoming well known for his performance this past year or so of Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition arranged by Kazuhito Yamashita. Yamashita has not performed this in many years, and no other guitarist has attempted it either, until Jorge took it on. This amazing piece of music is a personal favourite, in both orchestral and piano versions, and now too on guitar. Jorge’s phenomenal technique is breathtaking to watch. Listening to the orchestral version again afterwards, with its loud brass and loads of percussion, after having heard it on guitar, one wonders how it is that Jorge was able to convey everything from the original composition without the feeling that there was anything missing! A masterful arrangement and stunning performance!

Halifax guitarist Shawn Pickup, who lived and studied in Germany for a number of years, was featured in the Saturday afternoon concert. He performed music by Nuccio D’Angelo, Franz Schubert, Joaquin Turina, and Alberto Ginastera. The Ginastera Sonata for guitar ends with an energetic finale that pushes both instrument and player to the limit. The percussive nature of it is such that it is amazing that the guitar survives!

Saturday evening’s concert was a double feature, with Isaac Bustos performing in the first half, followed by Gohar Vardanyan of Armenia. Isaac’s programme included selections by Albeniz, two Sonatas by Scarlatti, Rodrigo and Giuliani. Gohar joked that she would not be playing the same selections as Isaac, despite the printing error in the programme stating that she would! She played Introducción y Rondo, Op. 2, No. 2 by Dionisio Aguado, Un Sueño en la Floresta by Barrios, two Spanish pieces by Sainz de la Maza and Albéniz, Invocación y Danza by Joaquín Rodrigo, and Fantasie Hongroise by Mertz.

The next concert, Sunday afternoon, with Kevin Manderville, was the scene of a bit of comedy, as after the first piece, Leo Brouwer’s Canticum, there was a prolonged standing ovation. Kevin joined in the humour, leaving the stage and coming back a couple of times, feigning surprise at such adulation! He eventually continued with Suite in A minor by MM Ponce, Dos piezas Afro-Antillanas, and the Suite del Recuerdos by Jose Luis Merlin.

The final concert of this year’s festival was by the duo of Frances Pappas(voice) and Laura Young(guitar). This wonderful combination was making a return appearance in Hamilton, having performed for the Society in its first year of existence. The appreciative audience was treated to a variety of music by Bach, Kellner and Dowland of the 16^th and 17^th centuries, through to such contemporary composers as Carlo Domeniconi and Stefan Hakenberg.

Next year's festival, already in the planning stages, will feature, among others, David Leisner, a return appearance by Johannes Moller, along with his wife and duo partner Laura Fraticelli and others, to be determined. The festival next year will also include a competition for the first time. Two preliminary rounds will take place on Friday the 12th and Saturday the 13th, and the finals will be a public concert on the evening of Sunday July 14th. (Festival dates are July 12-14). More information will be available soon on the Guitar Hamilton web site, www.guitarhamilton.com or by email addressed to Emma Rush at info@guitarhamilton.com .

By Thomas Heck

Alessandria, Italy.

The 2012 edition of the Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra "M. Pittaluga,” held in Alessandria, Italy, the week of September 24-29, 2012, attracted 27 competitors from the four corners of the world. Eight were selected for the semifinal round.

The jury discerned three finalists from among the semifinalists: Pavel Kukhta (Byelorussia), Lazar Cherouana (France), and Ekachai Jearakul (Thailand). These three played in the final (ensemble) phase of the competition on Saturday night in the Cathedral of Alessandria. Each was accompanied by the Perosi Ensemble, a string quartet of high repute and wide recognition, having deep roots in the region of Alessandria. The first and third finalists performed the Quintet for Guitar and Strings by Leo Brouwer, while Mr Cherouana elected to perform the Fourth Quintet of Boccherini (G. 488).

The jury awarded First Prize to Lazhar Cherouana (France). At just 23 years of age, he became the second French winner of the prestigious Pittaluga Competition (after Gaelle Chiche, in 1998). Lazhar lives in Salzburg presently, where he is completing his musical studies at the Mozarteum.

On the evening following his victory, Mr. Cherouana was hosted in the nearby town of Tortona by its "Friends of Music Society” for an intimate winner’s concert. There was standing room only in the salon where it was held, and his reception was more than enthusiastic -- clamorous.

The Second Prize went to a young Thai, Ekachai Jearakul, widely acclaimed in his homeland as an emerging talent. A gifted Byelorussian competitor, Pavel Kukhta, took Third Prize.

This year’s international jury was comprised of Frédéric Zigante of Italy (President), the Norwegian Stein-Erik Olsen, the Venezuelan Alfonso Montes, the Frenchman Bernard Maillot, the American Thomas Heck, and the Italians Paolo Ferrara and Micaela Pittaluga.

The Composition Prizes were discerned during the evening of the Finale by a kind of referendum: a unique system of public audition of the three scores selected earlier by a jury for the final round. The public’s voting was based entirely on the scores as heard, synthesized from the scores, with no human interpretation involved.

"Path of History,” by the Venezuelan Luis Fernando Ochoa Graterol, was voted to be the winner of the 10^th "M. Pittaluga” International Composition Competition, while the Polish composer Janko Raseta’s score, "Little Chant,” won the second or "Public Prize.” The Third Prize winner was the composition "Macumba,” by Angel Gutierrez Faxas, of Cuba.

The evening’s proceedings were recorded and have been posted online, where they can be viewed through the Competition’s Web site, www.pittaluga.org.

This major cultural event was made possible by the following sponsors: The Italian Ministry of Culture, the Piedmont Region, the Province and Municipality of Alessandria, the "Consiglio Regional,” the "CRAL and CRT” Foundations along with the Rotary Club of Alessandria, the Soroptimist Clubs of Alessandria and of Acqui, the "Inner Wheel” of Alessandria, the D’Addario Foundation, Savarez Strings of Lyon, Paglieri Perfumes, the Beldent Group, Guala Closures, Metlac s.p.a., Restiani s.p.a., the "Collegio Costruttori,” various Hotels and families who hosted the competitors, and the many friends who support and promote the Competition.