Texas Music Festival: 'Classical Minds' Guitar Competition
Moores School of Music, University of Houston
Houston, TX
June 15-17, 2012

Classical Minds Finalists (with teachers):

Junior (9-13): Freyja Coe ($100 1st Prize - Valerie Hartzell, Houston, TX), Aaron Chen ($75 2nd Prize - Wan-Darr Tan, Plano, TX), Praxides Cornejo ($50 3rd Prize - Kay Meek, Alvin, TX), Anh-Viet Nguyen ($25 4th Prize - Isaac Bustos, Cypress, TX)
Junior Division Finalists each received a $25 Gift Certificate from Strings by Mail.

1st, 2nd, & 3rd Prize Finalists received a Gift Bag from Savarez

High School: Audra Vigil ($500 1st Prize - Lynn McGrath, Albuquerque, NM), Vijay Meunier ($300 2nd Prize AND Winner of the Navarro Guitar donated by Memorial Music - Joseph Williams, Austin, TX), Adam Blailock ($200 3rd Prize - Isaac Bustos, Cypress, TX), Sergio Hernandez ($80 4th Prize - Jonathan Dotson, Brownsville, TX)

1st, 2nd, & 3rd Place Prizewinners received a Gift Bag from The Texas Guitar Company

Undergrad (18-28): Ian Tuski ($600 1st Prize AND the winner of the Aquiles Torres Guitar donated by Torres - Rene Izquierdo, University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Kyle Comer ($300 2nd Prize - Adam Holzman at University of Texas, Austin, TX), Jordan Taylor ($200 3rd Prize - Andrew Zohn at Schwob School of Music in Columbus, Georgia & Valerie Hartzell in hometown of Houston, TX), Noe Garcia ($100 4th Prize - Michael Quantz & Jonathan Dotson at University of Texas in Brownsville)
1st, 2nd, and 3rd Prize Finalists received a Gift Bag from Savarez

Sponsors of the competition included Savarez, The Texas Guitar Company, Strings by Mail, Dr. Rebecca Luethcke, Jim & Nadene Crain, Bruce Wright, Baker Hughes, and the Greater Houston Guitar Guild.

In July, 2012 in Charleston, South Carolina, the renowned American classical guitarist Christopher Parkening was inducted into the Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) ]Hall of Fame and given the Artistic Achievement Award. This prestigious award is given to "performers who have made monumental contributions to the development of the art and
life of the classical guitar."

Mr Parkening also used this occasion to make this notable announcement: "As I am gathered with you to celebrate the classical guitar, I have chosen this time and place to share with you what for me is a rather difficult announcement. After nearly five decades as a concert guitarist, the time has come for me to step away from the concert stage.

"Some of you know that for these past few years I have had some physical issues resulting in numerous back surgeries. At this point in my life, I would like to focus more on my family and on my commitment to teaching my students at Pepperdine University and in master classes throughout the country, sharing my insights and experiences- both musical
and personal- as I mentor young artists.

"I am grateful to all of those who have had important roles in my life and career. Through the years I have tried to play my guitar for the purpose as defined by J. S. Bach who
said, 'Soli Deo Gloria,' 'To God alone the glory.'"

Milos Karadaglic is on the cover of the June 2012 edition of Grammophone Magazine, which is being called the "Guitar Issue." The last guitarist to be on the cover of this magazine, considered the to be one of the leading publications for classical music worldwide, was Julian Bream in 1983.

See an article about Milos here: http://www.gramophone.co.uk/blog/the-gramophone-blog/milo%C5%A1-new-champion-of-the-classical-guitar and view the cover photo here.

The 3rd University of Louisville guitar festival and competition was held from May 24-28 at the UofL School of Music in Louisville, Kentucky.

The 2012 UofL festival was a preview of the 40th GFA Convention which will be held at the UofL school of music in Louisville, KY next year from June 25-30, 2013. The UofL festival will resume its annual schedule the follow year from May 22-26, 2014. We hope to see everyone in 2013 for the GFA Convention!

The 2012 UofL guitar competition winners are:

Youth division 1 (14 & under)
1. Hannah Wade
2. Mallory Richards

Youth division 2 (15-17)
1. Joseph Douglas
2. Victoria Medley
3. Devin Brown

Solo artist division (all ages)
1. Joseph Palmer
2. Celil Refik Kaya
3. Jeremy Collins
4. Antoniy Kakamakov

Parkening International Guitar Competition Names 2012 Winners

Malibu, CA, June 2--Christopher Parkening and Pepperdine University today announced the winner of the third triennial Parkening International Guitar Competition. The competition, the world's preeminent guitar competition with the largest prize purse of any classical guitar competition, took place from May 29 through June 2, 2012.

Petrit Ceku, 27, of Croatia took the Gold Medal with his scintillating performance of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez at Pepperdine's Smothers Theatre during the sold-out final round on Saturday, June 2. He received the $30,000 Jack Marshall Prize in addition to his medal.

The Silver Medalist, Rafael Aguirre, 27, of Spain received $12,500; the Bronze Medalist, Florian Larousse, 24, of France was awarded $7,500.

The three finalists, each of whom performed a concerto with the Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra under the baton of conductor Richard Kaufman, were selected from a pool of 15 standout competitors. After a brief deliberation by the judging panel, the winner was announced.

The three, along with Solomon Silber, 29, of the United States (fourth place) and Alberta Khoury, 16, of Australia (fifth place), competed in the semifinal round on Friday, June 1.

Other competitors included Tim Callobre, 19, USA; Riccardo Calogiuri, 22, Italy; Silviu Ciulei, 26, Romania; Ricardo Escobar, 26, USA; Fabian Freesen, 28, Germany; Samuel Hines, 20, USA; Adam Kossler, 28, USA; Nemanja Ostoich, 28, Serbia; Andrea Roberto, 16, Italy; and Marko Topchii, 21, Ukraine.

All of the competitors performed on the first full day of the competition (May 31); five semifinalists were then selected to proceed to the second day. The competitors performed required and free-choice pieces and were judged on musicianship, tone, technique, and stage presence.

The distinguished panel of five judges, representing different areas of the music world, were Dave Grusin, film composer and jazz artist; Costa Pilavachi, Senior Vice President of Universal Music Group; David Russell, guitar virtuoso; Julie Smith, Classical Project Manager for The Recording Academy; and Jim Svejda, Classical KUSC radio host and producer.

The 15 competitors vied for cash awards that totaled $57,000. The fourth- and fifth-place winners each received $1,000. Awards of $500 were given to each of the remaining 10 competitors.

Petrit Ceku was born in Prizren, Kosovo, where he received instruction from Luan Sapunxhiu. In 2002 he moved to Zagreb, Croatia, where he continued his music education under Xhevdet Sahatxhija. Later he entered Darko Petrinjak's class at the Music Academy in Zagreb and graduated from the program in 2008. His first CD was released that year under the Naxos label. He currently studies with guitarist Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, MD.

Ceku has won first prize in numerous international guitar competitions, including the 2003 Anna Amalia Competition for Young Guitarists (Germany). The next year he won the Emilio Pujol Guitar Competition (Italy) and the Andres Segovia Competition (Velbert, Germany). In 2007 he placed first in the Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition (Italy). Last year he received first prize in the Schadt String Competition (Allentown, PA) and the Maurizio Biasini Guitar Competition (Italy).

He has also appeared throughout Europe and North America in solo recitals or accompanied by major symphonic orchestras.

In addition to the Parkening International Guitar Competition, Pepperdine presented the Parkening Young Guitarist Competition for guitarists ages 17 and younger on Tuesday and Wednesday, May 29 and 30. First place went to Alec Holcomb, 17, USA; second place to Noah Kim, 16, USA; third place to Jennifer Kim, 13, USA; fourth place to Sean Keegan, 15, USA; and fifth place to Ashwin Krishna, 14, USA.

Additional Young Guitarist competitors were Sergio Gallardo, 17, Bolivia; Samuel Garry, 14, USA; Wu Love, 17, USA; David Steinhardt, 15, USA; and Audra Vigil, 15, USA.

Cash awards for the Young Guitarist Competition included $3,000 for the first-place winner and $750 for each of the other four finalists. Awards of $500 were given to each of the remaining five competitors.

Judging the Parkening Young Guitarist Competition were symphonic orchestrator/music arranger Patrick Russ, Spanish guitarist and concert artist Pablo Sainz Villegas, and record producer/concert promoter David Thomas.

At the final round on June 2, Sainz Villegas, who won the Gold Medal at the inaugural Parkening Competition in 2006, performed the world premiere of John Williams' Rounds, which was recently written for and dedicated to Christopher Parkening and will be a required piece at the 2015 Parkening Competition.

The 2012 Parkening Competition is made possible by generous grants from Howard and Roberta Ahmanson and Juanita and Manny Del Arroz.

The Parkening International Guitar Competition is pleased to congratulate and announce the winners of the 2012 competition:

The Jack Marshall Prize and Gold Medal were awarded to Petrit Ceku.

The Silver Medal was awarded to Rafael Aguirre.

The Bronze Medal was awarded to Florian Larousse.

Fourth Place was awarded to Solomon Silber.

Fifth Place was awarded to Alberta Khoury.

The Parkening Young Guitarist Competition is pleased to congratulate and announce the winners of the 2012 competition:

First Place was awarded to Alec Holcomb.

Second Place was awarded to Noah Kim.

Third Place was awarded to Jennifer Kim.

Fourth Place was awarded to Sean Keegan.

Fifth Place was awarded to Ashwin Krishna.