Classical Guitar News & Updates

JUST ARRIVED: An iconic 1981 José Romanillos classical guitar. Romanillos' guitars are revered both for their elegant sound and great physical beauty. In his lifelong pursuit of what he called the subtle "Spanish sound,” Romanillos strove to achieve a pure harmonically balanced deep singing voice, responsive to an artist's most subtle changes in tone, color, and attack...
JUST ARRIVED: A new Antonis Hatzinikolaou concert guitar. Winner of the Royal Academy of Music's prestigious Julian Bream Prize, adjudicated by the great maestro himself, Antonis Hatzinikolaou, has, apart from his concertizing and conservatory teaching duties, spent a number of years researching and perfecting his luthiery skills by designing and constructing fine concert guitars. His work has been inspired by the Hermann Hauser I and Robert Bouchet traditions, and influenced by a number of great luthiers of our time such as Dominique Field and Jeffrey R. Elliott...
Join Us: For the 24th annual CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR FESTIVAL June 6 through 9, 2024.

Concerts, master classes, lectures, and the James Stroud National Youth Competition.

Information and concert tickets HERE.
JUST ARRIVED: A new Gregory R. Miller Custom Concert Model. This magnificent sounding, visually stunning concert guitar has impressive reserves of power. It is also quick to project the quietest, most delicate pianissimos. Its  smooth, creamy trebles and firm, deep basses are round, clear, and responsive to a wide range of color and attack...
LAST CALL: 2024 JAMES STROUD NATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR YOUTH COMPETITION ANNOUNCED:

Application information, entry fee, and YouTube video links for the fifth annual James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition will be accepted through Midnight PST, Saturday, February 17, 2024.

All 2024 Stroud Competition applicants must submit their completed application, entrance fee, and two Preliminary Round YouTube video links on this website's ENTRY FORM. Please see the Stroud Competition RULES for important requirements.

We encourage all applicants to submit their completed Entry Form, Two YouTube Video Links, and Entry Fee well before the entry deadline in case of any technical difficulty.

We will announce the 2024 Stroud Competition's Semi-Finalists by Friday, March 1, 2024. The 2024 required set piece will be sent to all qualified Semi-Finalists by Friday, March 15, 2024.

2024 FINAL ROUND PRIZES:

1st Place: $10,000.00
2nd Place:  $5,000.00
3rd Place:   $2,500.00
4th Place:   $1,250.00
JUST ARRIVED: A New 1980 Friederich Bench Copy by STEPHEN EDEN (England). When Eden encountered this original 1980 Friederich guitar, one of the most outstanding examples of this maker's work, and the owner afforded him the chance to produce a direct bench copy of it, Eden jumped at the opportunity..Stephen Efen's beautiful bench copies have proved to be highly successful concert guitars...
JUST ARRIVED: A new 2023 MICHAEL CADIZ (Austria) Torres/Romanillos Model concert guitar: Lovely, deep, rich, focused, traditional sound; quick responsive dynamic range; unusually wide pallet of color and attack; strong fundamental tones throughout all registers; excellent balance; eye popping materials, visual aesthetics, and workmanship. In short, a musical jewel...
Join Us June 6-9, 2024
For the Twenty-Fourth Annual
CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR FESTIVAL®
 [One of] two of the most important annual
American classical guitar events
(Classical Guitar Magazine)
Watch
PETRA POLACKOVA

Perform 
Variations Sur "Folias de Espana" Et Fugue by Manuel Ponce
Guitar by Domingo Esteso, 1926 (Spain)

Presented by
Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival Performance On Line.
JUST ARRIVED: A new, musically resplendent, visually stunning 2023 Maxwell Sipe (USA) Custom Special concert classical guitar...
CHECK OUT: The 2023 Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival® forty page program book...

Featuring: Grammy Award Winner Jason Vieaux (USA), classical guitar; Mari Sato (USA), violin; Petra Polácková (Czech Republic), classical guitar and CICGF Artist in Residence; SoloDuo (Italy), classical guitars; Patterson-Sutton Duo (USA), cello and classical guitar; Hao Yang (China), classical guitar. Jonathan Leathwood (England), classical guitarist and lecturer; and the 2023 James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition Semi-Finalists.


Join us June 1-4, 2023 at the Cleveland Institute of Music for the
23RD ANNUAL CLEVELAND INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR FESTIVAL
featuring a roster of renowned artists from around the world

Meet the fourth annual
JAMES STROUD NATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR
YOUTH COMPETITION SEMI-FINALISTS.
Good luck to this year's JAMES STROUD NATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR YOUTH COMPETITION PRELIMINARY ROUND APPLICANTS. This year's thirty accomplished students come to us from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas. Stroud Competition Semi-Finalists will be announced by March 5, 2023. The Semi-Final and Final Rounds will take place live during the 23rd annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival: June 1-4, 2023 at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Last Call
JAMES STROUD NATIONAL CLASSICAL GUITAR YOUTH COMPETITION 2023
Contestant Applications and Videos accepted through

FEBRUARY 15, 2023.

First Prize $10,000.00
Over $24,000.00 in cash prizes
Learn more...
JUST ARRIVED: A wonderful new 2022 Gregory R. Miller cedar top classical guitar. We are delighted to offer Gregory Miller's beautiful concert guitars to our customers. Mentored by world-renowned guitar maker Jeffrey R. Elliott, Gregory Miller is an exceptional talent. This magnificent sounding, visually stunning guitar has impressive reserves of power. It is also quick to project the quietest, most delicate pianissimos. Its  smooth, creamy trebles and firm, deep basses are round, clear, and responsive to a wide range of color and attack. Its fundamental tones are uniformly solid while beautifully complemented by rich, well controlled overtones in all registers. The result: This guitar's perfectly balanced sound sparkles up and down and across the fingerboard. Voice separation is excellent as is harmonic blending... 
JUST ARRIVED: A new 2022 José Gonzalez Lopez (Granada, Spain) classical guitar. This lovely concert guitar has a deep, elegant, traditional, colorful, well-balanced sound with excellent sustain, clarity, projection, a quick response, and easy playability. A protege and workshop mate of renowned master guitar maker Antonio Marin Montero, José Gonzalez Lopez now an esteemed master in his own right crafts guitars which represent an outstanding musical value...
JUST ARRIVED: A rare new 2022 Antonio Marin Montero classical guitar. We have been honored to represent this illustrious master for over thirty years. This stunning concert guitar has a wonderful deep, bell like musical sound; is very precise with powerful trebles, mid-range, and bass; has excellent sustain, balance, and separation of voices, and a quick response to a particularly wide range of color and attack. It is also a dream to play...

Just Arrived: 1979 Robert Ruck Concert Model #199. By any standard this well maintained, one owner concert guitar is a superb example of Robert Ruck's finest work. Its deep, powerful, clear, full bodied, well balanced, colorful sound combined with its perfect neck contour and low easy action make this iconic concert instrument an inspiration to play and hear...
Just Arrived: This splendid new 2022 Oren Myers guitar is a musically refined, highly responsive, lovely sounding, impeccably crafted, traditional concert instrument. It is quick to respond to even the gentlest attack, possessing a wide range of musical colors and dynamics. It is also well balanced up and down and across the strings. Overall clarity, harmonic voicing, and musical projection are excellent. Moreover, its lovely third string is one of the clearest, most lyrical we have played or heard. String set up, neck shape, and over all feel in both hands are particularly comfortable. In short, this player friendly guitar is both easy and great fun to play...



NEW: Petra Polácková (Czech Republic) performs El testament D'Amelia on a 2021 Jeffrey R. Elliott (USA) classical guitar
Third Annual
James Stroud Classical Guitar Competition Winners:

Eric Wang: First Prize
Reade Park: Second Prize
Ethan Boyers: Third Prize
Elle Davisson: Fourth Prize
View: The 22nd annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival forty page program book. This June we look forward once again to sharing world class classical guitar concerts, premieres, master classes, lectures, private lessons, and exhibits, with old friends and new from around the USA and beyond in a celebration of the classical guitar and art music: solo and ensemble, old and new.
Join us live in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
June 2-5, 2022 for the twenty-second annual
Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival
and third annual
James Stroud National Youth Competition
at the
Cleveland Institute of Music