Please join us in welcoming this
spring’s roster of internationally renowned artists in a concentrated
series of recitals, premieres, master classes,
private lessons,
lectures, and exhibits celebrating the classical guitar and
art music: solo and ensemble, old and new.
All Festival events are open to guitarists of all ages and levels and to non-guitarists. There is no Festival registration requirement or
registration fee except for those students performing in CICGF master classes.
Our reasons for presenting this Festival are several: (1) To entertain; (2) to educate; (3) to encourage deeper thought and discussion about how we listen to, perform, and evaluate fine music; (4) to nurture both new and old relationships, artistic and social; and, most important, (5) to facilitate shared moments of heightened awareness.
Participation in the live performance of fine music is potentially one
of the highest social ends towards which we can aspire as a community of artists,
music students, and audience members. For it is in live, heightened
moments of musical magic—when art and chance coalesce; time
stops; and egos dissolve—that often we become most mindful of our
shared humanity.
Many thanks to all our distinguished
participating artists and to all our attendees who have traveled here from near
and far over the years, thirty states and Canada at last count. Your enthusiasm, support, and diversity
have contributed greatly to making this event the artistic jewel that it
is acknowledged widely to be.
I look forward to greeting many new and
returning participants to this June's Festival.
- Armin Kelly, Founder and Artistic Director
Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival®
Performing Artists:
Jason Vieaux (USA), classical guitar
- Grammy
Award Winner
Perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation. (NPR)
David Russell (Scotland), classical guitar - Grammy Award Winner
Russell is perhaps the most gifted guitarist on the international scene. (The Atlanta Constitution)
Nigel North (England), Baroque lute - Gramophone Award Winner
Perhaps he is the greatest performer on the instrument of all
time .... (Birmingham
Post)
Colin Davin (USA), classical guitar
Mr Davin is the real thing, a player with a virtuoso's technique, a deeply expressive musicianship, and a probing imagination. (American Record Guide)
Emily Levin (USA), Principal Harpist Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Principal Harpist of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra
Hao Yang (China), classical guitar
First Prize 2015 Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition (Senior Division)
Petra Polácková (Czech Republic), classical guitar [Her] playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult. (Cleveland Classical)
Cleveland Bella Corda Ensemble (USA), classical guitars
Cleveland Childbloom Youth Guitarists
Lecturers:
Alan Bise (USA), Grammy Award Winner
Record producer and recording engineer
Nigel North (England), Baroque lute - Gramophone Award Winner
Perhaps he is the greatest performer on the instrument of all
time .... (Birmingham
Post)
Jeffrey R. Elliott (USA), master guitar maker
Clientele includes Julian Bream, Jonathan Leathwood, Marcelo Kayath, and Ralph Towner
Guitars International (USA), dealer in the world's finest classical guitars
Celebrating over twenty-seven years of musical excellence