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.
The Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Please consider making a tax deductible DONATION to support our Festival events. Concert ticket sales cover only about one third the cost of bringing the worlds' finest classical guitarists and lutenists to Northeast Ohio. All Festival events are open to guitarists of all ages and levels and to non-guitarists.
Many events are free. There is no Festival registration requirement or registration fee.
This
spring's Festival features: 12 Participating Artists and Ensembles, 5
Concerts, 2 Premiere Performances, 9 Master Classes, 2 Youth Ensemble Performances, 3 Lectures, 1
Guitar Demonstration Concert, 1 Guitar Exhibit, 1 Master Class
Performers' Reception and Breakfast, 4 After Concert Dinners, Private
Lessons, and more....
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. For it is in live, heightened moments of musical magic in our experience—when art and chance coalesce; time stops; and egos dissolve—that often we become most mindful of our shared humanity.
Many thanks to our acclaimed participating artists and to all our attendees who have traveled here from both near and far over the years, twenty-two countries and thirty states 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 2019:
[Jason Vieaux is] perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.... (NPR)
Xuefei Yang (China), classical guitar
The guitar world has a new star. (Gramophone)
Elizabeth Kenny (England), lute
Kenny is an exquisite musician. (The Guardian)
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)
Petra Polácková (Czech Republic), classicl guitar
Polácková’s playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult. (Cleveland Classical)
Drew Henderson (Canada), classical guitar
Acclaimed One of Canada’s Foremost Classical Guitarists
Cleveland Childbloom Youth Guitarists
Students of Tom Poore and Andrew Poxon (USA), classical guitars
Cleveland Youth Performances
Lecturers 2019:
Lynn McGrath (USA), Classical Guitar with Spoken Word
[W]onderful timing, poise, wit, and grace… (Soundboard)
Drew Henderson (Canada), How to Prepare for an Audio/Video Recording
Acclaimed One of Canada’s Foremost Classical Guitarists
Alfredo Velazquez (USA), The Guitar Construction Process
Master Guitar Maker
Round Table Discussion with CICGF Performing Artists: Commissioning New Works for the Guitar or Lute: Making The Process Work)
Guitars International (USA), Performance and Exhibit of Fine Classical Guitars
Celebrating over twenty-nine years of musical excellence