The 16th annual Cleveland International Classical Guitar Festival® will take place Friday, June 3 through Sunday, June 5, 2016 at the Cleveland Institute of Music. All Festival events are open to players of all ages and levels and to non-players. There is no Festival registration requirement or registration fee.
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 recitals will take place in Mixon Hall, CIM's award winning concert hall.
Our reasons for presenting this Festival are six fold: (1) to help increase the awareness and respect due artists whose exemplary work has enhanced our lives and the lives of others; (2) to entertain; (3) to educate; (4) to encourage deeper thought and discussion about how we listen to, perform, and evaluate fine music; (5) to nurture both new and old relationships, artistic and social; and, most important, (6) too help facilitate heightened moments of human awareness.
In our experience, participation in the live performance of fine music is potentially one of the highest social ends towards which we can aspire as performers, music students, and audience members. For it is in live, heightened moments of musical magic—when art, time, and chance coalesce; time stops; and egos dissolve—that often we are made most conscious of our shared humanity.
Many thanks to all our distinguished participating artists and to all of you who have traveled here from near and far over the years:
Alabama, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Canada.
Your enthusiasm, support, and diversity have contributed greatly to making this event the artistic jewel that it is widely acknowledged 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, classical guitar (USA)
-
CIM Guitar Department Head (2015 Grammy
Award Winner)
Among the elite of today's classical guitarists ....
(Gramophone)
Petra Polácková,
classical guitar (Czech Republic)
Polácková’s playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult. (Cleveland Classical)
SoloDuo, classical guitars (Italy)
Unforgettable musicianship of the highest order.... (The Washington Post)
Ricardo Gallén,
classical guitar (Spain)
Flawless interpretation and charisma and exquisite technique and particularly beautiful sound.... (Diario de Cordoba)
Colin Davin, classical guitar (USA)
Mr Davin is the real thing, a player with a virtuoso's technique, a deeply expressive musicianship, and a probing imagination. (American Record Guide)
Tim Beattie, classical guitar (Canada)
First Prize at the 2016 Stroud All-Ohio Competition
Lecturers:
Nigel North,
lute (England)
Perhaps he is the greatest performer on the instrument of all
time .... (Birmingham
Post)
Joshia de Jonge,
master guitar maker (Canada)
If the term "Child Prodigy" can be applied to luthiers, Joshia de
Jonge certainly qualifies....
(Acoustic Guitar)
Simon Powis, classical guitar (Australia)
Simon [Powis] displayed outstanding sensitivity and a musical maturity.... (Huffington Post)
Guitars International, classical guitar dealer (USA)
Exhibition and Demonstration of Fine Contemporary Classical Guitars from around the world