CICGF^® Artists' Profiles

[Among] two of the most important annual American classical guitar events
(Classical Guitar Magazine)

Jason Vieaux Biography

Jason Vieaux (USA), guitar - Co-Head CIM Guitar Department

Grammy Award Winner

[Jason Vieaux is] perhaps the most precise and soulful classical guitarist of his generation.... (NPR)

Jason Vieaux is a musician noted for virtuosic and stirring performances, imaginative programming, and uncommon communicative gifts. He has performed as concerto soloist with nearly 100 orchestras, including Cleveland, Houston, Toronto, San Diego, Fort Worth, and Buffalo...

Colin Davin Biography

Colin Davin (USA), guitar - Co-Head CIM Guitar Deparment

Mr Davin is the real thing, a player with a virtuoso's technique, a deeply expressive musicianship, and a probing imagination. (American Record Guide)

Hailed for his "precision, musical intelligence, and passion” (Clevelandclassical), Colin Davin has emerged as one of today’s most dynamic young artists. Regarded as one of the most exciting talents of the classical guitar today, he has earned a reputation as a virtuoso guitarist and interpreter of great refinement...

Xuefei Yang Biography

Xuefei Yang (China), guitar

The guitar world has a new star. (Gramophone)

Xuefei Yang is acclaimed as one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. Hailed as a musical pioneer - her fascinating journey began after the Cultural Revolution, a period where Western musical instruments & music were banned. Fei was the first-ever guitarist in China to enter a music school, & became the first internationally recognised Chinese guitarist on the world stage. Her first public appearance was at the age of ten and...

Elizabeth Kenny Biography

Elizabeth Kenny (England), lute

[O]ne of the highlights of the season…included a couple of solo works for lute which Kenny played radiantly, commandingly. (Chicago Tribune)

Elizabeth Kenny is one of Europe’s leading lute players. Her playing has been described as “incandescent” (Music and Vision), “radical” (The Independent on Sunday) and “indecently beautiful” (Toronto Post). In twenty years of touring she has played with many of the world’s best period instrument groups and experienced many different approaches to music making...

Petra Polácková Biography

Petra Polácková (Czech Republic), guitar

Polácková’s playing was so technically secure and musically insightful, it was unimaginable that anything she played could possibly be difficult. (Cleveland Classical)

Since 2003 classical guitarist Petra Polácková has won numerous national and international guitar competitions. As a result of her competition successes she has been invited to perform at many of Europe’s most prestigious guitar festivals, including: Bonn, Vienna, Rust, Mikulov, Budapest, Madrid, Genéve, and Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem...

Drew Henderson Biography

Drew Henderson (Canada), guitar

Acclaimed One of Canada’s Foremost Classical Guitarists

Classical guitarist Drew Henderson is an active performer, teacher, recording artist and music producer living in Toronto, Canada. Drew earned a Master’s degree in Music at the University of Toronto where he studied with Eli Kassner and Jeffrey McFadden. After his post graduate degree, Drew was awarded a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study in Italy with Lorenzo Micheli, Matteo Mela and Massimo...

Lynn McGrath (USA), guitar with spoken word

[W]onderful timing, poise, wit, and grace… (Soundboard)

Classical guitarist Lynn McGrath is being heralded as a phenom. Blending expressive musicianship with her passion for Spanish Language, literature, and theater, she has shared the poetry and music of “Platero y Yo” with audiences on four continents in the role of both guitarist and theatrical narrator. She has brought the poetry of Nobel laureate Juan Ramón Jiménez to life...

Alfredo Velazquez (USA), Master Guitar Maker

As a child, Alfredo Velazquez was exposed in his father's home workshop to visits by many of the great classical guitarists of the day: such as Rey de la Torre, Angel Romero and Ichiro Suzuki. These memorable experiences made a lifelong impact on Alfredo's musical and artistic development. By learning the basic foundations of guitar construction laid out by Torres, Santos-Hernández and Hauser Senior as taught to him by his father, Alfredo Velazquez gained deep and thorough insight into his father's tonal ideals and...

About Guitars International

Guitars International Demonstration and Exhibit of Fine Classical Guitars From Around The World

Celebrating Over Twenty-Nine Years of Musical Excellence

Established in 1990, Guitars International shows its guitars by appointment in its Cleveland, Ohio showroom; it also ships its guitars nationally for audition on seventy-two hours approval. Its goal is to match each client – student, teacher, concert artist, aficionado, or collector – with the classical guitar which will inspire the greatest artistry and joy...

About the Cleveland Suzuki Guitar Ensemble

Cleveland Suzuki Guitar Ensemble (USA)

Music School Settlement

Five young students of classical guitarist Robert Gruca will perform. Robert Gruca is the founder and Director of the Suzuki Guitar Program at The Music Settlement of Cleveland. Mr. Gruca received his Master of Music degree from The Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with classical guitarists John Holmquist and Jason Vieaux...

About the Cleveland Bella Corda Guitars Ensemble

Cleveland Bella Corda Guitar Ensemble (USA)

Childbloom

Five young students of classical guitarist Brian Kozak, Director of the Cleveland Childbloom Guitar Program, will perform. Mr. Kozak has taught guitar at Baldwin-Wallace College and Kent State University. He is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Baldwin-Wallace College with degrees in Classical Guitar Performance...

Mixon Hall

Additional Support Provided By:

The Augustine Foundation
Alpha Graphics
Azica Records
Bam l'Original Cases
ClevelandClassical.com
Cleveland Chamber Music Society
Cleveland Classical Guitar Society
Cleveland Scene
Crown Guitar Workshop and Festival
David W. Hershberger
Friends of CICGF
Glidden House
Jonathan Wentworth Ltd.
Les Delices
Pat Kilkenny
Rodgers Tuning Machines
Strings by Mail
The Plain Dealer
This is Classical Guitar
Thompson Hine LLP
WCLV 104.9 FM
WCPN 90.3 FM

CICGF® Artists' Profiles

CICGF^® Artists' Profiles