Guitar Foundation News
Read about recent events, essential information and the latest GFA news.
Updated: 26 min 31 sec ago
Semifinalists of the 2020 International Concert Artist Competition
Here are the semifinalists of the International Concert Artist Competition. The semifinals and finals are tentatively scheduled for October 4-5, 2020 in Los Angeles.
Alec Holcomb, USA
Jack Hancher, United Kiingdom
Oman Kaminsky Lara, Mexico/Poland
Marco Piperno, Italy
Kasia Smolarek, Poland
Campbell Diamond, Australia
Francois-Xavier Dangremont, France
Topchii Mark, Ukraine
Inoi Ami, Japan
Bokyung Byun, South Korea
Lovro Pereti?, Croatia
Steve Cowan, Canada
GFA 2021Next year?s convention will take place June 21-26, 2021, in Fullerton, California. The required piece for the International Concert Artist Competition will be Shuo Chang, by Chen Yi.
Alec Holcomb, USA
Jack Hancher, United Kiingdom
Oman Kaminsky Lara, Mexico/Poland
Marco Piperno, Italy
Kasia Smolarek, Poland
Campbell Diamond, Australia
Francois-Xavier Dangremont, France
Topchii Mark, Ukraine
Inoi Ami, Japan
Bokyung Byun, South Korea
Lovro Pereti?, Croatia
Steve Cowan, Canada
GFA 2021Next year?s convention will take place June 21-26, 2021, in Fullerton, California. The required piece for the International Concert Artist Competition will be Shuo Chang, by Chen Yi.
Categories: Guitar News
GFA 2021 Required Piece
Next year?s convention will take place June 21-26, 2021, in Fullerton, California.
The required piece for the International Concert Artist Competition will be Shuo Chang, by Chen Yi.
Categories: Guitar News
GFA 2020 Youth Competition Results
Junior Division
1st: Buliao Que (China) 2nd: Qianzheng Wang (China) 3rd: Tudor Torge (Romania) 4th: Mikhail Likhachev (Russia)
Senior Division
1st: Eric Wang (US) 2nd: Aytahn Benavi (US) 3rd: Xu Kun (Alan) Liu (Canada) 4th: Ruien Li (China)
1st: Buliao Que (China) 2nd: Qianzheng Wang (China) 3rd: Tudor Torge (Romania) 4th: Mikhail Likhachev (Russia)
Senior Division
1st: Eric Wang (US) 2nd: Aytahn Benavi (US) 3rd: Xu Kun (Alan) Liu (Canada) 4th: Ruien Li (China)
Categories: Guitar News
A Statement from the GFA
Dear Friends,
We at the Guitar Foundation of America are grieving. We are heartbroken by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others who came before them; we are devastated by the wide-ranging and ongoing injustices born from systemic racism that still persists in the United States of America.
We condemn racism and the treatment of any human being as less than equal. We recognize the inequities that exist in the classical music world, and in the guitar world specifically. We remember that the guitar itself came to the Americas through the hands of conquistadors, that there is a story in our very instrument which seeks redemption and renewal through performances by people of every color, race, gender, religion, and socioeconomic background.
At a time when we feel frustrated and helpless, what can we do as individuals, what can we do as an organization?
This is a moment in which we turn to the guitar to express all the things that we cannot say with words - to express the gravity of injustice in this nation, and to hold for us the emotions that accompany tragedy and devastation, allowing our hearts to heal as we work towards a better world, in solidarity with one another.
We want to start that healing by opening the floor to hear the thoughts of our community on how we can better serve the mission of the GFA by improving our commitment to equity, and what that would look like to you. To that end, we will convene a Virtual Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, June 25th at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (please check for your local time). The discussion welcomes your thoughts on diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion. Keep an eye on our social media for how you can have a voice in that conversation.
Following these conversations, the GFA team will begin exploring the creation of an official Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Statement that we hope can serve as a guide for all guitar organizations internationally; one that has roots in your thoughts, and is guided by the wisdom of leaders in the field. We welcome your voice, via participation in the Town Hall, via email feedback, via a conversation. If you have general thoughts/observations that you?d like to share on the subject, please send them to equity@guitarfoundation.org.
?When my heart has been so overwhelmed by emotions that words or thoughts become inadequate, it always has been music that came to the rescue, impregnated by love and peace.? - Pepe Romero
Yours in Peace and Hope,
Brian Head, Artistic Director Michael Jones, Social Media Coordinator Martha Masters, President Stephen Mattingly, Chair of the Board of Trustees Connie Sheu, General Manager
We at the Guitar Foundation of America are grieving. We are heartbroken by the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and so many others who came before them; we are devastated by the wide-ranging and ongoing injustices born from systemic racism that still persists in the United States of America.
We condemn racism and the treatment of any human being as less than equal. We recognize the inequities that exist in the classical music world, and in the guitar world specifically. We remember that the guitar itself came to the Americas through the hands of conquistadors, that there is a story in our very instrument which seeks redemption and renewal through performances by people of every color, race, gender, religion, and socioeconomic background.
At a time when we feel frustrated and helpless, what can we do as individuals, what can we do as an organization?
- We can speak when we witness injustice, implicit bias, or microaggressions.
- We can work harder to address equity of all kinds in the events that we produce.
- We can find ways to increase support for people doing great work around equity in arts education at the local level.
- We can listen to and work with our community to improve our effectiveness at all of the above.
- And we can learn to do all of this with great empathy and care for one another, allowing our earnestly rising tide to lift all of our boats.
This is a moment in which we turn to the guitar to express all the things that we cannot say with words - to express the gravity of injustice in this nation, and to hold for us the emotions that accompany tragedy and devastation, allowing our hearts to heal as we work towards a better world, in solidarity with one another.
We want to start that healing by opening the floor to hear the thoughts of our community on how we can better serve the mission of the GFA by improving our commitment to equity, and what that would look like to you. To that end, we will convene a Virtual Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, June 25th at 10am Pacific Daylight Time (please check for your local time). The discussion welcomes your thoughts on diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion. Keep an eye on our social media for how you can have a voice in that conversation.
Following these conversations, the GFA team will begin exploring the creation of an official Diversity, Equity, Accessibility and Inclusion Statement that we hope can serve as a guide for all guitar organizations internationally; one that has roots in your thoughts, and is guided by the wisdom of leaders in the field. We welcome your voice, via participation in the Town Hall, via email feedback, via a conversation. If you have general thoughts/observations that you?d like to share on the subject, please send them to equity@guitarfoundation.org.
?When my heart has been so overwhelmed by emotions that words or thoughts become inadequate, it always has been music that came to the rescue, impregnated by love and peace.? - Pepe Romero
Yours in Peace and Hope,
Brian Head, Artistic Director Michael Jones, Social Media Coordinator Martha Masters, President Stephen Mattingly, Chair of the Board of Trustees Connie Sheu, General Manager
Categories: Guitar News