By: Staff
Guitar lovers unite (and mark your calendars)! The Southern Guitar Festival and Competition is coming this June 21st-23rd and will take place in Columbia, South Carolina, on the campus of Columbia College.
This extravaganza of amazing guitar events will feature classical, Latin-American, and modern music written for the classic and flamenco Spanish guitar, and will surely bond lovers of guitar music together at exciting concerts and workshops.
The festival will also feature a 3-division competition that draws not only aspiring local talent, but upper-level adult players from well outside our state.
The Southern Guitar Festival and Competition will open on Friday, June 21st, with an evening faculty concert that will display some of South Carolina’s most talented musicians: among them, double bass virtuoso Craig Butterflied (USC), Steve Walters (Furman University) , Matthew Smith, Chance Glass, Sloan’s Duo (consisting of Mandy Sloan on saxophone and her husband Steve Sloan on guitar), and Marina Alexandra. The concert starts at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $15
The Saturday concert on June 22nd will feature an amazing flamenco trio, the “Maharajah Trio”. This group “wowed” our audience last year, earning standing ovations and a huge response, and they are back this year due to popular demand!
This unique trio consists of lead flamenco guitarist/ singer Silviu Ciulei, percussionist /didgeridoo player Ramin Yazdanpanah, and bass guitar player David Cobb. Maharajah trio will premiere some original music and also play some traditional tunes. Concert starts at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $20, $15 for students.
On Sunday, June 23rd, the Festival will present an afternoon concert that will feature two solo concerts given by brilliant classical guitar musicians that perform traditional guitar repertoire from the Classical, Spanish, and Modern musical styles. Artem Dervoyed and Rovshan Mamedkoliev will be this year’s featured solo artists. Both of these players come from Russia and are world caliber musicians with international recognition. Concert starts at 4:00 p.m. Tickets are $15
The Southern Guitar Festival and Competition will also bring local guitar talent to the stage in a showcase concert, which will take place Sunday, June 23rd at 1:30pm, is open to the public and free of charge.
The showcase will present young players as well as adult guitar amateurs. In addition, the festival will feature master classes and a thought provoking round-table discussion “ What it takes to be a winner” hosted by some of our amazingly talented and very successful guest artists. These events are free and open to the public.
This festival is the result of a hard-working and dedicated community of local professional guitar educators and performers who have been diligently working for the past year to raise the funds required to put on the Southern Guitar Festival.
Founded less than two years ago, this new organization is on a mission to inspire local guitarists and to form a community that promotes the development of local amateur guitarists while also hosting an exciting concert series that promotes up and coming players of the classic guitar.
Founding members include these local guitarists and alumni of the USC Classical Guitar Program: Marina Alexandra, Chris Essig, Chance Glass, Jeff Harris, Alan Knight, Steve Sloan, and Matthew Smith.
For complete information about the festival, including the schedule of events and bios on the performers, go to: www.SouthernGuitarFest.com. Advance concert tickets may also be easily purchased through this website.
