Please introduce in a few words your competition, its history and legacy
What do you offer to your laureates in terms of career support?
Sarah Bleby: Our Artistic Director, Slava Grigoryan has toured the world as a revered guitarist and serial collaborator. When he was appointed to lead the 2010 Adelaide Guitar Festival, a key element of his vision was to introduce the Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition as a core strand of the festival program, attracting the best emerging players from across the globe. While it is focussed on solo classical guitar, the competition is embedded within a world-class festival program which spans genres, generations and cultures. Our festival celebrates all aspects of guitar music and making, incorporating a popular guitar makers’ expo, and the competition’s First Prize includes a highly sought-after guitar made by South Australian luthier Jim Redgate.
As part of the First Prize, the winner is invited to return to the subsequent Adelaide Guitar Festival as a featured mainstage performer, with the full festival-level promotional and financial support that accompanies our ticketed program. Are there any novelties/ new aspects of your competition that you have introduced or will introduce? We proudly commission and promote new Australian works for solo classical guitar, as well as showcasing the work of Australian luthiers both through our competition and our festival more broadly. Because our festival explores music of all kinds including rock, blues, flamenco, country, jazz, metal as well as classical and outstanding guitar playing from around the world, being part of our festival is a rich experience which builds musical communities in surprising ways.
Tell us a little about your city!
Adelaide is situated on traditional lands of our First Nations people, the Kaurna Miyurna. It is the capital city of South Australia, which is geographically large (about the same size as France), and while the city’s population is around 1.2 million, it is considered one of Australia’s small cities. It lies between stunning beaches and beautiful hills, with several famous wine regions very near by and is known for its excellent lifestyle, food, wine and many outstanding arts and cultural festivals. Designated as a UNESCO City of Music in 2015, Adelaide has a proud, active and well connected music scene which is celebrated in the Adelaide Guitar Festival’s broad program.
What are your expectations for the membership in the WFIMC?
We are excited by the opportunity to connect with members of the Federation, to build both our network amongst and understanding of the international music competition landscape. We hope to bring more awareness to the exceptional players who have been part of our competition so far, and to attract more participation in both our festival and our competition. Adelaide is a wonderful city to visit; we look forward to demonstrating this to more musicians and music lovers from across the world!
« Sarah Bleby, Executive Producer, Adelaide Guitar Festival
Adelaide, Australia
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