Welcome to the 5th annual St. Joseph International Guitar Festival in St. Joseph, Missouri, US - one of the most progressive guitar festivals in the world!
Following the tremendous success of our past festivals with participants from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Costa Rica, Cyprus, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Nicaragua, Poland, Serbia, Ukraine, Uruguay and throughout the US, we are again including a competition with thousands of dollars prize money and gifts as well as complimentary housing for auditors and competitors.
In addition to the tremendous concerts, classes and career development seminars that we have established, our competition is one of the most original in the US: NO AGE LIMIT, NO REQUIRED PIECES and COMPLIMENTARY HOME HOSTING FOR COMPETITORS AND OUT-OF-TOWN AUDITORS.
We chose the unusual competition route since it opens the door to guitarists who are often excluded from competitions by age or their preference for specific historical periods of music. Additionally, the final round of the competition is open to the public and, along with the judges, the audience has ballots and vote for the final three competitors.
This gives a more realistic aspect to the competition since, as we all know, our primary audience is usually NOT guitarists. This helps avoid the narrow-minded attitude that often exists in competitions.
Past competition winners have been:
2004
1st Prize:
Isaac Bustos (Nicaragua)
2nd Prize:
Munhk-Orgil Turbold (Mongolia)
3rd Prize:
Nenad Savic (Serbia)
2005
1st Prize:
Alieksey Vianna (Brazil)
2nd Prize:
Marco Sator (Uruguay)
3rd Prize:
Joseph Williams (US)
2006
1st Prize:
Aleksandr Tsiboulski (Ukraine / Australia)
2nd Prize:
Samuel Klemke (Germany)
3rd Prize:
Robert Sharp (US)
You’ll find our festival one of the most enjoyable in the US. Whether you come as a performer, auditor or simply take advantage of the concerts and jam sessions, the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival & Competition is an event that you’ll want to visit year after year!
Sincerely,
Anthony GLISE,
Festival Founder and Director
Special thanks to:
Jeff Fuson: President, Big Ape Studios: Festival web design and maintenance.
David Burke: VisualFuture - Festival website technical support.
Megan Schreiber-Wyeth: Festival photo documentation Audio Technica (US): the official microphone of the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival Marshall Amplification (England): the official amplifier of the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival
Thomas Ransom at Ransomed Productions
William Bay at Mel Bay Publications
E & O Mari - LaBella Strings: the official guitar string of the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival Fondazione Araniti Editions (Italy) Wegen Picks (Holland)
Aleksandr Tsiboulski
(Ukraine / Australia) - solo guitar - 1st Prize, 2006 St. Joseph International Guitar Festival Competition, 1st Prize Tokyo International Guitar Festival, et al.).
David Newsam
(Classical / Jazz Guitarist, Faculty, Berklee School of Music, Dartmouth, President, Boston Guitar Society)
Jean-François Droulez
(France - Conductor, Director of Chorale & Orchestra Divertimento)
Matthew Turner
(Cellist, England)
Safety Jurors
Michael Fuson
(Guitarist)
Thomas Ransom
(Guitarist, Producer, Owner, Ransomed Productions)
FUNDING and LOGISTIC SUPPORT
The Festival would like to acknowledge the kind support of:
- “The Dome” performance space provided courtesy of Ed and Linda Hood, Owners and Directors
- Big Ape Studios
- Cafe Acoustic
- Budweiser, USA
- Getz Color Graphics
- The City of St. Joseph
- Missouri Arts Council
- MWSU Department of Music
- Heartland Health Foundation
- Allied Arts Council of St. Joseph
- Missouri Western State University
- St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce
- St. Joseph Convention & Visitors Bureau
- MWSU Center for Arts Culture and Literacy
and the festival board members:
Teresa Fankhauser
Dr. Matt Gilmour
Anthony Glise
Dr. Mark Mikkelsen
Dr. Carlos Moya
Dr. Shiva Nandan
Charles Salanski
Geo Sipp
Jason Riley
Welcome to the 5th annual St. Joseph International Guitar Festival in St. Joseph, Missouri, US - one of the most progressive guitar festivals in the world!
