JURY
CLICK HERE FOR PDF of JURY SHEETS used during both rounds of the competition. This sheet includes jury procedure, and is in full compliance with the International Federation of International Music Competitions, Geneva, Switzerland. (N.B. The St. Joseph International Guitar Festival Competition is the only competition in the US to adhere to these regulations!)
There will be a set jury of four voting members for all rounds of the competition plus two Safety Jurors in the event of conflict of interest (i.e. if a competitor is a student of one of the jury members, etc.) as well as the Jury President (whose vote will only be counted in the event of a draw).
2010 JURY MEMBERS
JURY PRESIDENT
• Anthony Glise (US/France - guitarist, composer, author) Professor of Guitar, University of Missouri-Columbia, and adjunct instructor at Missouri Western State University.
JURORS
• Dr. Lynn McGrath (US) guitarist, linguist, Director, Guitar Foundation of America Touring Program.
• Thomas Ransom (US) producer, owner, Ransomed Productions
• Lukasz Lagun (Poland) violinist, concert and recording artist.
• Dr. Annett Richter - guitarist, lutenist, musicologist (Germany), Professor, University of Missouri-Columbia.
SAFETY JURORS
Michael Fuson (Guitarist, recording artist)
JURY BIOGRAPHIES
Jury President
Anthony Glise (US/France - guitarist, composer, author)
Chosen in 2009 to launch the first classical guitar program at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Anthony is the only American-born guitarist to win First Prize at the International Toscanini Competition (Italy). He is a product of the Konservatorium der Stadt (Vienna) and New England Conservatory (Boston) with additional study at Harvard University, the Université Catholique de Lille (France), ARCUM (Rome) and the Accademia di Studi “L'Ottocento” (Vigevano, Italy) as well as other various diplomas from France, Austria, and Italy.
With highly successful concerts at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and the leading concert halls in Europe, Anthony is also the only guitarist ever awarded the “Individual Artist of the Year” by the Missouri Arts Council (2006) and has been awarded diplomas and performed at such festivals as Festival des Artes (Hautecombe), Ville Sable (France), ARCUM (Rome), the Nemzetközi Gitárfesztivál (Hungary), etc.
His traditional classical concerts often include 19th-Century works performed on a priceless 1828 Staufer Viennese guitar and US/European concerts with the avant-garde ensemble, The Nova Project, which feature his original compositions with guitarist, Jason Riley (US), 6-String electric ‘cellist, James Kew and percussionist, Nick Baker. Past Nova Project guest artists have included Kevin Gallagher (electric classical guitarist - US), Jan Akkerman (rock guitarist - Holland), Japanese violinist, Ken Sugita (French National Orchestra-Lille) and Edwige DelleValle ('cellist - ONL, France).
He his published articles extensively in The Soundboard (US), Guitar International (England) and Gitarre und Laute (Germany) and has acted as Artist-in-Residence and Touring Artist for numerous US state arts councils and similar European programs.
Anthony is author/editor of over 80 musical editions and books for the internationally-acclaimed publications, “The Anthony Glise Editions,” (Willis Music Company), “The Anthony Glise Urtext Editions” (Mel Bay Publications) and “The Original Compositions of Anthony Glise” (Ævia Publications-France).
He has performed and premiered his original compositions in New York (Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, etc.), Chicago (Dame Myra Hess Concert Series, etc.), Rome (Santa Maria degli Angeli), Vienna (Vienna International Center, etc.), Lille (Nouveau Siècle of the French National Orchestra, etc.), Esztergom (Hungary) etc.
Anthony's CDs and DVDs have consistently received 5-star reviews in magazines including The Soundboard, Guitar Player Magazine, Gramaphone, Audiophile (US), Les Cahiers de la Guitare, Le Diapiason (France), Luster (Holland), Gitarre Aktuelle, Gitarre und Laute (Germany) etc. These recordings feature traditional works and original compositions (solo, chamber, choral, orchestral and ballet). His first album, Overview, was chosen as one of the year's “Top-5 Classical Releases” by Vienna Life Magazine (Austria) along with recordings by Murray Periah and Leonard Bernstein.
In 2006 Anthony was elected to the board of an on-going project of the national French organization, Domaine Musique, to help develop better relations between French composers and feature film directors. He is the only non-French ever invited to that prestigious assembly.
When not on tour, Anthony lives and teaches in the Flandres region of Northern France, part-time in the Black Forest region of Germany and in the US.
He directs both the “St. Joseph International Guitar Festival” (US) and the guitar festival, “Six Strings and the Spirit” held annually in Chartres, France, sponsored by the religious order, Communauté du Chemin Neuf.
Official Website: http://www.AnthonyGlise.com
JURORS
Lynn McGrath (US - Classical Guitarist, Linguist, Tour Manager for Guitar Foundation of America)
While studying Spanish as a foreign exchange student in Mexico, Lynn McGrath bought a guitar on a whim and asked a visiting professor (Alfredo Sanchez) for lessons, never imagining that years later she would be invited back as a professional musician. Since then, Lynn McGrath has performed on three continents, often adjudicating, and giving masterclasses in multiple international festivals including the XIX Festival Internacional de Guitarra (Peru), the Guitar on the Mediterranean Festival (Italy), the Niksic Festival (Montenegro), the III Muestra de Guitarra Ajijic (Mexico) the National Guitar Workshop (US), and for the 2009 Guitar Foundation of America Convention. In her unique rendition of Platero y yo by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Lynn McGrath has astounded audiences and received critical acclaim by performing the role of guitarist and theatrical narrator simultaneously.
Lynn McGrath has also performed and given masterclasses for prominent guitar programs including the University of Veracruz (Mexico) and Oberlin Conservatory, and has appeared on a number of arts series and for colleges across the United States. In 2008, she completed a 6-concert tour of Peru, and has been an outreach artist for organizations such as the Austin Classical Guitar Society and the Da Camera Society (Los Angeles). She has appeared as a soloist with the Northern New York, and in 2009 was the selected as the clinician and conductor of the Albuquerque Honors Guitar Group.
After having received degrees in Spanish Language and Literature, Education, and in Music, Lynn received her Master and Doctorate of Musical Arts Degree from the University of Southern California. She has studied with some of today’s most prominent guitarists, including William Kanengiser, Pepe Romero, as well as James Smith and Douglas Rubio. Lynn McGrath is a former faculty member of the Crane School of Music, State University of New York at Potsdam, where she received a Student Choice Award in 2006 and St. Lawrence University (Canton, NY). She also serves as the Tour Director for the Guitar Foundation of America and presently lives and teaches in Albuquerque, NM.
Official Website: http://www.lynnmcgrath.com/
Thomas Ransom (US - Guitarist, Producer, Owner, Ransomed Studios)
A graduate of Berklee School of Music (Boston), Ransom is a renowned producer and owner of Ransomed Productions (US). He has produced and engineered numerous internationally-released CDs and has been cited for his flawless production in such magazines as Audiofile, Gramophone (US) and Les Cahiers de la Guitare (France) as well as his production on Anthony Glise’s CD, “Overview” which was chosen as one of the year’s “Top 5 Releases” by Vienna Life Magazine (Austria) along side recordings by Murray Periah and Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic.
Thomas has been interviewed for his outstanding work in the recording industry in magazines such as EQ Magazine, along side Michael Siefert (for Tori Amos), Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, The Smashing Pumpkins) and David Cole (Cake, Melissa Etheridge), etc.
Additionally, Thomas has released three of his own CDs and has written and arranged numerous instrumental and vocal compositions for radio and television productions.
When not in the studio, Thomas teaches recording engineering at various colleges and universities.
Official Website: http://ransomedproductions.com/
Lukasz Lagun - (Poland - Violinist, concert and recording artist)
Born in Szczecin, Poland, Mr. Lagun started violin at the age of 7. He received scholarships from Foundation of Child's Art and Fund for Benefit of “Specially Talented Children Foundation of Szczecin's City Friends” (Warsaw). He participated in several national competitions in his country where he garnered top prizes. Since his debut as a soloist with Szczecin Philharmonic (Poland) at the age of 13, he gave numerous recitals in Poland, Canada, Finland, Italy, Germany, Austria, Denmark and United States. He played in the music festivals such as Lugano, Usedomer Music Festival, Lancut, and Zagan and recorded for television in Ottawa (Canada) and Radio and Television in Szczecin. Kuzminski has been invited to many violin competitions and received awards; a special award for the best interpretation of the piece by Friderick Delius in the Jehudi Menuhin Competition, England; special recognition as one of the best young Polish violinist chosen by Maestro Shlomo Mintz in the Henryk Wieniawski competition in Poznan; the winner of the “Artist Presentation Society” Competition in St. Louis in 2005. Prize winner “The Most Distinguish Musician” and “special award” for the piece by E. Bloch in “Ibla” Competition, Italy in 2006; as a result he performed at Carnegie Hall, New York City, 2007 and continued his tour in the US.
After coming to North America he received numerous scholarships, among the others the 2006 “Certificate of Excellence” and Berta Eisberg award in 2007. In his hometown city, he was selected to be the "Ten Exceptional Szczecin's Citizens." He studied at the Fryderic Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw, the Felix Nowowiejski, and Music Academy in Bydgoszcz. He also graduated with distinction with a master of arts in violin performance from the Nowowiejski Music Academy in 2001. He has taken part in several master classes,festivals as an apprentice where he has worked with such musicians as Victor Pikajzen, Petru Mounteanu, Zachar Bron and Adam Kostecki, Wanda Wiłkomirska, Bohdan Krysa, Tadeusz Wronski, Krzysztof Jakowicz, Pawel Radzinski, Benny Kim and Cho-Liang Lin. While continuing his studies at the conservatory in Jakobstad, Finland, Kuzminski was invited to come to the U.S. to study with Professor Benny Kim at the Conservatory of Music at the University of Kansas City-Missouri, where he was holding the position of concertmaster in the UMKC symphony orchestra. Later Mr.Lagun continued studies as a graduate student with Prof. Gregory Sandomirsky at the International Center for Music Park University, Parkville- Missouri. He graduated in 2007 with an Advanced Arts Degree-Artist Diploma.
Mr. Lagun has become associated with well known music therapist, Janalea Hoffman, founder of “Rhythmic Medicine” and “Sounds of Comfort” Lukasz and Janalea perform together in the healing arts. By combining Janalea's music therapy abilities and Lukasz's classical background they have recorded 2 healing music cds.
Official Website: http://www.myspace.com/Cecylian
Annett Richter (Germany- guitarist. lutenist, musicologist, Professor of History, University of Missouri-Columbia)
Annett Richter is Professor of Music in music history and appreciation at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She holds Master’s degrees in Musicology and Guitar Performance from the University of Minnesota and the equivalent of an M.A. in British and American Studies from Martin-Luther-Universität Halle/Wittenberg, Germany. She received her Ph.D. in Musicology from the University of Minnesota with a dissertation on Missouri artist Thomas Hart Benton and his role in shaping popular notions of American folk music and musicians as a musical folklorist.
Dr. Richter’s research focuses on intersections between nineteenth- and twentieth-century American and African-American vernacular music and painting, as well as issues of music, art, and gender in Elizabethan England. She has delivered conference papers for the American Musicological Society, the Renaissance Society of America, the Society for American Music, the North American British Music Studies Association, the Missouri Folklore Society, and the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities. She has presented guest lectures on music, art, and iconography at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. Dr. Richter has published articles in Musicological Explorations and in the Proceedings of the 2004 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities.
At the University of Minnesota, she served as assistant editor for the Austrian History Yearbook at the Center for Austrian Studies, as editor for the 2004 Minnesota High School Music Listening Contest Study Guide, and as assistant copyeditor for Richard Wagner for the New Millennium: Essays in Music and Culture, Studies in European Culture and History, ed. Matthew Bribitzer-Stull, Alex Lubet, and Gottfried Wagner (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).
Besides being a teacher and scholar, Dr. Richter has been active as a performing guitarist and lutenist. Trained at the music conservatories in Merseburg and Halle, Germany, and under Jeffrey Van at the University of Minnesota on guitar, she has performed as a soloist and in chamber settings for the Minnesota Guitar Society Local Artist Series and Classical Guitarathons, the University of Cincinnati Conservatory of Music Classical Guitar Summer Workshop under Clare Callahan, the University of Minnesota School of Music Annual String Gala and Collage Concerts, and as guest artist with the University of Minnesota Concert Choir.
Dr. Richter has served as judge for scholarship and concert auditions sponsored by the Minnesota Guitar Society, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, and the Schubert Club. She served on the Minnesota Guitar Society’s Board of Directors, organized concerts for the society, and contributed to the society’s newsletter, Guitarist. As lutenist, Dr. Richter studied with Lucas Harris and has appeared in concert with sopranos Dawn Sonntag, Linh Kauffman, and Candace Magner, lutenists Phil Rukavina and Tom Walker, violinist Kate McWilliams, and with Consortium Carrissimi and the University of Minnesota’s Early Music Ensemble.
Official Website: http://music.missouri.edu/faculty/richter.html
SAFETY JURORS (in the event of conflict of interest)
Michael Fuson (US - Guitarist, Recording Artist)
One of the region’s leading classically-trained rock guitarists, Michael has performed in venues throughout the US including Gazzari’s and the Troubadour on “The Strip,” in Los Angeles (some of the former haunts of Elton John, John Lennon and Nelson). Michael completed his Bachelor’s a classical violinist and has worked in concert, studio and commercial aspects of the music industry for the past 35 years.
Official Website: http://www.michaelfuson.com/
