Special Feature - Melbourne Guitar Foundation 2017 Classical Guitar Competition.

Melbourne International Guitar Festival
2017 Classical Guitar Competition.

Proudly sponsored by GuitarsOnline

At GuitarsOnline, we love to profile and showcase Australia’s leading talent and once again, we’re proud to have sponsored this year's Melbourne International Guitar Festival, classical guitar competition, which ran from September 22 - 24.

Each year the Melbourne Guitar Foundation hosts a classical guitar competition as part of the Melbourne International Guitar Festival, and entry is open to all ages, with four categories available based on performance standard and AMEB grade achieved.

For those that couldn’t make the event, we’ve put together both a review of the event, together with a Performance Showcase feature, where we have recorded the performances of all players, and featured them in the GuitarsOnline Performance Showcase.

Click here to view all performances from the MGF - 2017 Classical Guitar Competition

Festival Review

by Susan Ellis

It’s always a pleasure to see many young people playing classical guitar. This event was no exception. Held in an idyllic space, Melba Hall, at the Conservatorium of Music, it was comfortable and acoustically good for participants and audience.

The Beginner section was mostly filled with primary level guitarists. Many played from memory, familiar pieces from Debbie Cracknell and AMEB books and one interesting flamenco-style piece. It’s inspiring to see each participant get up on stage and do their best!
Yiyu Chen gained 1st prize playing a Carulli study with a beautiful tone quality along with an impressive stage manner.

Intermediate and Advanced Levels were largely represented by secondary school level students. James Dikranian gave a well phrased with warm yet strong tone performance of Tango by Tarrega.

There was some superb playing in the Advanced section. Each performance was enjoyable for the technical skill and musical insight. Interesting pieces by Houghton, Cimarosa, Yocoh, Lauro, Tarrega, Mertz and Bach.

Popular with some is Andrew York’s ‘Sunburst’ and it was given a fiery workout by both Adam Reade and Felix Rich.
Alice Pfeiffer won 1st Prize, playing a tasteful, well phrased ‘Allemande’ by Bach. This was followed by a rhythmical & skillful rendition of Roland Dyens ‘Tango En Skai’.

So much talent exists amongst these students and events like this really give them valuable performance opportunities.

This event attracts the largest number of guitar students in in Melbourne. In the broader sense they are a part of the whole festival of workshops and concerts which has to have such a positive effect on them, their families and friends.

Click here to view all performances from the MGF - 2017 Classical Guitar Competition