JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition returns this week

Meliset Abreu (left), Gonzalo Gallardo (right)

JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition presents its third biennial competition, June 9-13 at Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall. The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Classical 94.5/WNED-FM inaugurated the competition in 2004. The bi-annual event is unique on the worldwide guitar competition circuit, as the three finalists each earn the opportunity to perform as a soloist in a public performance of a concerto with the BPO, a major symphony orchestra. Performances of guitar concertos by symphony orchestras in North America are not that common an occurrence, lending the event a special cachet. The most important part of making it to the competition finals is the wide, international public exposure that the three finalists gain. National Public Radio is recording the competition final concert with the BPO for later broadcast in Europe. The prize structure is also generous, with $7,500 awarded to the winner along with a return engagement with the BPO and an engagement with JoAnn Falletta’s other orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, and a recording contract with Buffalo-based Fleur de Son Classics. Second place earns $3,000 and third place $1,500.

The 10 contestants in this year’s competition come from five different countries in three continents, as well as from the United States, and include women for the first time. As in the two past events, entrants submitted recorded examples of their playing that were judged blindly. From Costa Rica, Guido Sanchez, 33, has been the first guitar of the Guitar Orchestra of Costa Rica, with which he has toured around the world. Laura U. Klemke, 27, of Germany has given over 500 public performances, including on radio and television, as well as performing as a concerto soloist with orchestras. Gonzalo Gallardo, 26, has performed Sierra’s Concerto Barroco in his native Peru, while his compatriot David Galvez, 33, is a professor at the Long Island Conservatory of Music, as well as a member of the Manhattan Guitar Quartet. Polish guitarist Krzysztof Meisinger, 23, has toured in England, France and Germany, also performing concerts with the National Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine in Kiev. Anna Mnich, 28, also from Poland, has been a member of the Silesian Guitar Octet and has recorded with the National Symphonic Orchestra of Polish Radio. Uruguayan Marco Sartor, 29, has performed on three continents, and has been a semi-finalist in both the 2004 and 2006 JoAnn Falletta competitions. American Meliset Abreau, 42, was invited to play at the closing recital of a Master Class given by the guitar legend Andre Segovia while at the Manhattan School of Music and has recently performed the Rodrigo concerto with the Bronx Symphony. Benjamin Beirs, 24, is the American half of the Duo Transatlantique, performing frequently here and in France. Chad Ibison, 33, has performed as a concerto soloist with the Columbus (Georgia) State University Philharmonic Orchestra.

Events get underway Monday, June 9, 2008 at 4pm, with a welcoming ceremony, free and open to the public, at the WNED studios at 140 Lower Terrace in downtown Buffalo, next to the Adam’s Mark. Falletta, who will make a formal presentation of all 10 contestants, recently observed that the warm welcome former competitors had received made a big impression. “Many of the competitors at past events have told me how surprised they were at the generosity and the warmth of the public support contestants received here, compared to other competitions they had been involved in,” said Falletta. “The Buffalo community has traditionally welcomed all the visiting artists as very special musical guests, helping them to feel more at ease during the competition process.”

The semifinals are ticketed events, and take place at 7:30pm on Tuesday, June 10 and Wednesday, June 11 at Kleinhans Music Hall. For the first time, both semifinal events will be broadcast live on WNED Classical 94.5/HD1 and worldwide on wned.org, featuring WNED Mid-Day Classics program host Peter Hall as the master of ceremonies. The competition’s artistic directors are Buffalo-based guitarists Joanne Castellani and Michael Andriaccio, who have earned an international reputation for their touring and recording chamber ensemble duo performances. They lead the judging during the preliminary round, joined by David Dusman, founder and president of Dusman Audio, Inc., which provides classical recording, post-production, and mastering services, and WNED-FM afternoon program host John Landis. The semifinal round and the finalist judges include producer and host of NPR’s Classical Guitar Alive Tony Morris and the Uruguayan Eduardo Fernandez, one of today’s leading internationally touring guitarists, who gave a memorable recital last year at Nichols School as part of the 2007 WNED Guitar Festival. Additional judges include the Spanish virtuoso guitarist and festival/competition director Enrique Muñoz Teruel and Brian Head, the president of the Guitar Foundation of America, as well as the renowned virtuoso guitarist and composer David Leisner, in addition to the preliminary round judges Castellani, Andriaccio, and Landis.

An exciting new addition to the competition’s roster of events is the launch of a two-day program on Thursday, June 12 and Friday, June 13 titled “Guitar Days,” featuring the semifinalists performing free education and community concert events throughout Erie, Chautauqua, and Niagara counties that reach out to audiences of all ages. A two-day residency at Buffalo’s premier arts school, the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Art, as well as concerts for students at the Grand Island and Orchard Park High Schools, along with events at the Chautauqua Institution, the Kenan Center, and Buffalo area Barnes and Noble stores will give all 10 contestants a chance to perform in public away from Kleinhans Music Hall. A brief Q&A with the guitarist (translators will be available) follows each performance.

The three finalists who move forward from the semifinals each perform a concerto on Friday, June 13 with the BPO before the panel of judges and a live audience. Immediately following the performance of the last finalist, the panel of judges is excused for adjudication and the audience submits their choice for the Audience Favorite Award.

The final concert presents special challenges for the orchestra, according to Falletta. “Each of the 10 competitors has the option of choosing one concerto from the list of five offered,” she explained. “The members of the orchestra have to be prepared to perform all five concertos, not knowing which concertos will be on the program, until shortly before the Friday evening performance. As the BPO Classics season that will end this coming weekend has proven, the members of the orchestra are more than up to the task, having successfully mastered a challenging and wide-ranging repertoire this past spring, including several works new to the BPO, both for concert performance, and as recordings for future release on the Naxos record label. The level of excellence achieved by the orchestra would have not been possible without the talents and dedication of each and every BPO musician.”

New to the list of concerto options is Roberto Sierra’s Folias, described as “a soaring, ecstatic, and fiery masterpiece based on Spain’s 16th- and 17th-century dance music; it conjures up dizzying echoes of Boccherini’s Introduction and Fandango mixed with an exhilarating exchange between tempo and rhythms, accented by Spanish castanets.” If we are all lucky, Folias will also make it to the finals.

For more information visit fallettacompetition.org.

Guitar Days

Thursday, June 12:
Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Atrium: 11:30am-12:30pm
Barnes and Noble, McKinley Mall: noon-1pm
Barnes and Nobles, Galleria: noon-1pm
Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, 450 Masten Avenue: 10:30-11:30am

Friday, June 13:
Orchard Park High School, education concert: 11-11:45am
Grand Island High School, education concert: 11-11:45am
Kenan Art Center, 433 Locust Street, Lockport: 1-2pm
Chautauqua Institution, McKnight Hall: 11am-noon. Free parking and entry to grounds.
Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts, 450 Masten Avenue: 12:30-2pm. Master class for Western New York guitar students.