International classical guitar competitions

International classical guitar competitions are public events designed to identify and award outstanding classical guitar soloists, ensembles, and composers. They allow artists to promote themselves and gain exposure. Some competitions also have newly composed "set" pieces which serve to increase the classical guitar repertoire.

Early history

The guitar seems to be the absentee in musical competitions until the Second World War.

• In 1949 the "First Guitar Competition", now the Tokyo International Guitar Competition was held and the Modern Japan Guitar Federation was established in Tokyo, Japan. It was not held in 1954, 1955, and 1956, but continued from the 6th edition since 1957. From the 25th edition in 1982 became the Tokyo International Guitar Competition.
• The first international guitar performance competitions in Europe were promoted and initiated in the 1950s by virtuoso Spanish guitarist Andrés Segovia. In 1956 he managed to get the guitar discipline to be included in prestigious multi-instrumental Geneva International Music Competition.
• The 1960s led to born within the compass of Segovia two European competitions that marked the history of guitar and which remains active until today, i.e. 1967 - International Guitar Competition "Francisco Tárrega" in Benicàssim, Spain and 1968 - Competition "Premio Città di Alessandria" in Alessandria, Italy, which in 1995 would be renamed International Classical Guitar Competition "Michele Pittaluga - Premio Città di Alessandria" on the occasion of its founder passing. Over time, Segovia kept promoting competitions by giving his support to ones which had evident professionalism contents.
• Between 1959 and 1990s the Concours International de Guitare was organized by O.R.T.F., which then became Radio France. The competition was born at the behest of Robert J. Vidal, deputy producer of the French radio station. In 2007 a new competition, International Classical Guitar Competition Robert J. Vidal ^[1] in Barbezieux, France was established in his memory.
• In 1972 Giuliano Balestra founded International Guitar Competition "Fernando Sor" in Rome, Italy
• Since 1973 the city of Gargnano, Italy has been hosting the "Incontri Chitarristici" which included the International Classical Guitar Competition, since 1976.
• In 1982 the Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition was established and shortly became one of the most desired awards in the classical guitar world thus given a start to classical guitar popularisation in the US.
• In 1985, the European Year of Music, Andrés Segovia International Classical Guitar Competition was established in La Herradura, Spain in the honor of maestro.

Present times

In recent years, many international classical guitar competitions were established.

• The overall level of the competitions was raised by increasing prizes value up to $30,000 in the US, $22,000 in Europe, and $10,000 in Asia.
• Finals with the orchestra became more common.
• Introduction of online streaming of the competition rounds and YouTube applications greatly improved neutrality and public reception of the judgment.
• Many classical guitar competitions now take place during guitar festivals, and therefore the competition event can be attended by the general public, as an audience.
• Youth international competitions became more popular, attracting children and amateurs by the lower comp level and affordable prizes.

Competitors

• In the international classical guitar competitions, the typical age of the competitors is from 18 to 35. Some competitions don't have age restrictions.
• The youth competitions are usually up to 25 years old.
• As a result of an increased number of competitions, some competitors have won unusual (more than 15) number of 1st Prizes in the professional (adult) competitions: 19 - Marcin Dylla, 19 - Goran Krivokapić, 55 - Marko Topchii.

List of international competitions for classical guitar

US and Americas

Competition Name	Town	Country	Last year active	1st prize cash, USD
Parkening International Guitar Competition [2]	Malibu, CA	USA	2019	30,000
Baltimore International Guitar Competition [3]	Baltimore, MD	USA	2022	35,000($20,000 Cash Award & $15,000 Augustine Career Award)
JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition (biennial)	Buffalo, New York	USA	2020	12,500
International Guitar Competition Maurizio Biasini [4] (biennial)	Bologna, Basel, San Francisco, Paris	Italy, Switzerland, France and USA	2021	12,000
Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition (ICAC) [5]	New every year	USA	2025	10,000
Dr. Luis Sigall International Music Competition [6] (Guitar every 5 years)	Viña del Mar	Chile	2017	10,000
Miami International GuitART Festival and Concert Artist Performance Competition [7]	Miami, FL	USA	2018	5,000
University of Rhode Island Rising Stars International Guitar Competition [8]	Kingston, RI	USA	2024	5,000
Wilson Center Guitar Competition & Festival [9]	Wisconsin	USA	2019	5,000
Festival y Concurso Internacional de Guitarra de la Habana (biennial) [10]	Havana	Cuba	2018	5,000
Culiacan International Guitar Competition [11]	Culiacán, Sinaloa	Mexico	2020	4,000
Indiana International Guitar Festival & Competition [12]	Bloomington, IN	USA	2019	4,000
Texas International Guitar Festival and Competition [13]	Dallas, TX	USA	2020	3,000
Guitar Symposium & Competition [14]	Columbus, GA	USA	2020	2,000
LASP Classical Guitar Festival & Youth Competition [15]	Milwaukee, WI	USA	2022	500

Europe

Competition Name	Town	Country	Last year active	1st prize cash, USD
Tampere Guitar Festival [16]	Tampere	Finland	2023	none
Alhambra International Guitar Competition	Valencia	Spain	2018	15909 (€ 14,000)
Frauchi International Competition [17] (biennial: odd years)	Moscow	Russia	2021	14205 (€ 12,500)
International Guitar Competition "Francisco Tarrega" [18]	Benicàssim	Spain	2021	13636 (€ 12,000)
International Guitar Competition Maurizio Biasini [4] (biennial)	Bologna, Basel, San Francisco, Paris	Italy, Switzerland, France and USA	2024	13636 (€ 12,000)
Michele Pittaluga International Classical Guitar Competition	Alessandria	Italy	2018	11364 (€ 10,000)
International Classical Guitar Competition Robert J. Vidal [19]	Barbezieux	France	2016	11364 (€ 10,000)
Andrés Segovia International Guitar Competition [20]	Almuñecar	Spain	2024	11364 (€ 10,000)
Miquel Llobet International Guitar Competition [21]	Barcelona	Spain	2022	6250 (€ 5,000)
Paganini Guitar Festival Competition [22]	Parma	Italy	2023	2420 (€ 2,000)
European Bach Guitar award [23]	Darmstadt	Germany	2022	10331 (€ 8,000)
Viseu International Guitar Competition [24] (biennial: even years)	Viseu	Portugal	2018	9091 (€ 8,000)
Concurso Internacional de Guitarra Clásica Gredos San Diego [25]	Madrid	Spain	2018	5682 (€ 5,000)
Budapest International Guitar Competition & Festival [26]	Budapest	Hungary	2017	5682 (€ 5,000)
Silesian Guitar Autumn, Jan Edmund Jurkowski Memorial Guitar Competition [27]	Tychy	Poland	2018	5181 (20,000 zł)
Incontri Chitarristici di Gargnano - Concorso Internazionale [28]	Gargnano	Italy	2019	4773 (€ 4,200)
Liechtenstein Guitar Festival ligita, International ligita Guitar Competition [29]	Eschen	Liechtenstein	2018	4545 (€ 4,000)
International Guitar Competition "Ruggero Chiesa - Città di Camogli" [30] (biennial: even years)	Camogli	Italy	2018	4545 (€ 4,000)
International Guitar Competition Heinsberg [31] (biennial: odd years)	Heinsberg	Germany	2017	4545 (€ 4,000)
International Guitar Competition "Ville d'Antony" [32]	Antony	France	2018	3977 (€ 3,500)
London International Guitar Competition [33]	London	UK	2018	3750 (£ 3,000)
International Competition of Guitar - Mottola [34]	Mottola	Italy	2018	3409 (€ 3,000)
International Guitar Competition Fernando Sor [35]	Rome, Madrid	Italy, Spain	2018	3409 (€ 3,000)
Linares International Guitar Competition "Andrés Segovia" [36]	Linares	Spain	2018	3409 (€ 3,000)
Dutch Guitar Foundation International Guitar Concerto Competition [37]	Groningen	Netherlands	2020	3409 (€ 3,000)
Koblenz International Guitar Competition [38]	Koblenz	Germany	2018	3409 (€ 3,000)
Iserlohn International Guitar Competition [39]	Villigst and Iserlohn	Germany	2021	3409 (€ 3,000)
International Guitar Competition Nürtingen [40] (biennial: even years)	Nürtingen	Germany	2018	3409 (€ 3,000)
European Classical Guitar Competition "Enrico Mercatali" [41]	Gorizia	Italy	2023	2841 (€ 2,500)
International Guitar Competition "Paris Guitar Foundation" [42]	Paris	France	2019	2841 (€ 2,500)
Zagreb Guitar Festival and International Guitar Competition [43]	Zagreb	Croatia	2017	2841 (€ 2,500)
Twents Gitaar Festival	Enschede	Netherlands	2018	1136 (€ 1,000)
Bale-Valle Guitar [44] Competition	Bale-Valle	Croatia	2022	1136 (€1,000)
Transilvania International Classical Guitar Competition [45]	Cluj-Napoca	Romania	2023	1136 (€ 1,000)
Sarajevo International Guitar Festival	Sarajevo	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2018	none
Volos international Guitar festival & competition [46]	Volos		2017	none
International Guitar Competition Berlin [47]	Berlin	Germany	2018	none

Asia, Australia, and Oceania

Competition Name	Town	Country	Last year active	1st prize cash, USD
Qingdao International Guitar Art Festival and Competition [48]	Qingdao	China	2019	15504 (CN¥  100,000)
Daejeon International Guitar Competition [49]	Daejeon	South Korea	2017	10000
International Guitar Festival China Changsha [50]	Changsha	China	2018	10000
Tokyo International Guitar Competition [51]	Tokyo	Japan	2018	9112 (¥ 1,000,000)
Taiwan International Guitar Festival & Competition [52]	Taipei	Taiwan	2018	8000
Adelaide Guitar Festival and International Classical Guitar Competition	Adelaide	Australia	2018	7519 (A$ 10,000)
Altamira International Virtual Guitar Competition [53]	Hong Kong	China	2021	6500
Singapore international Guitar Festival and Competition [54]	Singapore	Singapore	2016	2000
Asia International Guitar Festival & Competition [55]	Bangkok	Thailand	2018	none
Saigon International Guitar Festival [56]	Ho Chi Minh	Viet Nam	2024	none

Youth and Discontinued

• Discontinued (inactive)

Competition Name	Town	Country	Last year active
Guitar Masters International Guitar Competition & Festival [57]	Wrocław	Poland	2016
International Classical Guitar Competition Stefano Strata - città di Pisa [58]	Pisa	Italy	2015
Calcutta International Classical Guitar Festival & Competition [59]	Kolkata	India	2014
World Guitar Competition [60]	Novi Sad	Serbia	2013
International Guitar Competition Rene Bartoli [61]	Aix-en-Provence	France	2006
International Guitar Competition Mauro Giuliani	Bari	Italy	2004

• Youth (junior) competitions

Competition Name	Town	Country	Last year active
LASP Classical Guitar Festival & Youth Competition [62]	Milwaukee	USA	2022
International competition for young guitarists [63]	Gauting	Germany	2016
Gevelsberg Guitar Competition [64]	Gevelsberg	Germany	2016
International Competition for Young Guitarists «Andrés Segovia» [65]	Monheim am Rhein	Germany	2024
Terra Siculorum International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition [66]	Odorheiu Secuiesc	Romania
Transilvania Youth Guitar Competition [67]	Cluj-Napoca	Romania	2023
Vojvodina Guitar Fest International classical guitar competition [68]	Novi Sad	Serbia	2018

Thoughts on competitions

• Denis Azabagić has written: "Competitions give you a very valuable experience. Do they guide in your artistic development? I do not know if it benefits the guitarist in that area, but I think it does benefit the student because it helps him to set goals under pressure (having a deadline). This creates a great deal of stress, which you will have to learn how to deal with. To perform live in front of a jury is something that requires some training. Finally, if you are successful at winning competitions, this will help you to promote your name in the guitar circle, you will start to be noticed. I think winning competitions helps you build a name but does not help much to develop your artistry." ^[69]
• In this interview recorded in early 2002, Azabagic stresses that while competitions were very good to him, competitions can also be devastating to worthy musicians who never seem to win. ^[70]
• John Williams has said: "[...] basically I don't like or approve of competitions on any instrument. I don't think music can be evaluated like a race - I know that's an obvious thing to say and that there are many ifs and buts involved because they do help some artists and concentrate the public's attention on music. But I particularly don't like the way many guitar competitions are run, the confusing waypoints are awarded differently in each round of a competition, and especially the over-exploitation of the "Big Winner" and the competitive values that puts on players and the activity of guitar playing itself. Winning is a matter of taste in most cases, and there are often many other equally deserving competitors other than just the First Prize recipient. I feel it would be fairer to have a select group of finalists, each of whom receives the same award and status.
  I have served on juries in the past, but these days I refuse to take part, and I feel it is important to take that stand otherwise your reservations have no meaning. Having said all that, I know it happens anyway and sometimes there is sponsorship involved which does help the general public interest and support. But it still doesn't need to be a cut and dried thing, where each finalist is ranked as precisely as 1,2,3. I think it is those competitive values that are wrong, not the celebration of excellence in music as such. I have talked about the idea of setting up a competition where this other approach is used, but nothing definite has emerged from it yet; it may take some time to develop." ^[71]

Analysis of data at a piano competition, with many high-level participants, has made it doubtful that judges are able to make fully objective judgments; because there was a small correlation between the order of appearance of participants and their ranking:

• We find that the order and timing of appearance at the competition are good predictors of the final ranking. [...] Because of this, order and timing are unique instrumental variables for the final ranking, which we consistently find to have a significant impact on later success, irrespective of the finalists' true quality. Pianists with high scores are more likely to see their work recorded later on. It is also worth pointing out that the opinion of music critics is more influenced by the ranking than by the quality of the performers. This is not necessarily surprising, since there are many musicians who may have been good during the competition, but have vanished afterward, leaving the critics recollections unaffected.
  The conclusion that it pays to do well in the competition is strongly supported by the data. However, the fact that judges' rankings are affected by order and timing of appearance in a competition needs to be stressed, and sheds some doubt on their ability to cast fully objective judgments. ^[72]

On the other hand, if a competition has many professional-level artistic participants, it may not even be possible to make an objective judgment of who is "best"; because: given numerous professional-level artistic performers, there may not even be room for the concept of comparison; since this presumes the existence of a "best" interpretation, which is itself questionable (and would be a commercialization of art; viewing it from a mass-consumption or absolutist point of view).

Bibliography

• On Competitions - Dealing with Performance Stress ^[73] by Denis Azabagic

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Further reading

• Music Competitions - Who Wins? by Linda Anne Engelhardt
• Changes in Piano Competitions Alter How Juries Use Their Many "Texts" by Sean Bennett (2002)
• The Dark Side of Piano Competitions (August 7, 2009)
• Playing Up A Storm: The Great Debate Archived 2011-07-06 at the Wayback Machine (Sydney Morning Herald; Friday, July 7, 2000)
• Winning beginnings (January 10, 2002)
• Yugoslav Pianist: the Man "Who Killed Chopin" (alluding to those jurors, who could not accept a stunning emotional Chopin-interpretation; simply because it was different from the playing they were used to) (originally published in 11.11.1980)
• Can a Pianist Sway a Competition Jury? (May 25, 1989)
• In Competitions, the Fun Is Being Called for Jury Duty (December 18, 1988)
• Piano Juror by Leslie Gerber
• The murky music prize by Jessica Duchen (The Independent; 21 April 2009)
• Behind the scenes at piano competitions Archived 2009-09-14 at the Wayback Machine by Michael Johnson (27.08.2009)
• 'Trill' goes behind scenes in music world by Edward Reichel (Aug. 22, 2009)
• Brain, heart and fingers Music: Judging a piano competition requires comparing performances that are often very different, and all good (July 28, 1998)