Florida Guitar Festival and Competition

11/05/2023

Open Division Results:
1: David Manzanares-Salguero
2: Steven Lerman
3: Gwenyth Aggeler
4: Jeremy Waldrip

High School Division Results:
1: Owen Wang
2: Asmund Erickson
3: Vivian Wang
4: Ashwin Ashok

Congratulations to all of our finalists and competitors!!!

11/05/2023

This year's finalists! Come to Dohnanyi Recital Hall tomorrow morning to hear them all play!

High School Division Finals
10:00: Ashwin Ashok
10:08: Owen Wang
10:16: Vivian Wang
10:24: Asmund Erickson

Open Division Finals
10:35: David Manzanares
10:55: Steven Lerman
11:15: Gwenyth Aggeler
11:35: Jeremy Waldrip

11/01/2023

Just two days until the Festival begins!!

We can't wait to hear 2022 Competition Winner Leonela Alejandro and students from the North Florida Suzuki School perform on Friday (11/3) in Florida State University College of Music Dohnanyi Recital Hall!

See you there!
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10/18/2023

There are still a few spots left for Spanish Romance, our benefit concert happening tomorrow night!

Reserve your spot now for this wonderful evening of Spanish food and wine to go along with outstanding Spanish guitar music played by FSU guitarists.

10/11/2023

We're so thrilled to have Altamira among our sponsors this year!

All 8 finalists will receive prize packages put together by them

Florida Guitar Festival and Competition x Altamira

Altamira Guitars will be sponsoring the Florida Guitar Festival and Competition 2023 organized by the founder and director Dr. Ben Lougheed. Check out the exciting lineup of concerts, masterclasses and competitions on the festival website at
https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/

Florida Guitar Festival and Competition
Ben Lougheed, Classical Guitarist

10/01/2023

Only one guitarist has ever won the First Prize in the world’s top competitions in both the Classical and Fingerstyle genres!

We're so excited to have Michael Chapdelaine returning to FSU to perform and teach at this year's Festival!

Sign up today to play in Michael's masterclass and participate in his workshop!
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Guitar Foundation of America (GFA) Walnut Valley Festival

09/22/2023

Congratulations to our 24 Semi-Finalists!!!

We had almost 40 competitors in the Open Division and 25 in the High School Division so the judges had an incredibly difficult time narrowing this down.

Can't wait to see you all in November!

Remember, there's still time to sign up fro a masterclass with one of the brilliant artists coming this year!
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09/13/2023

Very excited to be featuring Adam Holzman at this years festival! Be sure to sign up for the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival Competition! The first round of the competition will be ONLINE this year. Deadline September 15th! Apply here:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSVzrlJhFI1FRDMzCABYIhbUFcxj3tKF2z7xFzm36K5OGJgw/viewform?pli=1

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09/11/2023

Deadline: September 15th
Apply here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScSVzrlJhFI1FRDMzCABYIhbUFcxj3tKF2z7xFzm36K5OGJgw/viewform

09/11/2023

Did you just record a video for the Louisville competition?
You can use that exact same video for our competition!

Due date is end of the day Friday so get them in today!

09/07/2023

Due to the effects of Hurricane Idalia, we have decided to push back the due date for competition videos by one week. Videos for the High School and Open competitions are now due by the end of the day on Friday, September 15th.

Remember, if you are interested in competing, but don’t have a piece ready to go or the time to make a new video, you can use an old one! Any video recorded in the last two years (2022 or 2023) can be used for the first round of the competition.

You can view all the rules and find the application link through our website
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09/02/2023

Excited to share the poster for the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival! A beautiful design by .gtr Look out for more artist announcements coming soon 👀

Sign up for the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival Competition! The first round of the competition will be ONLINE this year. Full rules and the online application can be found on our website!

08/25/2023

Join us for our opening concert at the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival with last year’s winner, Leonela Alejandro

Do you want to play the opening concert for next year’s festival? Sign up for the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival Competition! The first round of the competition will be ONLINE this year.

Full rules and the online application can be found on our website:
https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/competition/

08/17/2023

Sign up for the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival! The first round of the competition will be ONLINE this year. Full rules and the online application can be found here!
https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/competition/

08/08/2023

We are happy to announce the 2023 Florida Guitar Festival Competition! 🎸 This year, the first round will be held online. Simply submit a YouTube video through the application (through the link in the bio) and we’ll inform which participants have advanced to the in-person semi-finals here in Tallahassee, FL this coming November 3-5.

For all of the competition details, visit the links in our bio! Best of luck! And we hope to see you down here in the fall 🍁
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10/24/2022

Open Division Results:

1: Leonela Alejandro
2: Yifei Pei
3: Aytahn Benavi
4: Jeremy Waldrip

High School Division Results:
1: Colin Guan
2: Stuart Brown
3: Terry Lin
4: Jade Ralston

Congratulations to all of our finalists and competitors!!!

10/23/2022

The Finalists for Open Division are (in performance order):

Aytahn Benavi
Yifei Pei
Leonela Alejandro
Jeremy Waldrip

10/23/2022

Here are the results of the Open and High School Competitions!

Open Division Semi-Finals
10:00: Jeremy Waldrip
10:12: Leonela Alejandro
10:24: Yunzhe Lin
10:36: Jesse Reece
10:48: Susana Frade Machado
11:00: Andrew Rubio
11:12: Mengya Tian
11:24: Yifei Pei
11:36: Marisa Sardo
11:48: Aytahn Benavi

High School Division Finals
1:00: Jade Ralston
1:08: Colin Guan
1:16: Terry Lin
1:24: Stuart Brown

10/22/2022

The Festival is off to a great start!

Make sure to come out at 7:30 tonight for the concert in Dohnanyi Recital Hall featuring Isaac Bustos and Silviu Ciulei!

Check out some of Silviu's flamenco playing that he'll be sharing with us tonight!

Guitar: 1962 Manuel de la Chica (http://www.tinyurl.com/pw7ac3d)Here's Silviu Ciulei playing his own Alegrias 'Nueva Vida' on a fantastic 1962 Manuel de la C...

10/20/2022

The Festival kicks off tomorrow!

We'll get to hear the incredible McCallie School Guitar Ensembles plus some of the most talented high school guitarists in all of Florida!

The schedule for the entire weekend can be found on our website!
https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/schedule/

10/18/2022

There's still time to sign up for the competition and a chance to win the $2,000 first prize!

Get your application in today and get practicing!

https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/competition/

10/16/2022

One week until the Festival's final concert: Alec Holcomb!

Check out Alec playing the formidable Grande Ouverture and make sure to come to all the concerts next weekend!

Here's me performing Mauro Giuliani's Grande Ouverture, Op. 61 (aka Grand Overture). This HOT, plump piece slaps hard, so buckle up. Hope you enjoy it as m...

10/15/2022

We're just one week away from Saturday's awesome concert with Isaac Bustos and Silviu Ciulei!

Unsurprisingly, both of these incredible musicians' masterclasses are filled but there are still a few spots in the other classes so sign up today and join us next weekend!

Check out Isaac playing the famous "Leyenda" in this great video!

Isaac Bustos performs Asturias (Leyenda) from Chants D'Espagna Op. 232Audio and Video by Drew HendersonGuitar: 2013 Martin Blackwell Spruce doubletopRecorded...

10/14/2022

There's just one week left to sign up to compete in this year's Festival!

Get your application in today for your chance at over $5,000 in prizes and to play in a masterclass with one of our incredible guest artists!

https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/application/

10/10/2022

The strings have arrived!!! It feels a little like Christmas morning when these finally come every year 😊

Thankful to Augustine Strings, D'Addario and Co., and Strings By Mail for their continued support!

All 8 finalists (Open and High School Divisions) will receive packages of strings, gift certificates, and more on top of their monetary prizes!

Sign up today for your chance to win!

https://floridaguitarfestival.wordpress.com/competition/