This is a guest post by Heather Morand Clark.
See the bottom of this post for a biography.
Montreal International Guitar Festival and Competition
April 16-18, 2010
Heather Morand Clark
Photos: Hover your cursor over the image for the title, click to enlarge.
Montreal, a city with a vibrant music and cultural scene, was host to twenty-two young guitarists on the weekend of April 16-18, 2010, for the ninth annual Montreal International Classical Guitar Festival and Competition. They came from many parts of Canada, the US, and some indirectly, from other parts of the world such as Cuba and Singapore as well. They came for the opportunity to express and display their talents for an international jury, hopeful that they would be given further opportunity to advance their performing careers. Past prize winners have gone on to successful careers, including names such as Isaac Bustos (Nicaragua), Jerome Ducharme (Canada), Thibault Cauvin (France), Mark Edwards (US), and both Drew Henderson and Michael Kolk of Canada, who now perform as the HK Duo.
Prizes awarded this year, aside from the monetary ones, included Canadian concert engagements at the Festival Abitibi-Temiskaming and at Sauble Beach Guitar Festival, as well as for the Guitar Society of Toronto.
The Festival, held in cooperation with the Music Department of Concordia University, began with the first round of competitors on the morning of April 16th. One could empathize with the first few, being asked to perform so early in the day, and so early in the competition. How does one remain memorable when there are 20 or so more players to come after you?
Attire ranged from casual to formal, with some personal touches thrown in. Of note, one pant leg rolled up, red socks, and another competitor with mismatched socks!
The music played was free choice, which meant there were few duplicated selections, although Bach was a popular choice, being performed by nearly half of the competitors.
The task of reducing the number of competitors for the next round fell to jury members Roddy Ellias, a faculty member at Concordia University, Jeffrey McFadden, an internationally renowned performer and faculty member from the University of Toronto, and Detlev Bork, a classical and flamenco guitarist from Germany. Of the original twenty-two, twelve advanced to the semi finals.
The second day began with the Montreal Guitar Society youth competition for players 17 and under, which had 8 competitors in one round. Perhaps the biggest surprise of this event was the first very young competitor, so small that he had to bring his own stool to sit on, and was playing a half-size guitar. Upon seeing him one might have expected a rendition of Carulli’s ‘Country Dance’ or some other such beginner piece. However this young man totally amazed audience and judges alike by performing for 15 minutes, totally from memory, Sor Minuet & Allegro Op 22 No. 3, and Gavotte 1&2 from Bach’s sixth cello suite. Such a display from the 7-year-old Kayden Behan was stunning! How does one begin to compare that with players 10 years older?
The remainder of the young competitors displayed wonderful talent and musicianship, with the eventual winner, Julian Geisterfer performing Koshkin’s Usher Waltz and the Prelude and Presto from Bach’s Lute suite BWV 995. Julian received a cash prize from the Montreal Guitar Society, as well as a performance opportunity for next year’s festival. He is a student of Patrick Roux, from the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
The afternoon continued with the semi-finals of the senior competition. This round had a jury comprised of Detlev Bork, Jeffrey McFadden, and Dave Pilon of Montreal. The eventual outcome of this phase was that three finalists were selected for the following day. The judges observed that the performance level was very high, and more finalists could have been selected, but these three particularly stood out from the rest.
Concerts for this festival occurred on both the Friday and Saturday evenings. The first included a performance by last year’s junior competition winner, Shon Boublil, who played Llobet’s Variations on a theme by Sor. What a talent, still only sixteen years old! The guitar orchestra of the Montreal Guitar Society, under the direction of Dave Pilon, then performed several selections from Sanz, Haydn and Albeniz, among others. We were then treated to the world premiere of Critical Density, a four-movement work by Haralabos Stafylakis commissioned by Patrick Kearney, festival director. It is a challenging piece written for guitar, two violins, viola and cello, and featured recent McGill University Masters graduate Tariq Harb on guitar.
Saturday evening featured appearances by some of the jury members; the theme was ‘Composers performing their own works’. We had Roddy Ellias with jazz influenced music entitled Emptying – Sonata, Simone Iannarelli from Mexico playing several pieces including an Italian Coffee Suite, and Andrew Zohn of the US playing selections including Variations and Fuguetta on a Theme by Bach.
And so to the finals of the competition. Sunday afternoon, each of the three finalists performed for 25 minutes, their own choice of music. Edel Munoz of Cuba performed first, playing Torroba, Aguado, and La Muerte del Angel by Piazzolla. Alan Pawlowicz of Toronto followed with Bach, Brouwer and Introduction and Caprice by Giulio Regondi, followed by Brendan Evans of the US with Lauro, Henze, Variaciones Sobre Un Tema de Milan by Nin-Culmell, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco. The performances, once again were all stellar, and after lengthy discussion, the five judges determined that Edel Munoz would be awarded first prize, and that second would be given to both Alan Pawlowicz and Brendan Evans.
Prizes awarded, besides concert engagements, included generous gifts from festival partners Savarez, and the Montreal guitar shop Le Grand Salon de la Guitare. One of which, a guitar case, led to an amusing and very good-natured on-stage game of rock-paper-scissors to determine which of the second-place winners would take it home! Brendan Evans was the eventual winner, and apparently it was a much-appreciated replacement for his existing case, which had had a run-in with his cat!
Next year’s festival, April 29-May 1 2011, is already in the planning stages. It is being moved to Concordia University’s newly renovated D.B. Clarke theatre in the heart of downtown Montreal: http://cjournal.concordia.ca/archives/20100513/db_clarke_theatre_to_become_more_functional_and_safer.php
Invited artists include Arnaud Dumond, Alexander Dunn, Roddy Ellias, Jeffrey McFadden, Patrick Kearney, Ramiro Martinez Pina, Andrew Zohn, along with the SGM amateur guitar orchestra and others.
Information can be found at the festival web site: http://www.guitaremontreal.com
About Heather Morand Clark:
Heather Morand Clark holds the position of vice president on the Board of Directors for the Guitar Society of Toronto, and was recently appointed as a director for the Sauble Beach Guitar Festival. Heather was chosen to represent the Guitar Society of Toronto at the Guitar Foundation of America’s Conference in Austin, Texas in 2010.
She has studied the classical guitar since the age of 13, and currently holds certificates from the Royal Conservatory of Music for Grade Nine. Her teachers include recording artists Michael Bracken and Drew Henderson. Heather has participated in master classes with, among others, Jeffery McFadden, John Mills, Marcin Dylla, Maximo Pujol, and Gerald Garcia, and attended numerous guitar festivals including the Acadia Guitar Festival (2007) and the West Dean International Guitar Festival (2004,06,08). She has attended, and assisted with the administration of, the Sauble Beach Festival since its inauguration in 2007.
Heather has performed and taught guitar in Caledon and Orangeville since 2003. New ventures include a foray into artist management and the publication of articles on international guitar festivals and symposia (including Canada, Europe) which have been published by Classical Guitar Magazine (UK) and Soundboard Magazine (USA).
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