GUIMARÃES INTERNATIONAL GUITAR FESTIVAL

Guimarães International Guitar Festival was idealized and founded by the Portuguese guitarist Nuno Cachada. It aims to reinforce the classical guitar strand in the musical scene, both in the pedagogical and formative context aiming to foster a new attitude to classical guitar, still little publicized as a soloist instrument. This festival has the support of the Municipality of Guimarães, Creative Europe Program from European Union, as well as other entities such as several national and foreign universities.

Organized for the first time in 2014, it was immediately joined by more than a hundred young guitarists from all over the country, as well as from European countries such as Spain, Belgium and Germany, to participate in concerts, masterclasses, workshops and “Cidade de Guimarães” International Guitar Competition.

The following editions have led to reinforce these strands and even extend them to musicological research by holding conferences in partnership with the University of Minho and with specialized researchers in the field of guitar production.

Several emerging and world-renowned guitarists, pedagogues and researchers such as Brian Head, Costas Cotsiolis, Dejan Ivanović, Michalis Kontaxakis, Judicaël Perroy, Hubert Käppel, Ricardo Barceló, Mak Grgić, Robert Trent, José Manuel Dapena, Pedro Rodrigues, Paulo Peres, Joaquim Simões, André Madeira, Francisco Franco, Andrea Roberto, Julia Trintschuk, Giulia Ballaré, Yuki Saito, Simone Rinaldo, Katarzyna Smolarek, Vinicius Perez, Antero Pellikka, Dmytro Omelchak, Márcio Silva, João Robim Dias Rocha, Nicola Montella, Rui Vilhena, Vedran Vujica, João Carneiro, Ricardo Abreu, Tiago Sampaio, Francisco Franco, Daniel Lemos, Tiago Gil Oliveira, Aires Pinheiro, Tiago Cassola Marques, Tiago Sousa, Eduardo Magalhães, Teresa Picado, César Nogueira, Carlos Piñuela, Vítor Guerreiro, Sérgio Chitas, Tiago Abreu, Edgar Petejo, Marco Ferreira, Ricardo Cerqueira, Vítor Gandarela, José Pedro Campos, Carina Albuquerque, Mara Figueiredo, Héder Dias, Belquior Guerrero, Fernando Tona and Tito Silva, have been part of this festival throughout its five editions.

Guimarães International Guitar Festival is proud to be member of EuroStrings - European Guitar Festival Collaborative, the first platform in the guitar sector in Europe gathering 17 classical guitar festivals that organize international guitar competitions and have a professional structure that enables further education and professional development of emerging guitar players. This platform, co-funded by the Creative Europe Program from the European Union, contributes to the development of a vibrant and diverse European classical guitar scene which reflects shared values, preoccupations, and challenges of the 21st century experienced by every classical guitarist, especially a young emerging professional. This platform is to ensure that a modern and positive classical guitar vibe can be experienced by a broad range of audiences across Europe and worldwide.

The Eurostrings members are: Antwerpen Gitaarfestival, Belgium; Guimarães International Guitar Festival, Portugal; Internationales Gitarrenfestival Rust, Austria; Zagreb Guitar Festival, Croatia; Szeged Guitar Festival, Hungary; Sarajevo International Guitar Festival, BiH; Twents GitaarFestival, The Netherlands; Nikšić Guitar Festival, Montenegro; Tampere Guitar Festival, Finland; Sofia GuitArt Festival, Bulgaria; Tallinn Guitar Festival, Estonia; International Guitar Festival Mottola, Italy; International Festival Of Guitar José Tomás Villa De Petrer, Spain; International Guitar Festival Nuertingen, Germany; London Guitar Festival, UK; Harmonia Cordis International Guitar Festival, Romania; Uppsala International Guitar Festival, Sweden.