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International Guitar Festival
The 23rd Annual Radford University International Guitar Festival brings internationally noted guitarist performers to the sonic splendor of the campus of Radford University.
The International Guitar Festival has consistently drawn an audience to the New River Valley from Northern Virginia as well as beyond the borders of the Commonwealth of Virginia, including Maryland, North Carolina and as far north as New York State.
Sponsors of this event are The Department of Music, The College of Visual and Performing Arts, Radford University Campus Programming Committee (CPC), the McGlothlin Center for Global Education and Engagement, Mu Phi Epsilon, and The Southwestern Virginia Classical Guitar Society.
2024 International Guitar Festival Schedule
All events are FREE and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. All performances take place in the Davis Performance Hall in the Covington Center on Radford University's main campus.
Friday, April 5, 2024
3:00-5:00 PM: Masterclass - Kithara Duo (Olga Amelkina-Vera and Fernand Vera, guitar duo)
7:30 PM: Concert – Kithara Duo
Saturday, April 6, 2024
1:00-3:00 PM: Masterclass – Marco Battaglia
3:00-5:00 PM: Masterclass & Conference – Music of Andalusia - Enrique Munoz
7:00 PM: Concert - Marco Battaglia
8:00PM: Concert - Enrique Munoz
2024 Festival Performer Bios
Marco Battaglia
Marco Battaglia was born in 1969 in Milan (Italy) where his high school studies were concentrated in the classics and afterwards he studied law and philosophy at the State University. On top of all this, he dedicated himself to the guitar carrying out his training at the "Claudio Abbado" Civic School of Music. In 1995 he graduated from the Conservatory and went on to specialize in the interpretation of 19th century music paying close attention to matters of performance practice and is an esteemed interpreter of Classical and Romantic period sources utilizing period guitars.
Carring out an intense career as a performer, lecturer, teacher and researcher, Marco Battaglia gives his concerts as a soloist in 27 nations on five continents in collaboration with unversities, festivals, Italian Embassies, Consulates and Institutes of Culture. Past performances, recitals and masterclasses, include tours in the USA, Mexico, Peru, Australia, New Zealand, China, Russia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Tunisia. In Europe, he's played hundreds of concerts in Paris, Lyon, Marseilles, Lisbon, London, Oslo, Copenhaghen, Krakow, Amsterdam, Berlin - Potsdam, Frankfurt, Bonn, Duesseldorf, Vienna, Basel, Bern, Athens, , Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade , Rome, Milan, Mantova, Genoa, Florence, Naples, Bari, Cagliari and Messina.
His interviews and performances have been broadcasted by RAI (Italian State TV and Radio), Slovenian State TV and Radio, RTS (Serbian State Television), Kultura TV (Moskow), Asian TV (Thailand), TVB (Hong Kong), ABC, SBS (Australia), Radio New Zealand and many others. Specialized magazines (“The Classic Voice”, "Chitarra acustica", "Seicorde"...) have extensively written articles about him, as well as the most important newspapers, the “Sydney Morning Herald”, the “Canberra Times” (“...there was much to enjoy in his playing...a unique and most enjoyable recital.”), the “Jakarta Post”, the “Bangkok Post”, the ”General-Anzeiger-Bonn”, the “Corriere della Sera” and “La Stampa” (“Battaglia plays with grace and taste, playing with the subtitles…; the pages…that Marco Battaglia performed wonderfully, creating clinking resonance for the arias of “Italiana in Algeri”, “Otello” and “Armida” with a taste for an intimate sound, almost secret” - Paolo Gallarati).
He performed in Genoa Opera Theatre on a guitar which once belonged to Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini (Gennaro Fabricatore, Naples, 1821), property of the Risorgimento Museum of Genoa; the event was following the first concert in modern times with this historical instrument at the Stelline Foundation of Milan (on the program were solo pieces for guitar by the composers cited in the letters and “Philosophy of music” of Mazzini). It was his idea to restore the instrument for this occasion.
Kithara Duo
Acclaimed for its “touching musicality, elegant presentation, and seamless coordination” by Fort-Worth Star-Telegram, Kithara Duo (Olga Amelkina-Vera and Fernand Vera) are celebrating 22 years of playing together. The duo has performed in Europe, South America, and throughout the US since their founding in 2002. Their playing has been described as “state-of-the-art” by American Record Guide, which also stated “if you haven’t discovered them, you should.” Sarasota Herald-Tribune praised the ensemble for its “admirably seamless level of musicality and technique.”
Kithara Duo’s critically acclaimed debut CD, Beings, was released by Soundset Recordings in 2011. The duo is home to an international award-winning composer, Olga Amelkina-Vera, and their first album is a world premiere recording of her music for guitar duo. Olga is hailed by Soundboard as “at the very forefront of composers writing for the guitar today.” Her works have been called “the discovery of the evening” (Sarasota Herald-Tribune), “brilliant” (The Royal Gazette), “incandescent” and “hypnotic” (Fort Worth Star-Telegram). In addition to Olga’s original compositions, Fernand and Olga have contributed to guitar duo repertoire through their arrangements and transcriptions. Their second CD, Lingua Franca (2015), features their arrangements of music from the Renaissance to the 20th century. The duo is also featured on Ka Ao: Works for Guitar (2022), an album that features Olga’s guitar compositions performed by a star roster of artists, including three tracks recorded by Kithara Duo.
Kithara Duo have been invited to perform and teach at numerous festivals and universities throughout the country, such as the Guitar Foundation of America Convention and Competition, St. Louis Classical Guitar Society Great Artist Series, Utah Classical Guitar Society, Seattle Classic Guitar Society, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Guitar Sarasota, Texas A&M International Guitar Symposium, Florida State University Guitar Festival, and many other venues. Kithara Duo appeared as soloists with New Texas Symphony Orchestra in the world premiere performance of Olga’s original work Étoiles Par Grand Vent, which she orchestrated for guitar duo with symphony orchestra. The ensemble enjoys outreach presentations, and has been hailed as “great communicators to both children and adults” (St. Louis Classical Guitar).
To learn more about the duo, please visit kitharaduo.com and follow us on Instagram @kitharaduo and on facebook.com/kitharaduo.
Enrique Muñoz
Enrique Muñoz Teruel lives in Santisteban del Puerto, Jaen, Spain; and began his studies with Francisco Cuenca, with whom soon demonstrated a fast progress and great enthusiasm whit guitar. He has taken part in master classes with David Russell, Ahmet Kanneci and Javier Garcia, among others. He has conducted several vocal and instrumental ensembles, and eventually he conducts the RUSSIA Chamber Orchestra.
He has participated in various international festivals, such as Morelia (Mexico), Guitar “Nuits Musicales” of Cieux (France), Impera (Italy), International Music Performing Arts “Andrés Segovia” of Linares, “Girona-Costa Brava”, Girona; “Villa de Aranda”, Aranda de Duero; etc. In addition to play in these events has participated and made many tours throughout Mexico, Japan, U.S.A, Italy, China, Russian, Thailand, France, Switzerland, Argentina, Auastria, Bulgaria, and Israel. One of the most emotive concerts was held at the Museum of Andres Segovia at the Fifth International Festival of Music and Performing Arts "Ciudad de Linares."
He was a founder of several international guitar meetings and classical music, since its inception and at the present, he´s the director of the following events: X International Festival of Classical Music "Villa Navas de San Juan"; International Classical Guitar Competition “Comarca del Condado", "International Classical Music of Vilches”, International Guitar Competition "Mario Egido" (Vilches) and the musical courses of Santisteban del Puerto and Vilches.
Muñoz is a frequent judge in numerous international guitar competitions around the world like the "Andres Segovia," Linares; "Morelia City", Michoacan (Mexico), "Joann Falletta" (NY, USA); "Celodonio Romero," La Cala del Moral, "Comarca del Condado", Santisteban del Puerto, "Villa de Aranda," Aranda de Duero, Burgos; "Giovanni Paganini", Parma (Italy).
Enrique Muñoz combines his intense activity of concert guitarist and organizer with his teacher activity, occupying the post of director at Public School of Music "Comarca del Condado" Santisteban del Puerto, which include three places extension (Montizón, Sorihuela of Guadalimar and Castellar), and Public Schools Music of Navas de San Juan, Arquillos and Vilches.
He has collaborated on several radio programs as music specialist and performed in TV programs in national and regional areas. In February 2010, completing the recording of their first album "Enrique Muñoz," which was presented throughout the year in various parts of the world, as the University of Miami (USA) and the Casa Museo Andrés Segovia (Spain).
In 2013 he was honored at the International Guitar Festival "Villa De Anranda" in Burgos, Spain, where he was awarded a special recognition for his "Career and International Labor for Guitar". He recently completed four international tours in Japan, Mexico, China and Italy, as well as several concerts in other countries.
Dr. Robert Trent
Robert Trent was the conductor for the inaugural concert of the All-Virginia Guitar Ensemble. Dr. Trent is in his 29th year as Full Professor of Music (Guitar and Renaissance Lute studies) at Radford University where he serves as director of Graduate Music Studies, the Performance Degree and of Radford University’s Annual International Guitar Festival, and was named Radford University’s “Distinguished Creative Scholar” (2020) and “Dalton Eminent Scholar” (2021). Many of his students are performers, educators, producers, recording artists, and administrators at all levels in the U.S., Latin America, and in Asia.
Nationally, he serves on the Guitar Foundation of America’s “Soundboard Scholar Committee”. He is the first recipient of the degree Doctor of Musical Arts in guitar performance from the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Julian Gray, Manuel Barrueco, lutenist Ronn McFarlane, and singer John Shirley-Quirk. “His interpretations are dignified, formal, and carefully thought out, with a sense of structural integrity that informs every passing tone.” NEW YORK TIMES. “A SEASONED ARTIST STRUMS THE DEPTHS (headline) “.... he seemed most intent on using his sweet, crystalline sound to plumb the emotional depths of each work.” -PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER