International Guitar Festival comes to Covington Center April 6 - 7

Marco Battaglia is an Italian-born guitarist who specializes in the interpretation of 19th century musical performance utilizing original guitars from that era. He has performed in over 27 nations and is the artistic director for several international music and guitar festivals. An example of Battaglia’s music can be found here.

Classical guitarist Danielle Cumming will also perform during the International Guitar Festival. Cumming is a well-known performer and teacher who has performed in North America and Europe. Her talents put her in high demand for teaching master classes in guitar, and she is regularly featured in international music festivals. Cumming is the head of guitar studies at Salisbury University in Maryland. Click here to see one of Cumming’s live performances.

Matthew Denman is the Director of Guitar Studies at Oklahoma City University, Director of Education for the Guitar Foundation of America, Director of the Celedonio Romero Guitar Institute, founder of the Oklahoma Guitar Orchestra, and former Director of Guitar at Classen School of Advanced Studies. Denman has won numerous awards for his performances as well as teaching music and has even been featured on the cover of Soundboard Magazine. See an example of his live performance here.

Mesut Özgen is a guitarist and composer whose works are deeply influenced by traditional Turkish music. Özgen has performed and taught master classes throughout the United States, Europe, and Turkey and has been teaching at the Florida International University School of Music as Director of Guitar Studies since 2013. Özgen received Master of Music and Artist Diploma from Yale School of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from Arizona State University, as well as an MD from Hacettepe University Medical School, Turkey. He is the first guitarist to be awarded the “Dean’s Prize,” the highest honorary prize at the Yale School of Music. An example of his live performance can be found here.

Each year Dr. Robert Trent, a professor in the Department of Music, oversees a group of students who organize the festival. “Students, and the audience benefit from what they learn about the nature, incredible variety, and stature of classical guitar, its performers and music, around the world. One thing that I think is really important is that high school students from around Virginia also participate in a high school guitar ensemble showcase having the experience of performing in our state-of-the-art performance hall. The festival also offers these students the opportunity to perform in open masterclasses given by our internationally noted performers. Masterclasses are lessons that are open to the public audience. Both students and the audience ask questions in an interactive setting and learn about what goes into study and performance on classical guitar,” said Trent.

The full schedule for the 2018 International Guitar Festival can be found here.