School of Music hosts international guitar convention and competition

The six-day festival, the largest of its kind in North America, will feature concerts, master classes on technique and artistic development, lectures and an international competition. The winner of the top prize will receive $7,500, recording contracts and a 50-city concert tour at venues in the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil and China.

The event is expected to attract as many as 700 people with about 30 percent of attendees coming from outside the country, said Stephen Mattingly, guitar instructor and festival host.

“The festival attracts guitar enthusiasts and artists from around the world,” Mattingly said. “The top prize is the classical guitar community’s equivalent to the Van Cliburn Piano Competition.”

Concerts will be held in the Margaret Comstock Concert Hall, School of Music, unless otherwise noted. Featured performers include:

• Zoran Dukic, Croatia, 8 p.m., June 25
• Rovshan Mamedkulief, Russia, 4 p.m. and Marcin Dylla, Poland, 8 p.m., June 26
• Les Freres Meduses, Norway, 4 p.m., and Aniello Desiderio, Italy, 8 p.m., June 27
• Michael, Chapdelaine, Albuquerque, N.M., 4 p.m., Eliot Fisk, Boston, Mass, 8 p.m., June 28
• Scott Tennant, Los Angeles, Calif., 4 p.m., Berta Rojas with Paquito D’Rivera, Paraguay, 8 p.m., June  29, Brown Theatre, 315 W. Broadway.
• Cavatina Duo, Bosnia, 4 p.m., Competition Finals, 6:30 p.m., and Awards and Hall of Fame ceremony, 9 p.m., June 30

Concert tickets are $30 for adults, $20 for students and seniors. Day packages are also available.

Mattingly worked with the Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau to compete with Vancouver, Canada, and St. Louis, Mo., to be selected for the convention, which is in its 40th year. The bureau estimates that the event will have a $1.5 million economic impact for the city.