The 9th Indiana International Guitar Festival and Competition was held on the 27th and 28th of October, 2018. The three divisions of the competition featured 31 competitors in total, from seven countries—Canada, China, Vietnam, Serbia, Mexico, and Romania, as well as guitarists from many different U.S. states.
The first prize of the Open Division (ages 19–35) was shared by Augustin Marquez Rosado and Dragos Ilie, while the third and fourth prizes went respectively to Christopher Mrofchak and Austin Wahl. All prizewinners received a cash prize.
Open division winners and judges (from left to right): Luke Gillespie, Elisabeth Wright, Elzbieta Szmyt, Austin Wahl, Christopher Mrofchak, Dragos Ilie, Augustin Rosado Marquez, Ernesto Bitetti, and Atanas Tzvetkov.
Open Division winners: Augustin Rosado Marquez (L) and Dragos Ilie
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The Youth Division featured guitarists between 14 and 18 years of age, with the first prize going to Leonela Alejandro, the second to Fangfang Liu, third to Ian Dawkins, and fourth to Seth Miller. The winner of the Junior Youth Division (age 14 and under) was Ian Tubbs, second prize went to Teodor Georgiev, third to Abraham Blaesing, and fourth to Eva Schwark.
Youth Division winners (L-R): Seth Miller, Eva Schwark, Teodor Georgiev, Ian Tubbs, Fangfang Liu, Leonela Alejandro
Along with the competitions, the event also presented two outstanding guest artists, Alvaro Pierri from Uruguay and Emanuele Segre from Italy. Both guitarists held master classes, plus memorable and enthusiastically received recitals that filled most of Auer Hall’s 400 seats. All events were presented on the campus of Indiana University/Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana.
Alvaro Pierri (L) and Emanuele Segre at their Auer Hall concerts
(All photos except top courtesy of the Jacobs School of Music Office of Communications)
Here’s a video from a few years ago of competition co-winner Agustin Rosado Marquez dynamically performing a movement from Ernesto Cordero’s wonderful Concierto Antillano from 1983, accompanied by a pianist (rather than a full orchestra). Both Marquez and Cordero hail from Puerto Rico.