It’s that time of year again, and I am in Iserlohn (Schwerte, actually, which is where the festival relocated).
This year there is a large contingent from China – students from Chengdu with their teacher Xu Bao, and also from Shanghai with Danny Yeh. I know most of the Chengdu students from my visit earlier this year

The first evening was a series of short, but stunning performances by Kuang Junhong, the 13 year old from Chengdu, Aniello Desiderio and then the Katonas. This was a showcase of the variety that we have in the classical guitar world today.

Next up was  Andrea Vettoretti, purveyor of gentle “Italian Coffee” followed by the surprisingly percussive, jazzy and totally musical flute and guitar duo of Mie Ogura and Atanas Ourkouzuonov.

The next concert was special for me, with performance by the duo Gruber and Maklar followed by guitar quartet with organ – Thomas Kirchhoff and Dale Kavanagh joined the Gruber Maklar Duo and organist Tobias Aehlig to play the first performance of my piece “Las Meninas Bailan” for Organ and Guitar Quartet. The performance was great, but a glitch in the video feed from the organ loft resulted in the slightly curious situation of  the audience staring at two empty chairs on stage while being surrounded by the enormous sound of organ and amplified guitars.

Last night, David Russell gave a regal performance and had four standing ovations. The sound in the The Oberste Stadtkirche in Iserlohn was beautiful, and no matter how difficult the pieces, David played them with effortless authority.

The Eden Stell Duo arrived last night, and Johannes Moller will arrive today, so tonight should be interesting!

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