Buffalo Rising Online

May 26th, 7:16am By Eli George

The JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition is a biennial event that began in 2004. This year’s performances include a lot of community outreach programs to follow along with the ten world-class musicians as they progress through the semi-final and final rounds.

In 2004, JoAnn Falletta, conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) and a classical guitarist, and Don Boswell, President of WNED, brainstormed the idea together. The BPO and WNED then partnered to produce the first one. According to Wendy Diina Ceppaglia, co-chair of the competition, “The event made such an impact in our community and in the international guitar world that it returned in 2006.”

The first year just had two semi-final rounds and one final round. In 2006, after being part of Gusto at the Gallery, Ceppaglia says, “[It] really opened our eyes to the community outreach potential of the event. Ticket sales went up 60% from 2004 for the finals – people in the community were really catching on.”

Now it is 2008, and the competition has returned. As Ceppaglia will tell you, “The event has certainly grown into something larger than the competition – it is a celebration of the guitar and those who play it.” This year brings to the competition a number of new initiatives to try to improve the community outreach part of the program.

One of those new initiatives is video to create a more contemporary competition. There will also be a radio and website simulcast during the semi-final rounds. This will not only allow the local community to listen in, but the international community as well. With competitors coming from Poland, Peru, Germany, Uruguay, Costa Rica and the United States, it will allow the communities the competitors come from to take part in this year’s competition.

For the first time this year, three of the competitors are women hailing from the US, Germany, and Poland. The ten competitors were narrowed down from 53 applicants, judged by the Competition’s artistic directors, Joanne Castellani and Michael Andriaccio, a chamber ensemble duo who also are educators and owners of the Fleur de Son Classics record label, along with David Dusman, founder and president of Dusman Audio, and WNED-FM program host John Landis. This is the first time that any women have made the final cut.

To kick off the festival, there will be a free Community Welcome reception at 4pm on June 9th at WNED’s downtown studios. The simulcast will be on June 10th and 11th at 7:30pm with five competitors playing each evening. People in WNY and Southern Ontario will be able to hear the competition on WNED’s Classical 94.5 FM and streaming on their website at www.wned.org.

From the two semi-final rounds, three finalists will be chosen who will then perform with the BPO on June 13th at 7:30pm. The competitors are vying for a prize package that includes cash, a recording contract, national and international broadcast exposure, a concert guitar, a return engagement with the BPO, and an engagement with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, where Falletta is also the conductor.

If that was not enough, there will also be Guitar Days, where the guitarists go out to the community in a more hands-on way at different locations. This will also be the first year people can buy competition merchandise. Not to mention that the guitarists will be doing website chats after the event to help keep the guitarists, the Guitar Days attendees, the judges, and Falletta herself in contact. If that wasn’t all, the Falletta Competition will also be doing a road show in Toronto at Younge-Dundas Square.

For more information about Guitar Days, the competitors, how to purchase tickets to the semi-final and final rounds at Kleinhan’s Music Hall, or information about the competition itself, visit the website at www.fallettacompetition.org or call 885-5000.