Guitarists play at international festival

Classical guitarists from around the world gathered at the Jacobs School of Music during the weekend to participate in the fourth annual Indiana International Guitar Festival and Competition.

Competitors were divided into three divisions: junior youth (ages 14 and under), senior youth (ages 14-18) and open (ages 19-35) and were judged on categories including technique, presentation, style and difficulty of repertoire.

The winner of the open division received a $1,700 cash prize while the senior youth winner earned $500. Additional monetary awards were granted to the top three runner-ups in each category.

The junior and senior youth divisions consisted of one round, but the open division featured a 33-person preliminary round, nine-person semifinal and four-person final.

Petar Jankovic, executive director of the competition and visiting lecturer of guitar at Jacobs, said the open division competitors were mainly students and young professionals who came from all over the world.

“Mexico and Canada are represented almost every year, then we have some Europeans, people from Asia and many states,” he said.

There were no requirements as to the works the guitarists had to perform, although they were subjected to time conditions.

“Each round, we have different time limits, but it is really open repertoire, so they can play whatever they know best,” Jankovic said.

Students from the Jacobs guitar department were not eligible to compete because it could be seen as a conflict of interest as many of the judges were Jacobs professors.

“We have one of the strongest guitar departments in the country, so the chances are that we would almost always have some of our students in the finals,” Jankovic said.

In addition to the competition, the festival featured two guest artists that gave workshops and played concerts that were open to the public.

Chilean guitarist Luis Orlandini gave a master class Saturday and played a concert Sunday night, while guitarist Matt Palmer entertained crowds Saturday night.

“We bring this festival for our students to experience a world-class festival, and so they can watch because in order to see this many great players from all around the world, you would have to pay a lot of money to go somewhere else,” Jankovic said.

Follow reporter Rachel Osman on Twitter @rachosman.