The Magic of Guitar International Festival is one of the largest guitar festivals in Russia, introducing the St. Petersburg audience to the best performers in the world. The festival is dedicated to the memory of the outstanding St. Petersburg teacher Alexei Alekseevich Khorev, one of the pillars of the Russian guitar school. Since its foundation, Guitar Magic has become a unique phenomenon in the musical life of St. Petersburg, combining concert, educational and competitive programs.
Over the years, the festival has presented to the public many world-famous classical guitar stars, including:
Kazuhito Yamashita (Japan), Anatoly Izotov (Russia), The Assad Brothers (Brazil), Judicael Perrois (France), Marcin Dilla (Poland), Aniello Desiderio (Italy), Jeremy Jouve (France), Antigoni Goni (Greece), Irina Kulikova (Netherlands), Adriano Del Salle (Italy), Johan Fostier (Belgium), Zoran Dukic (Croatia), Vladimir Gorbach (USA), Andras Chaki (Hungary), Gabriel Bianco (France), David Pavlovich (Hungary), Lorenzo Micheli (Italy), Dale Kavanagh (Canada), Dmitry Illarionov (Russia) and other outstanding artists.
The festival included International Classical Guitar Performance Competitionwhich annually gathers the best musicians of Russia and Europe. The winners of the competition over the years have been: Anton Baranov (St. Petersburg), Pavel Kukhta (Belarus), Koshkin Guitar Duo — Olga Kamornik and Asya Selyutina (Moscow), Vladimir Gapontsev (Moscow), Kuzma Filimonov (Novosibirsk).
Today, the festival is on hiatus, but its spirit continues to live on.
The organizers of the project support the tradition of guitar art in St. Petersburg through a guitar subscription and separate concert programs presenting leading classical guitar performers and discovering new names.
The Guitar Magic Festival remains a symbol of high professionalism, creative inspiration and love for the guitar. We believe that soon it will bring musicians and listeners together again to remind everyone how wonderful and multifaceted the magic of live sound is.
Artistic Director of the festival
Anatoly Izotov is a guitarist, teacher, winner of the St. Petersburg Youth Prize in the nomination "In the sphere of culture and art."
