Welcome to Wikipedia's portal for Classical guitar. The classical guitar is the grandfather of guitars. Its history and repertoire spans over four centuries. Its most characteristic physical feature is the use of nylon strings (which have, largely, supplanted the use of gut strings). Nylon strings give the classical guitar a unique, varied and rich color palette. The size and shape of the classical guitar have been nearly standard for over 100 years.

Topics in Classical guitar

Did you know...

...that Igor Stravinsky wanted to compose a piece for Andrés Segovia but that Segovia told him that he would never play it?

Requested articles

Biographies

• Guitarists:
  

François Campion - Nicolas Desrosiers - Giovanni Paolo Foscarini - Henri Grenerin - Louis Jourdan de La Salle - Oleg Timofeyev

• Composers:

Gougousoudis Theodoros - Girolamo Arrigo - Vicente Asencio - Joanna Bailie - Robert Beaser - Juan Blanco - José Broca - Alois Bröder - Kevin Callahan - Flores Chaviano - Joaquín Clerch - Jonathan Dawe - Colin Downs - Dimitris Fampas - Fernando Ferrandiere - Graciane Finzi - Tom Flaherty -Anton García Abril - Stephen Goss - Bryn Harrison - Anders Hillborg - Kent Olofsson - Oliver Hunt - Juho Kangas - Francis Kleynjans - Anđelko Klobučar - Ian Krouse - Annette Kruisbrink - Karl-Wieland Kurz - Antoine de l'Hoyer - Jyrki Linjama - Arne Löthman - Joan Manén - Antonio Jiménez Manjón - Robert Martin - Wenzeslaus Matiegka - Josep Maria Mestres-Quadreny - Alasdair Nicholson - Tage Nielsen - Carlos Pedrell - Hannu Pohjannoro - Veli-Matti Puumala - Igor Rekhin - Lew Richmond - Carlos Rafael Rivera - Teresa de Rogatis - Poul Rovsing-Olsen - Ronald Roxbury - Eduardo Sainz de la Maza - Matilde Salvador - Robert Sierra - Johan Söderqvist - Michael Starobin - Colin Tommis - Flemming Weis - John R. Williamson - Mark Applebaum

Quotes

“

It's kind of 19th century tradition that practice should be hard work, leftover from the Victorian thing. I think this is a totally destructive idea. The essence of the thing is that the work should be enjoyable...When people are learning instruments, they should be encouraged and advised: if they say they don't enjoy their practice, I always say, well, find a way to enjoy it.

”

-- John Williams on Practicing an instrument

Classical guitar News

• International classical guitar competitions:

October 16, 2007 - GFA Convention 2007 Competition Winners, Photo Gallery and 2008 Required Piece.

June 10, 2006 - The Mexican classical guitarist Pablo Garibay won JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concert Competition. This international event was organized by WNED and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra.

June 7, 2006 - The classical composer Takahiro Sakuma (b. 30/6/1972) won the 1st price in the VII. International Composition Competition "Michele Pittaluga" with "Suite alla Sonatina in Direzione meridionale" for Guitar and Violin.

June 1, 2006 - The classical guitarist Carlos Pérez won the III. International Joaquín Rodrigo Competition witch took place in Madrid, Spain.

• International classical guitar festivals

June 21st, 2006 – The Walton's Guitar Festival of Ireland will take place in Dublin, from Monday, the 3rd to Sunday, the 9th of July.

• New compositions for classical guitar

Spring, 2005 - Claudio Ambrosini: Rap, solo guitar, dedicated to Magnus Andersson.

Spring, 2005 - Mark Applebaum: DNA, solo guitar, dedicated to Magnus Andersson.

Featured article

John Williams (born 24 April 1941) is one of the world's best-known classical guitarists. Born in Melbourne, Australia, Williams was taught initially by his father Len Williams. At the age of twelve he went to Italy to study with Andrés Segovia. Later, he attended the Royal College of Music in London, studying piano because the school did not have a guitar department at the time. Upon graduation, he was offered the opportunity to create such a department. Being such a lover of the instrument, he seized the opportunity and ran it for the first two years. Williams has maintained links with the College (and with the Northern College in Manchester) ever since.

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WikiProjects connected with guitar:

Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical guitar

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