Purpose and Organisation of the Festival
The Twenthe Guitar Festival would take place on the 26th, 27th and 28th of May 2006 in Theatre Concordia in Enschede. You could participate as a guitarist, or buy tickets for the recitals only. For the participants, besides the recitals, the festival included workshops, master classes and a guitar contest in various classes.
For the master classes, the organisers had invited quite a few well-known guitarists and guitar teachers. They were Yves Storm from Belgium, Marcin Dylla and Robert Horna from Poland and the Dutchman Jim ten Boske. Besides the master classes they played a recital each. Further the Dutch guitarist Enno Voorhorst and the singer/songwriter André Manuel made their appearance.
For me personally it was very appealing that the master classes were open to non-professional players as well. I used to have the idea that master classes were only for conservatory students and professional players, a Class for the Masters. For this occasion it appeared to be a Class by the Master, and thus accessible for the amateur player.
The guitar contests provided a bit of competitiveness which is quite nice for people who are inspired by the thought of matching themselves. The major sponsor for this contest was the Austrian Theo Scharpach, who is a guitar builder here in Holland. During the Scharpach Contest, the Dutch guitarist Enno Voorhorst played one of Scharpach’s designs of a classical guitar, an instrument with numerous practical innovations compared to the classical Torres build.
Fortunately the contest was not compulsory for participation in the master classes. ;-) if it were, I had not been there! This did not mean, however, that non-contestants would completely lack to get some experience on stage, because the organisers fixed up an open stage, where everybody could play if he or she liked to.
The festival location Theatre Concordia is a very nice small theatre near the Grote Markt, the entertainment centre of Enschede. Concordia has a relatively large concert hall for about 160 people, a small auditorium and a hall which is used for theatrical and movie performances. It is a classical built theatre with those nice catacomb-like dressing rooms under the stage, with the narrow stairs up. When you are in the concert hall and raise your eyes (out of curiosity if you are in the audience or maybe out of despair if you are on stage), you will see a few nice classical ornaments and painting on the ceiling.
This spring I received an email from Bobby Rootveld with the announcement of the Twenthe Guitar Festival, plus the remark that it was fun to participate. A link brought me to the website of the Twenthe Guitar Festival which provided me with all necessary information.
I was a bit in doubt, would I participate, or not? I’m not such a contest player and I was not sure whether non-contestants and amateurs would be allowed to join in the master classes. My Love was much more resolute (;-) she exactly knows how to be a manager whenever necessary): I just had to subscribe, because it was many years ago since my last guitar event. Moreover I had to get a bit of inspiration, because after almost two years without guitar instruction my musical passion got a bit waning.
So I subscribed and waited eagerly...