Andrzej Grygier/European Guitar Quartet

Andrzej Grygier — as the winner of the guitar competition of the last edition of the Festival — will start an evening concert at the Mediatek in Tychy. He is one of the most promising European classical guitarists. He is the winner of the first prizes of many prestigious guitar competitions, including the Michele Pittaluga Guitar Competition in Alessandria, the Baltimore International Guitar Competition, the Forum Gitarre Wien and the Silesian Guitar Autumn. He has also won awards at renowned competitions and festivals throughout Europe, including in Weimar, Gorizia, Kutna Hora, Zagreb, Budapest, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Lousville. He performed as a soloist with leading orchestras under the baton of such conductors as Ilya Gajsin, Georg Köhler, Nicolas Milton, Roberto Zarpellon, Jonathan Darlington, Maciej Tomasiewicz, Marek Moś, Miłosz Kula and Anna Sułkowska-Migoń. His solo recitals have been presented at music festivals in Russia, Slovakia, Germany, Romania, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Belgium, France, Italy and the United States. In 2022, he was recognized by “The Acoustic Guitar Magazine” as a rising star of classical guitar.

In the second part of the concert, the European Guitar Quartet, already known to the festival audience, will also perform. Two classical guitar legends meet here with two virtuosos of modern fingerstyle, creating an innovative and fresh sound of the instrument. This is not a traditional classical guitar — it is a whole new experience of guitar music. This is a unique meeting of four outstanding personalities of the guitar world, which transcends the boundaries of genres, traditions and musical habits. Turn The World Around is a fascinating journey through classical music, jazz, tango nuevo, rock, world music and modern fingerstyle — full of energy, virtuosity and unobvious sounds. The repertoire will include compositions by the legendary Astor Piazzolla, including the sensual Verano porteño from the Four Seasons series in Buenos Aires and the emotional Concierto para quinteto, in which South American temperament meets a masterful guitar narrative. They will be accompanied by original works by the members of the quartet — Reentko Dirks, Thomas Fellow and Pavel Steidl — showing the extraordinary diversity of contemporary guitar music: from lyrical landscapes and subtle impressions to rhythmic compositions with almost rock energy. The audience will also hear surprising interpretations of the works of Jimi Hendrix and Frank Zappa, which in the performance of the quartet acquire a new, extremely original face. The evening will culminate in Harry Belafonte's “Turn the World Around”, full of optimism and exuberant energy — a musical message of openness, community and joy stemming from the encounter of cultures.

The quartet concert is not only a demonstration of the highest guitar craftsmanship, but above all an extraordinary musical experience in which tradition meets modernity and the guitar discovers completely new worlds of sounds before the listeners.

Part I

Andrzej Grygier

Programa:

Federico Moreno Torroba — Castilian Suite Joaquín Rodrigo — Three Spanish Pieces Federico Mompou — Compostela Suite

Part II

European Guitar Quartet: Zoran Dukic Pavel Steidl Thomas Fellow Reentko Dirks

Astor Piazzolla — Summer porteño z The four seasons of Buenos Aires, arr. Thomas Fellow, Sergio Assad Reentko Dirks — Rafa Reentko Steidl — Pictures from Moravia Astor Piazzolla — Concerto for quintet, arr. Thomas Fellow Thomas Fellow — Porthos of The Four Musketeers Frank Zappa — Father O'Blivion, arr. Christian Buchmann, Thomas Fellow Reentko Dirks — Danza non Danza

Concert included in the festival pass.