The sixth edition of theAlirio Diaz International Guitar Festivala musical festival dedicated to the famous Venezuelan guitarist and composer who was the undisputed leader of the 20th century.
The event, organized by the Sound Music Art Association with the artistic direction of Simone Onnis and supported by the Sardinia Foundation, the Municipality of Quartu Sant’Elena and the Italian Cultural Institute of Almaty (Kazakhstan), will be held at the Sala dell’ Fresco ofFormer Capuchin Convent in Quartu Sant’Elena from 10 to 19 May including concerts, conferences, exhibitions and other music promotion activities outside the main Festival venue.
Since 2018, the Alirio Diaz IGF has brought leading musicians on the international guitar scene to Quartu, with the organizers’ desire to promote music as a vehicle for social inclusion and valorisation of the territory, also thanks to the collaboration of institutional partners and the world of Italian and foreign music and with the involvement of various local associations.
Now in its sixth edition this year, the event will host eight great Italian and foreign guitarists of international fame. “This year too the event includes internationally renowned artists in the program, who we thank from now on for the quality show they will guarantee to the Quartese public. Thus we continue this hypercultural journey into the world of the classical guitar, with its exciting sounds and its musical languages” the comment of Simone Onnispromoter of the initiative, during the presentation conference.
“I have been present here since the first edition, so I have been able to follow the development of this Festival and appreciate its constant growth – he added Senio Diaz, son of Alirio -. I will dedicate my performance to the luthier Antonino Scandurra but also to a great family friend, maestro Oscar Ghiglia, who passed away this year and who was also my father’s teacher at the Chigiana Academy, therefore a trait d’union with this great tradition formed in the 1950s”.
“The Alirio Diaz Guitar Festival has now become a traditional event for the Quartese spring. This in itself is already an important result, which confirms the cultural humus formed in Quartu in recent years – Mayor Graziano Milia then explained -. We hope that being able to attend concerts of this level, seeing up close the art of true guitar virtuosos can be a source of inspiration for our young musicians and for all those who look favorably on a future in the cultural industry” .
The review will open this eveningFriday 10 May, at 9.00 pm, Senio Diaz, son of the unforgettable Venezuelan virtuoso, who will offer a tribute to two other famous personalities who recently passed away: the Chigiana teacher who replaced Andrés Segovia, Oscar Ghiglia, and the Sicilian luthier Antonino Scandurra. He will then perform Gabriel Guilléninternationally renowned Austro-Venezuelan virtuoso.
Saturday 11 Mayat 7.00 pm, the second day will feature Alessandro Deianaone of the greatest Sardinian performers, highly appreciated even beyond the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Sunday 12 May double appointment: in the morning at 12:00 in the Church of Sant’Efisio the concert of Simone Onnis, Quartese virtuoso of the six strings and heir to the school of Alirio Diaz, of whom he was a student and assistant from a very young age. Onnis will perform with the “Cettina” guitar, one of the last built by Antonino Scandurra and dedicated to his wife. In the evening, at 6.30 pm, there will be room for another Sardinian concert performer: the Carloforte native Fabrizio Ferrarowho has been living abroad for many years as a teacher and composer active in Northern Europe.
The Festival will continue the following weekend. The fourth day Friday 17 May at 9.00 pm, it will host a great personality of musical Spain: the concert artist from Malaga Javier Garcia Morenovirtuoso known on all continents and director of the Malaga Conservatory, among the most important on the Iberian Peninsula.
Antonio Molfetta will instead be the star of the first part of the penultimate day with an unmissable recital dedicated to Italian and Spanish music scheduled Saturday 18 May at 5.00 pm. Followed by a concert at 7:00 pm Giovanni Granofresh from a successful tour in Asia, an appreciated scholar of 19th century guitar music, the golden century of the six strings.
Sunday 19 May the last evening will open at 4.00 pm with the conference “A journey into the musical score” by the expert Laura Rossi, from Schott Music, a historic German publishing house. The conference is open to everyone, and dedicated in particular to students, enthusiasts and those curious about the musical score.
There is great anticipation for the key event dedicated to one of the sacred monsters of the new generation of international guitarists: Sunday 19th at 6.30 pm the will be the protagonist of the final evening of the festival Polish virtuoso Marcin Dylla, an extraordinary performer celebrated on all continents and considered by critics to be among the best performers under 50 ever. Already a child prodigy, he won all the most important international competitions on the planet at a very young age and established himself as an extraordinary six-string tightrope walker, as well as a sensitive and refined artist.
Among the many events of the Festival there is also one violin making exhibition, from 10 to 12 May always at the Ex Convent, dedicated to Antonino Scandurra, a great Italian violin maker who recently passed away, entitled “Violinmaking in Sardinia”, edited by Livio Lorenzatti, to tell the story of the guitar and its diffusion on the island. The inauguration will be held on Friday 10 May at 6.30 pm with the participation of Giuseppina Scandurra, daughter of the Maestro. The exhibition will remain open to visitors during the weekend at the following times: Saturday 11 May from 10.00 to 19.00 and Sunday 12 May from 10.00 to 18.30.
Furthermore, in the days immediately preceding the festival, concerts dedicated to children and the elderly were held, as part of the musical dissemination project aimed at audiences of all ages. Simone Onnis’ show was held on Monday 6 May at the Il Fenicottero Integrated Community, with an encore on Tuesday 7 at the Regina Margherita primary school and on Wednesday with the 8 guitar recital at the University of the Third Age of Quartu.
All Festival events will be free to enter except the Marcin Dylla concert, at a cost of €20 plus presale fees. Reservations are required for all events.
For information on festival events and reservations: aliriodiazguitarfestival.com, tel./WhatsApp 351.5281026, e-mail: [email protected].
