Back

Pittaluga 2023 ends on a high note

Competitions

The 2023 edition of the Michele Pittaluga international Guitar Competition ended on a high note with young guitarist Io Yamada winning first prize before Ausias Calabuig Parejo (who also won second Prize in the last edition) and Huaicong Mu. Following last year's triple "Concierto de Aranjuez", easily the most popular concerto in the repertoire, Artistic Director Marco Tamayo had decided to change the repertoire: 2023 saw only Heitor Villa Lobos and Manuel Maria Ponce.

Io Yamada, one of the most acclaimed guitarists of his generation, was born in Osaka, Japan, where he received his first guitar lesson from his father at age 2. At 15, he enrolled at the Kyoto Horikawa Music High School to study with Prof. Keigo Fujii.

Having studied at Tokyo College of Music and privately with Gentaro Takada, he moved to Weimar, Germany, where he is pursuing a Master's degree at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, studying with Ricardo Gallen. 
In 2018, he released his debut album "1.0" on Sylphide Records, which was selected for the "Record Geijutsu Special Choice".

Prizewinners and Jury ©Pittaluga Competition

Ausias Parejo, Second Prize ©Pittaluga Competition

Huaicong Mu, Third Prize ©Pittaluga Competition

Io Yamada, First Prize ©Pittaluga Competition

The Michele Pittaluga International Guitar and Guitar Composition Competition was founded in 1968, is the oldest active international classical guitar competition in Italy and one of the oldest in the world. The competition was started in 1968 by musicologist Dr. Michele Pittaluga (1915 -1995) as the "City of Alessandria Prize", to mark the 800th anniversary of the city. It gained early support from Andrés Segovia, who was the first Honorary President. Acting on his suggestion, Alirio Díaz was called to preside over the Jury for the first 30 editions, then acting as Artistic Director until the 40th edition, which is now overseen by Marco Diaz Tamayo. Alirio Díaz remained the Honorary President of the competition until his death in 2016.

Prizes:
First Prize: Io Yamada, Weimar
Second Prize: Ausias Calabuig Parejo, Valencia
Third Prize: Huaicong Mu, Berlin


Jury: Evangelina Mascardi, Carlos Bonell, Olivier Chassain, Massimo Delle Cese, Thi Thu Le, Eduardo Fernandez, Micaela Pittaluga


Artists:
Orchestra Classica di Alessandria / Paolo Ferrara (Conductor)

 

 

©WFIMC 2023