Pavel Steidl

Lukasz Kuropaczewski “is definitely the new megastar of the classical guitar.” (El Nuevo Dia, Puerto
Rico)

Lukasz is in great demand as a recitalist and as soloist with orchestras, and he is invited to perform in
numerous venues around the globe each year. Highlights include appearances in London’s Royal Festival
Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Warsaw’s National Philharmonic Hall, Tchaikovsky Hall in
Moscow, Caramoor Music Festival, the Santa Fe Music Festival, Easter Beethoven Festival, Tonhalle
Zurich, Heidelberger Fruhling, Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival and New York's Carnegie Hall.

An avid chamber music collaborator, he performed with the Orion String Quartet, mandolin player Avi
Avital, Richard Galliano, Daniel Hope, Stefano Barneschi (concertmaster of Il Giardino Armonico),
countertenor Jakub Jozef Orlinski, pianist Alek Debicz or accordionist Maciej Frackiewicz.

Lukasz has inspired many composers to write work for his instrument. He premiered a guitar quintet,
“Acequias,” by Marc Neikrug at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and his “Three Pieces for Guitar”
at the Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Triptych Sonata by K. Meyer at the Caramoor Festival in
New York. He has premiered concertos by Angelo Gilardino, Krzysztof Meyer, Mikolaj Gorecki, and
Alexandre Tansman. He made the guitar version of Krzysztof Penderecki’s Viola Concerto and premiered
it with Sinfonia Varsovia and conductor Maximiano Valdes. In 2022 he premiered a new Concerto by Marc
Neikrug in Marseille, France with the Marseilla Opera Orchestra and Lawrence Foster.

Lukasz Kuropaczewski is currently on the faculty of the Kunst University Graz, Austria and Academy of
Music in Poznan, Poland, holding a doctorate degree in performance.

Music of Vojislav Ivanovic, composer and guitarist, is one of astonishing diversity, ranging from contemporary classical and jazz thru fusion and rock to traditional music of the world.

Born in Sarajevo where he started playing guitar at the age of 10, Vojislav acquired highest academic degrees both in Guitar from the Athens Conservatory with Costas Cotsiolis and in Composition from the Music Academy of the University of Sarajevo with Vojin Komadina. From the early 1980s he performs regularly both home and abroad, solo and with orchestras including Trinity College Strings (UK), St. George Strings, Camerata Serbica and Macedonia Jeunesse Musicale Symphonic.

His diverse compositional output includes music for solo and accompanied instruments, choral, chamber and orchestral works. Distinguished guitarists as well as many other artists have performed his music extensively all over the globe and orchestras that have performed his music include New Russia Symphony – Yuri Bashmet, Zagreb Soloists, Vienna Pons Artis Orchestra and the Tijuana Festival Orchestra. As a film composer Vojislav has several documentaries and feature films to his credit out of which “Halda” (1991) won prestigious “Prix D’Italia” award.

He has also recorded with some world renowned Jazz musicians: double-bass player Arild Andersen, saxophonist Bendik Hofseth, drummer Paul Vertico (ex Pat Metheny group) and trumpetist Paolo Fresu.

In 2008 he founded Levante Guitar Duo with his wife Aleksandra Ivanovic performing a program that includes works specially written by him for the Duo. They have appeared with great success all over Europe and in season 2019/2020 on 3 consecutive tours in USA for concerts, master classes and lectures scoring exceptional success with the audience and critics alike. In addition to playing in concert halls, Vojislav lectured on some of the distinguished American universities such as Eastman School of Music, Rochester NY, Hart School of Music, Hartford, CT, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA and Minneapolis University, MN, among others. In 2011 the Duo released their highly praised CD “Levantine Journey”.
Vojislav is founder and the director of the International Guitar Festival "Guitar United", held annually since 2016 in Sarajevo East.

In addition to his performance tours, composing and recording, Vojislav Ivanovic is highly sought after for his teaching and master classes in composition and guitar and is a member of juries at international festivals and competitions. Among these, greatest achievement is his participation as a lecturer and jury member in the world’s most prestigious guitar Convention and Competition GFA - Guitar Foundation of America in Miami in 2019. Since 2010 he is a Full professor of Guitar, Methodology and Composition at the Music Academy of the Sarajevo East University.

The prestigious publishers Schott (Germany) and Doberman Yppan (Canada) are publishing his music. In addition to his own releases various artists have released over 20 CDS world-wide over the years that include his work.

Paolo Pegoraro is considered today one of the most renowned teachers and interpreters of his instrument. Elected in 2003 “Best guitarist of the year” by the readers of the magazine Guitart, both the critics as recognized figures of the music world appreciate in Paolo Pegoraro an uncommon depth and artistic sensibility. Winner of prestigious competitions, he performs regularly in the most important musical centers and festivals throughout Europe, USA, South America, Africa and Asia. In 2008 the great Cuban guitarist and composer Leo Brouwer has declared: “I’m very happy to know that in the guitar world there is a man and a musician as Paolo Pegoraro!”.

Paolo loves to teach so much that he founded the Segovia Guitar Academy, now an established and internationally recognised seat of learning for guitarists, with students from various countries around the world. In 2010 Paolo was elected guitar chair at the “Universitat für Musik und darstellende Kunst” in Graz (Austria). Over the years the students at these institutes have won over 300 awards at major international competitions, including those of Alessandria (Pittaluga), Benicassim (Tárrega), Almeria (Arcas), La Herradura (Segovia), Tokyo, Munich (ARD), Wroklaw (Guitarmaster), Malibù (Parkening), Rome (Sor), Gargnano and Baltimore. For all these extraordinary results achieved by many different students, in 2019 Paolo Pegoraro received the “Chitarra d’oro per la didattica” at the Milan International Guitar Convention. In addition, he serves as guest faculty at the “Universidad Pedro de Olavide” in Sevilla, Spain. Since 2017 he is Honorary Artist in Residence at the Yehudi Menuhin School in London like Daniel Baremboim, Andras Schiff, Itzhak Perlman, Julian Bream and John Williams among others.

He is often invited to be part of juries for musical and guitar competitions and gives regular masterclasses all around the world.

He has several recordings and the CD “Solo” has received enthusiastic reviews; in particular, the German
magazine “Gitarre & Laute” declared “… the discovery of the year”. For his last CD, he was awarded with  “La chitarra d’oro” at the Alessandria International Guitar Convention, as the best CD of the year (2010).

Born in Bassano del Grappa August 9, 1968, he began to study music at a very early age, quickly demonstrating a distinct talent and receiving from his family an environment rich in musical stimuli. He graduated with highest honors from the Conservatory “Benedetto Marcello” in Venice in the class of Tommaso de Nardis. He consecutively frequented masterclasses of Manuel Barrueco and David Russell, as well as receiving the"Diploma di Merito" at the Chigiana Academy of Siena in Oscar Ghiglia's Class. In 2010 he became part of the “D’Addario family”.

"Paolo plays the notes as a series of pearls, clear one after another and now is the extraordinary thing: he has pearls of all sizes and all shades of color, he puts together in a way that will produce a effect of strong compactness and harmony. Paolo follows his musical ideas without compromise: accelerating, and evaporates the sentence where it is necessary for reasons of musical logic and not because of technical
problems. This is an extraordinary thing in the guitar world. Paolo Pegoraro is, I can only repeat once more, the discovery of the year!"
Peter Päffgen - Gitarre und Laute

www.paolopegoraro.com