A Special Edition Of Adelaide Guitar Festival Kicks Off

This year's special edition of Adelaide Guitar Festival has officially opened, with the highly successful Guitars in Bars program extended and taking live music to even more people and places.

Usually a biennial festival, this year's program will see guitars strummed in far-flung venues across the state, including unique and creative locations not normally used for music gigs.

Adelaide Guitar Festival's 2019 program includes Guitars in Bars, Winter School, Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition and Resonance - where world-class musicians take their music to hospitals, aged care homes and community centres and runs for the entire month of July.

Guitars in Bars also runs for the whole of July. With a focus on regional touring, musicians have thought beyond the city square when planning their gigs and are making the most of the unique and creative venues available throughout the state. The expanded Guitars in Bars program will see 1293 artists performing in 124 venues across Adelaide and regional South Australia from Mount Gambier to William Creek and from Wuddina to Murray Bridge.

There's also a huge amount of activity with Adelaide Guitar Festival during the week of July 14-19.

Guitar Winter School runs from July 15-19. A week-long guitar intensive led by Dr Paul Svoboda and Cal Williams Jr with expert tutors, Slava Grigoryan, Karin Schaupp, Giuseppe Zangari, Andras Tuske, Jeff Lang, Chris Finnen and Jen Lush. The school has two streams - orchestral and blues and roots - and is open to all ages.

The Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition is the most prestigious guitar competition in the Southern Hemisphere. After starting in 2010, it has provided career-launching opportunities for five incredible young guitarists: Jin-Hee Kim (South Korea) in 2010, Andrey Lebedev (Australia) in 2012, Bogdan Mihailescu (Romania) in 2014, Marko Topchii (Ukraine) in 2016 and Miles Johnston (Australia) in 2018. This year the international competition makes its first annual appearance with the competition semifinal on July 16, and the final on July 18.

Grammy Winning band Punch Brothers return to Adelaide Guitar Festival for the third time on July 14. Outstanding classical guitarists Karin Schaupp and Miles Johnston play on July 16, and blues and roots stars Jeff Lang and Cal Williams Jr play on July 17.

Adelaide Guitar Festival Artistic Director Slava Grigoryan: "Guitars in Bars 2019 is the biggest yet for Adelaide Guitar Festival. With this year's brilliant line up of shows, Winter School, along with the Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition and gigs state-wide all through July, South Australia will be alive with music for the whole month."

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Director of Douglas Gautier AM: "This year's expanded Resonance and Guitars in Bars programs offer audiences more access to Adelaide Guitar Festival than ever before. Adelaide Festival Centre is incredibly proud to brings artists from around the world together with some of the best Australian musicians to deliver an exciting and entertaining program of events."

Adelaide is the first and only UNESCO City of Music in Australia. As the leading winter guitar music event in Adelaide, Adelaide Guitar Festival is proud to celebrate and contribute to this status as a UNESCO City of Music.

Adelaide Guitar Festival runs July 1 - 31. For more information about all Adelaide Guitar Festival events visit: https://www.adelaideguitarfestival.com.au.

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