Australia-Korea Foundation Helps Fund International Guitar Festival Duet

A unique duet performance for next year's Adelaide Guitar Festival is being made possible with help from a $10,000 grant from the Australia-Korea Foundation.

The funding from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade will go towards commissioning two composers - one from Australia and another from South Korea - to write music for an international guitar duet at Adelaide Guitar Festival 2022.

Adelaide Festival Centre is collaborating with Tongyeong International Music Festival to deliver the Guitar Duet Project, which will be presented by Australian and Korean classical guitarists at both festivals.

Tongyeong International Music Festival is one of Korea's leading arts festivals and specialises in western styles and genres such as contemporary, classical, traditional and chamber music.

Adelaide Guitar Festival will nominate the Australian composer and musician, while Tongyeong Music Festival will nominate the Korean artists. The classical guitarists who perform the duet will appear in both Adelaide and Tongyeong and are set to conduct workshops as part of the visit.

Adelaide Guitar Festival Artistic Director Slava Grigoryan: "We are very excited to be teaming up with Tongyeong as the town is, like Adelaide, a UNESCO City of Music. This project will facilitate artistic practice and exchange between Australian and South Korean artists through music, while also showcasing the collaborative relationship between Adelaide and Tongyeong as creative sister cites."

The Australia Korea Foundation (AKF) is the Australian Government's key public diplomacy program for strengthening the Australia-Korea relationship. The AKF grants program provides funding for projects to create and strengthen networks, contacts, partnerships and institutional linkages.

Adelaide Festival Centre's Guitar Duet Project is an innovative example of cross-cultural collaboration that will reach a significant Australian and Korean audience through performances in both countries.

Australia-Korea Foundation Board Member Jacinta Thompson: "Australia and the Republic of Korea (ROK) share a strong bilateral relationship underpinned by trade and investment, culture and strong people to people links. This year we celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both countries. As a former OzAsia Festival Artistic Director, we worked for many years building solid connections and collaborations with our ROK arts colleagues. I'm thrilled that these people-to-people links continue, and as a board member of the Australia-Korea Foundation I'm pleased that we've been able to support this exquisite cross-cultural collaboration as part of Slava's Adelaide Guitar Festival."

Adelaide Guitar Festival is the most significant festival of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and brings together world-class guitarists for an exciting program of performances, workshops and regional roadshows.

The festival will become an annual event from this year, when it will be held at Adelaide Festival Centre venues from July 4 to 25. The dates for Adelaide Guitar Festival 2022 are yet to be announced.

More details about the composers and musicians involved in the Guitar Duet Project will be revealed later this year. To register for updates, visit www.adelaideguitarfestival.com.au.

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