Eurostrings competition winner
Eurostrings competition winner
Cristina Galietto, born in Naples, is one of the most outstanding and talented Italian guitarist of her generation.
Among the many awards received at international classical guitar competitions, we mention the First Prizes at the “Alexis Rago” International Guitar Competition in Stuttgart, the International Competition for Young Guitarists “Andrés Segovia” in Monheim am Rhein, the Uppsala International Guitar Festival and Competition in Uppsala and, for which she became Eurostrings star 2021, the prestigious First Prize at the Eurostrings competition 2021 held in Petrer, Spain, which includes a concert tour in Europe, the United States and Asia in the coming year.
Cristina has given solo concerts in many European countries, including France, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, England, Austria, Luxembourg and of course Italy. She began her musical studies at the tender age of 7 with her father Alberto, a guitar teacher. She attended the Liceo Musicale “Margherita di Savoia” in Naples in the guitar class of Maestro Enzo Amato. At 16 she spent a year attending the Blatchington Mill School in Brighton (UK) to perfect her linguistic skills while furthering her private guitar study with Maestro Carlos Bonell at the Royal College of Music in London. She also studied at the Conservatory of Music “San Pietro a Majella” in Naples and then at the “Domenico Cimarosa” Conservatory of Avellino, achieving her Master degree in classical guitar with full marks, Honors and Mention.
At the same time, she attended the Masterclasses with Maestro Aniello Desiderio at the Stefano Strata Academy in Pisa and completed her studies at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Graz, Austria with Maestros Paolo Pegoraro and Lukasz Kuropaczewski.
Her first Album Avant l’Aube, released at the end of 2020 (Timespan recordings), includes music by composers such as Joaquin Rodrigo, Domenico Scarlatti and Alexis Rago, all representative of an intimate, delicate and passionate way of musical feel - characteristics that stand out in her playing and to which the audience are drawn.
The guitar that Cristina plays with is an instrument of high lutherie made by the Neapolitan master luthier Alessandro Marseglia.
Mateusz Kowalski is one of the most outstanding young guitarists around –‘spectacular’, according to Classical Guitar Magazine. He performs repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to contemporary times with remarkable expertise, a sense of style and great musical culture. He has performed at major venues including the Musikverein in Vienna and the Shanghai Grand Theatre, and in such cities as New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Budapest and London. In 2019 he played the popular Concierto de Aranjuez with the Warsaw Philharmonic in the Polish capital. He has won prestigious competitions in Antony (Paris) and London (2nd EuroStrings International Competition, 2019). In 2019 his debut CD was released by CD Accord, featuring works by Bach, Giuliani, Tarrega, Barrios, Piazzolla, Ponce, Assad and Schubert. In 2021 he recorded his second CD – Polish Romantic Guitar with music of Bobrowicz, Szczepanowski, Sokołowski and Horecki. Born in 1995, in Koszalin, he began learning guitar at the age of seven and was taught for the next 12 years by Dariusz Schmidt at the Grażyna Bacewicz State School of Music in Koszalin. He then completed studies with Ryszard Bałauszko at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, receiving the Magna cum Laude medal. He has honed his skills in numerous masterclasses under the guidance of such outstanding musicians as Sergio Assad, Oscar Ghiglia and Alvaro Pierri. Alongside his career as a soloist, this young artist is also pursuing a teaching career, giving masterclasses, including at festivals in Szeged (Hungary) and Rust (Austria), and also in Qingdao (China). Since October 2019 he has been teaching at his alma mater in Warsaw. Mateusz Kowalski has been awarded scholarships by the Marshal of West Pomerania Voivodeship (Pro Arte Award), the Mayor of Koszalin and the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (the ‘Young Poland’ programme). He performs on instruments made by famous luthiers, such as Carl-Hermann Schaeffer, Karl-Heinz Roemmich and Jorge Godoy (Martinez).
Tiit Peterson
