Manufacturas Alhambra is the global leader in the making of traditional Spanish guitars. In the nearly five decades of its history, the company has optimized its entire fabrication process, achieving a level of quality and excellent sound that were scarcely dreamed of just a few years ago.Expertise, hard work, consistency, intelligence and a vision for the future are the essential “daily tools” the company has used to guide its evolution, and they are responsible for the excellent reputation and enormous prestige the company enjoys throughout the world.
Manufacturas Alhambra is dedicated to people, the people whose skilled hands day after day convert wood into art as well as the other people who play the instruments we produce. We believe that even when the manufacturing process has come to an end, our job is still not over. Our philosophy leads us to find ways to stay close to the people who own our guitars and to further maximize the potential of our instruments any way we can.
It is with this aim and to this end, that is to say, with the objective of supporting and rewarding new guitar talent on the international level, that we more than twenty years ago created the Alhambra International Guitar Competition, a biennial contest that we believe is the outward manifestation of our underlying interest in helping musicians, particularly the guitarists who ultimately give true meaning to the work we do.
From the first, careful selection of materials to the last note played in a concert, we strive to offer the best possible quality and sound throughout the entire, long process – a process that combines traditional handwork with musical excellence to achieve success and foster artistic creativity.
The Competition reminds us of and returns us to the human side of the world of guitar-making. The enormous sacrifice, effort and high doses of motivation, perseverance and hard work that are characteristics common to all the participants in the competition are a huge help to us and reveal the importance of working harder every day to offer reliable instruments that are comfortable to play and forceful in expression, with outstanding sound.
We are aware of the important contribution we are able to make to new generations of young guitarists by holding this prestigious competition. That is why, for the twelfth edition of the contest, we have accepted the challenge of maintaining the high level of achievement displayed so far while at the same time working to expanding its reach and its thrust on behalf of the participants and especially the winners of the competition. Working to achieve greater recognition and to advance their artistic trajectories has always been and will remain one of our major thrusts.
Moreover, we believe that the partnerships established with the Alhambra International Guitar Competition Alhambra which will take place in China, the International Competition Francisco Tarrega Benicàssim and the International Classical Guitar Competition Gredos San Diego de Madrid, are important contributions for the winners’ future.
Our interest to enhance the Spanish musical creation from every era brings us to choose, in the compulsory repertoire, memories of great Spanish musicians like Fernando Sor (1778-1839), Joaquín Rodrigo (1901-1999) and Joaquín Malats (1872-1912).
And not only that. Manufacturas Alhambra created in 2012 a collection of Spanish contemporary music for guitar, published by Editorial Piles, which, associated with the International Competition, aims to promote in each edition, composing new works for guitar. This project is ultimately a bid to get better present and promote the future of guitar repertoire.
The compulsory work is : Tres Cuentos para Alhambra by Emilio Calandín, which will be included in the Final Session of the Thirteenth Edition of Competition.
We are looking forward to hearing all the contestants and wish them much success, as they are doubtless the true protagonists of the Alhambra International Guitar Competition.
We are looking forward to hearing all the contestants and wish them much success, as they are doubtless the true protagonists of the Alhambra International Guitar Competition.
José Luis Ruiz del Puerto, artistic director of the Competition.
XIIIth ALHAMBRA INTERNATIONAL GUITAR COMPETITION
From 7th to 12th June 2016
Palau de la Música in Valencia
After the final round, the winners of the XIII Alhambra International Guitar Competition are:
First Prize: Andrea González Caballero – Spain
Second Prize: Marko Topchii – Ukraine
Third Prize: Mircea-Stefan Gogoncea – Romania
Finalist: Isabel Mª Sánchez Millán – Spain
Special Prize for the best performer of Spanish music: Isabel Mª Sánchez Millán
Audience Award: Marko Topchii - Ukraine
We are pleased to inform that the rules of the XIII Alhambra International Competition, which will take place in June 2016, are already available on this website.
Contestants can opt for “Alhambra prize to the new Spanish music composition” if they perform the new work Tres Cuentos para Alhambra by composer Emilio Calandín (1958), especially commissioned for this new edition. Due to the duration of this work, contestants will be able to opt to perform only two of the three movements. This work is already available for being listened to on this website.
In addition, if you want to get the work, please write to Ramón: ramonpartitures@gmail.com
We wish you all the luck in the world!
Manufacturas Alhambra, S.L.
ALÍ ARANGO
Alí Arango is one of the most prominent guitarists of his generation. With virtuosity at the service of musicality and a balanced mix of subtlety and expressive force, he has conquered all types of audiences and juries. He has won 18 international awards in international classical guitar competitions. Among them the most important are:
* First Prize, Alhambra’s prize to the new Spanish Music Composition and audience award in XII Alhambra International Guitar Competition (Valencia. Spain).
* First Prize in XIV Concurso Internacional de la Habana. Cuba
* First Prize in VI Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra “Norba Caesarina” (Cáceres. Spain)
* First Prize in Concurso del Palau de La Música de Barcelona “El Primer Palau” (All instruments and formats) (Barcelona. Spain)
* First Prize in “Düsseldorfer Gitarfestival” (Germany)
* First Prize in XII Certamen Internacional de Guitarra de Barcelona "Miguel Llobet" (Spain)
* First Prize in XXII Encuentro Internacional de Guitarra Clásica "Andrés Segovia" (Linares. Spain)
As a composer Alí Arango has created works for guitar, duets for guitar and other instruments, chamber formats, and music for audio visuals, video art and documentaries.
He has recorded his CD "Guitar Recital" with NAXOS, produced by Norbert Kraft. The repertoire chosen for this album includes four works by Alí Arango, Danzas Rituales y Festivas by Leo Brouwer and Estudio Nº4 para el Anular by Joaquín Clerch, dedicated to Alí Arango.
He has performed in Catalonia as a soloist, and in Cuba with Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional, invited by Leo Brouwer and China. He have made the world premiere performance of three of Brouwer’s works: "Paisaje Cubano con Tristeza" (guitar solo); "Gismontiana" (for 4 guitars and string orchestra) and Serie Nº1 de las "Danzas Rituales y Festivas" (for guitar solo). He usually performance at very importants halls like: Palau de la Música Catalana, Palau de la Música de Valencia, Auditorio Manuel de Falla, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, among others.
At present he forms part of the PYROPHORUS GUITAR DUO y TRAZA QUARTET, with works composed specifically for both formats, explores the fusion between Cuban music, jazz and contemporary music.
Alí Arango is sponsored by D´Addario and Manufacturas Alhambras.
LAURENT BOUTROS
Laurent Boutros was born in 1964 in Maisons-Alfort , near Paris. While still young
he attracted to music from oral traditions, and became interested in Flamenco,
then popular Brazilian and Argentinian music, final folowing the music through
to his origins.
Then in 1997 he began to travel through Europe, making several tours in Turkey, Armenia, Maroc, Hungary, Montenegro, Switzerland and Cuba. As a guitarist he enjoys playing with others, and has performed with the jazz bass- player Renaud Garcia Fons, the Iranian Percussionist Bijane Chemirani and the Indian musician Ikram Khan.
In 2003, Laurent Boutros formed in own trio, with F. Ziouani on the cello and F. Thiant on the accordeon.
In 2004, upon request by the Pompidou Center Museum, he composed a pièce for guitar about Joan MIRO painting « Carnaval d’Arlequin ». Last, but not least he is the director of the festival « Nuits musicales de Cieux », in the Limousin departement, which is centred around the guitar. Here several different styles rub shoulders, including world music, jazz and classical.
In 2007, his last CD is available « A guitar in Armenia » around his own compositions. This Year Laurent Boutros make several tours in Cuba ( invited by « The Instituto Superior del Arte » and Venezuela ( Festival internacional de guitarra de Choroni).
EMILIO CALANDÍN HERNÁNDEZ
Emilio Calandín was born in Valencia on 20 December 1958 surrounded by paintings, sculpture and theatre, as he comes from a family with an artistic tradition going back to the mid-nineteenth century.
Indeed, he began his musical studies with his mother, in the El Micalet Choral Society in Valencia, where he took elementary level in guitar. He later took intermediate level guitar at the Valencia Conservatoire. He studied intermediate and advanced level composition at the conservatoires in Valencia and Alicante.
Alongside his official musical studies he received classes in harmony, composition and analysis from the Valencian composers José Báguena Soler and Francisco Llácer Plá. His relationship with the latter was crucial to his later aesthetic orientation. Other composers who played a significant part in his training were Cristóbal Halffter and Luis de Pablo.
He has received commissions from institutions, performers and ensembles, notably including the Spanish National Orchestra and Choir, the Valencian Institute of Music, the Ensems Festival, the Spanish Society of Authors and Publishers, the Orchestra of Valencia, the Centre for the Dissemination of Contemporary Music, the Canal de Isabel II Foundation, the Alicante International Festival, Freon Ensemble in Roma (Italy), the MiXXer International Festival in Ferrara (Italy), the pianist Brenno Ambrosini, the guitarist and conductor Stefano Cardi, Manufacturas Alhambra for its Alhambra International Guitar Competition…
His music has been awarded in many International Competitions.
He currently teaches at the Advanced Conservatoire in Castellón and is Consultant to the master’s degree in Research and Interpretation at the Valencian International University (VIU).
MASSIMO DELLE CESE
Massimo delle Cesse nowadays represents one of the most important guitar references, with a constant concert activity in more than 20 countries as a soloist, soloist with orchestra and, until 2001, a member of St.Cecilia Guitar Trio, becoming part of the group of guitarists who are usually invited to perform concerts at international festivals around the world.
His recordings have been applauded by international critics and have been received with enthusiasm by various magazines in the music industry.
Numerous appearances on radio and international televisions as SBC, BBC, Granada TV, Polsk TV, RAI, RAI International, RAI Sat, Radio Vaticana, Radiotelevisora of Mexico, Miami WBPT PBS ...
In recognition of his brilliant career he received the International Prize: Pegaso D'Oro Award 2003 and the prestigious award Citta di Roma 2004 for his extensive activity and artistic quality.
As a performer he is interested in electronic and chamber music, with great activity with the Quartetto di Roma Bernini, l'Santa Cecilia Conservatory Orchestra and "I Solisti Aquilani" ..... and other instrumental ensembles.
He teaches at the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome and regularly performs master classes worldwide. He is founder and artistic director of the Roman Academy of Guitar, the ARC Rome Guitar Festival, and he also writes in the magazine Chitarre.
MIGUEL TRÁPAGA
Miguel Trápaga was born in Cantabria (Spain), he studied in the “Ataúlfo Argenta” conservatory of Santander and “Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid” with Javier Canduela y Demetrio Ballesteros respectively, enlarging his formation with José Tomás, David Russell and Gerardo Arriaga.
Among others, he has performed in broadcasts for Spanish National Radio, Antena 2 of Portugal, BBC…, and he has recorded seven compact discs.
Currently a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music of Madrid, Mr Trápaga has offered master classes in Spain and abroad (Sibelius Academy, Frederic Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Melbourne University...).
He has performed in the main concert halls and theatres in Spain, and has toured Europe, Australia, Africa, Latin America, Asia, Canada and United States and, as a soloist, with numerous orchestras like National Philarmonic of Ukraine, Seville and Madrid Symphony Orchestras, ORCAM, Canberra Symphony Orchestra, Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela…
He has recorded his last album for the label NAXOS with the “Concierto de Aranjuez” by Joaquín Rodrigo and the world premiere recording of the “Concierto de Benicassim” by Leo Brouwer, with Óliver Díaz as a conductor and the orchestra Real Filharmonía de Galicia.
PARTICIPANTES
1. Michal Stanikowski, Alemania-Germany
2. Alejandro Gómez Ovares, Costa Rica
3. Miguel Álvarez Vásquez, Chile
4. Luis Alejandro Guevara Aguilar, Chile
5. Kyo-Hyuk Lee, Corea del Sur - South Korea
6. Gen Matsuda, Japón - Japan
7. Chen Si Qi, China
8. Mircea-Stefan Gogoncea, Rumanía - Romania
9. Isabel María Sánchez Millán, España - Spain
10. Joerg Holzmann, Alemania - Germany
11. Gian Marco Ciampa, Italia - Italy
12. Marcos Victora-Wagner, Brasil - Brazil
13. Andrea González Caballero, España - Spain
14. José Andrés Casallas, Colombia
15. Marko Topchii, Ucrania - Ukraine
16. Gian Carlo Scevola, Chile