8. Internationales Akustik-Gitarrenfestival
The festival opens with the Italian guitar virtuoso Antonio Malinconico. This guitarist represents "pure classical guitar passion."
He brings "Postcards for Guitar" to the Bad Rappenau Guitar Festival, small musical gems from various countries and continents, mainly those he has traveled to himself. Among the composers are Jorge Cardoso, Astor Piazzolla, Antonio Lauro, Luigi Legnani, Baden Powell, Sergio Assad, and the St. Gallen composer and music school director Helmuth Hefti, whose compositions are based on exciting and funny stories.
Antonio Malinconico was born and raised in St. Gallen, Switzerland. However, his roots lie 1000 kilometers south, near Naples. The Italian language and culture shape Malinconico just as much as his environment in eastern Switzerland. He studied at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZhdK) and graduated with honors in 2005.
On his travels through Central and South America and the Middle East, he learns what gives music wings and depth - the sound. Not just any sound, but one in which devotion, love, and passion resonate, honest and unembellished. This sound permeates Antonio Malinconico's music, giving it intensity and warmth. Developing and deepening it is a task that will occupy him until the end of his life - pure guitar passion indeed!
The Pforzheim Guitar Sextet brings a colorful mix of serious and popular music to the water castle. The six artists Julian and Lukas Berger, David Busik, Arian Stieben, the conductor Artur Merkel, and conductor Dorothea Merkel represent the Pforzheim Guitar Orchestra e.V. at the 8th Guitar Festival in Bad Rappenau.
The Pforzheim Guitar Orchestra e.V. emerged from the Pforzheim Guitar Academy. The youth orchestra is considered the best youth guitar orchestra in Baden-Württemberg and has been awarded multiple times on a national and international level, most recently in June 2018 with a 1st prize at the state competition for plucked ensembles. A special focus of the association is on playing in smaller ensembles and chamber music. In 2022, the association had four first prize winners at the national competition "Jugend musiziert."
The orchestra's repertoire is very diverse and ranges from Renaissance and Baroque music to classical, popular, Latin American, and film music, up to contemporary music. Special highlights of the orchestra are the performances of the International Guitar Festivals in Pforzheim, in 2013, 2016, and most recently in 2023.
Entry: 6:30 PM