History
Since 2001, the Strathclyde University GuitarFest had presented an annual festival celebrating the music of the guitar in all its forms. under the direction of Dr Peter Argondizza. The Festival had grown from the BA Applied Music Guitar Ensemble Concert supported by the University of Strathclyde asdirected by Dr Peter Argondizza. The Guitarfest rapidly became an important musical and educational event in Scotland and established the basis for the first major annual guitar festival in Glasgow by providing both a stage for the best of Britain’s emerging talent whilst creating a vital and important artistic and educational-research link between the University of Strathclyde and the RSAMD. Furthermore it attracted and featured top artists from home and the United States such as Paul Gregory, Jerry Willard, The Newman-Oltman Duo and Gary Ryan.
The Big Guitar Weekend was established by Allan Neave and Peter Argondizza in 2006 as a 'merger' of the Dundee Guitar Event and GuitarFest and has since established itself as a multi-disciplinary event with an emphasis on education. within the international guitar community. Drawing from the successes and combining the expertise of the DGFS (Allan Neave) and Strathclyde GuitarFest (Peter Argondizza), this new event based in Glasgow since 2007 as THE BIG GUITAR WEEKEND has moved from strength–to-strength. Furthermore, the committment of both artistic directors Allan Neave and Peter Argondizza has enhanced the festival and strengthened the practices and ideals of bringing together community education and a concert series of international standard to Scotland’s largest city.
We will continue the tradition of attracting students of all ages and abilities, introducing many to the pleasures of intensive study, public performance and the sharing of ideas. Further educational programmes will include CPD for classroom teachers, East Dunbartonshire Guitar Orchestras and the Edinburgh Youth Guitar Orchestra, the guitar in relation to other instruments and the guitar within the world of music.
The principal aim of BGW-Glasgow is to promote the guitar to as wide an audience as possible across Scotland and to promote Scotland as a centre of excellence for the guitar & plucked string performance and teaching on the international stage. Within these core aims, several of the key strands of the weekend are: the development of an integral set of Solo Performers and Ensemble Courses with workshops, performance opportunities for guitarists from across the stylistic and performance spectrum, a research forum for the further dissemination of guitar scholarship and a chance to develop a sense of community and well-being for the plucked string enthusiast.
