Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger und Zeitung, Hubert Schmalor
The 34th International Guitar Festival enjoyed a strong opening on Sunday evening at the Oberste Stadtkirche… Four exceptional artists launched a top-class week of music, which began with an impressive variety of musical offerings…
Matthias Quaschnik, head of the Culture, Citizens and Security department for the city of Iserlohn, welcomed the numerous guests and described the festival as “one of Iserlohn’s absolute cultural beacons”… Festival founder and artistic director Thomas Kirchhoff was delighted by the strong turnout, which filled the Oberste Stadtkirche to the very last seat…
Once again, Kirchhoff proved to have a knack for selecting the right performers… Johann Sebastian Bach ran like a red thread through the evening. The concert opened with the Montenegrin Guitar Duo performing their own arrangement of the English Suite No. 3. While Goran Krivokapić was performing in Iserlohn for the fifth time, it was his first time appearing on the festival stage with his duo partner Danijel Cerović.
“The fact that the two have been making music together since 2005 was evident at every turn: precision, tonal homogeneity, and an almost intuitive musical understanding characterised their playing.”
With Ex Nihilo, a work dedicated to the duo by the young Croatian composer Šimun-Čarli Botica, they provided an exciting contrast before concluding their performance with two movements from the Suite Troileana, opening the door to the melancholic-poetic yet emotionally-charged soundworld of Astor Piazzolla.
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This opening evening proved once again that Thomas Kirchhoff has developed the rich concept of his festival over the past 34 years with a sure instinct and masterly execution. It was a concert of extraordinary quality…
