Hill Country Classical Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition
2025 Hill Country Classical Guitar Ensemble Festival and Competition
This festival will be held at the beautiful Texas State University – San Marcos School of Music. This is a national competition and is open to guitar ensembles of middle school, high school, college level and independent studios to bring like-minded individuals together to celebrate guitar and strive for excellence in performance. These performances will be adjudicated by Tony Morris (Classical Guitar Alive), Michael Keplinger (composer and Texas Lutheran University instructor) and Arnold Yzaguirre (ACG guitar instructor and Artist for Music Healing).
Beginning at 6:30pm on the evening of Friday, March 28th at the TXST School of Music Recital Hall, Ibison Guitar Duo will demonstrate their remarkable skills through a program of music composed and arranged for two guitars (see bio, below).
Saturday, March 29th, will be the day of the competition held at the TXST School of Music Recital Hall. Also on this day, there will be a vendor fair and masterclasses by Chad Ibison and Janet Grohovac. Festival director, Mark Cruz, will present a musician’s forum to discuss the application of music theory to the fretboard and the advantages of being a versatile guitarist.
Closing the festival on the evening of Saturday the 29th, acoustic guitar virtuoso, Michael Kelsey, will entertain us with his extraordinary playing which can best be described as nuclear acoustic. His capacity to move an audience exceeds that of most guitarists through his spontaneity, use of inanimate objects within reaching distance, audience interaction and original arrangements (more, below). This concert and awards ceremony will be held at the TXST School of Music Recital Hall beginning at 6:30pm.
Check-in for the competition will begin on Saturday morning at 8:00 AM (March 29) and remain open until 10:30 am (late comers need not worry as long as arrival time comfortably precedes assigned warm-up and performance time, TBA). Competition performances will begin at around 11:00 am and continue throughout the day until around 4:00 PM.
No more institutions will be accepted after twenty-two. If we reach this limit, we will notify on this website. Each institution may enter no more than three groups.
Rules:
• There are no set pieces for the competition, although, programming with contrasting works are expected and will be one of the facets to be evaluated – along with tuning, unified time, tone quality, balance, mix, interpretation, dynamics, musicality, presentation, etc.
• Middle school students must prepare a program of six to nine minutes (must not exceed. Include any change of chair configuration into your time, if applicable).
• High school students must prepare a program of seven to ten minutes (must not exceed. Include any change of chair configuration into your time, if applicable).
• College students must prepare a program of twelve to fifteen minutes (must not exceed. Include any change of chair configuration into your time, if applicable).
• Performances will be timed. Time begins at the first note of the first piece. Competitors will be cut off should program exceed their respective time limit.
• There are no penalties for exceeding the time limit, but we encourage participants to remain within the boundaries of these time limits.
• Ten points will be deducted should the director perform with students. There is no penalty for directors conducting for their students.
• Only classical guitars are permitted to be used. Upper or lower ranged instruments such as a requinto and/or acoustic bass (contrabass) may also be used if the strings are nylon. No electric or steel-string instruments. No points will be deducted if music uses other instruments such as percussion (for example) – only nylon-stringed instruments are encouraged to be used.
Competition Registration Form, Masterclass sign-up and Vendor Application:
https://secure.touchnet.com/C24322_ustores/web/store_main.jsp?STOREID=464&SINGLESTORE=true
Registration must be received by March 17th to receive the $40.00 per participant charge. Late registrants will be charged $50.00 per participant. No registration forms will be accepted on or following March 21st as time is needed to organize the competition schedule and to print programs. Please submit forms as early as possible.
We encourage all participants to arrive in San Marcos on Friday, March 28th by 5:30 pm (at the earliest) so that all participants can enjoy our opening concert at 6:30 pm. Parking in the Pleasant Street garage across the street from the music building is free after 5:00 pm. Arrivals before 5:00 pm is asking for trouble.
Featured concert artists
Ibison Guitar Duo
Chad Ibison (USA) and Janet Grohovac (Canada) have been performing together since 2010 and are based in Austin, Texas. Both hold Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from The University of Texas at Austin where they met. Dr. Ibison, originally from Houston, Texas, has won many top prizes in competitions including the prestigious Guitar Foundation of America 2013 and the JoAnn Falletta Concerto Competition in 2014, as well as 1st prizes at the CU International Guitar Festival 2015, Tennessee Guitar Festival and Competition 2013, Boston GuitarFest 2012, Texas Guitar Competition in Dallas 2012, A&M Guitar Symposium 2010, and CSU Guitar Symposium 2009. Dr. Grohovac, from Victoria, Canada, was awarded 1st prizes at the Southern Guitar Competition 2015, and the Northwest Guitar Competition 2009, and was a top prize winner in the Tennessee International Guitar Competition 2015, the Lone Star Guitar Festival and Competition 2015, the Dallas International Guitar Competition 2015, Montreal International Guitar Festival 2014 and the Texas Music Festival “Classical Minds” Competition 2010.
The Ibison Guitar Duo performs in North America and abroad. Recent engagements include sold out shows for the Christ Church Cathedral series in Canada and the UpClose series for ACG in the US, recitals for the Festival Internacional de Guitarra de Taxco, Mexico, Ticino Musica’s concerts in Lugano, Switzerland, and Greater-Houston Guitar Guild concert series. Special appearances include being featured in Austin’s radio stations KMFA and KVRX and an episode of Austin’s Notes in Time. The duo also collaborated as clinicians for Carnegie Hall’s Lullaby Project in partnership with Austin Classical Guitar.
In addition to performing, the duo is strongly committed to the education of their students. Dr. Ibison was the Teaching Assistant to Professor Adam Holzman at UT-Austin for 5 years and is the Professor of Guitar at Austin Community College. Dr. Grohovac is on faculty as Professor of Guitar at Concordia University Texas. They now manage their own very successful Austin-based guitar studio, Hyde Park Guitar, where the duo teaches close to seventy students a week. The Ibison Guitar Duo performs exclusively on Blackwell Guitars from the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.
Michael Kelsey
Kelsey brings a free-flowing improvisational style to the guitar that involves every part of his instrument. From his funky, percussive playing style that conjures an image of a one-man version of Stomp to lush instrumentals reminiscent of Michael Hedges/Phil Keaggy. His performance blends multiple musical genres and vocals along with some techno-fun to create a sound all his own. Chosen from among 3000 entrants, he is the 2004 winner of Guitar Center’s “Guitarmageddon”. the singer-songwriter performed at Eric Clapton’s 2004 Crossroads where he shared the stage with many legendary guitarists. Throughout a given performance, Mr. Kelsey may make use of technology, his improvisation skills, objects in the room, and audience interaction to make music for the ears but more importantly, a musical experience for the senses and heart.