Italian musician wins Adelaide international guitar competition
An Italian musician has won the 2020 Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition, organised by the Adelaide Guitar Festival.
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Up and coming Italian musician Pietro Locatto has won the 2020 Adelaide International Classical Guitar Competition.
The Turin-born classical guitarist holds master’s degrees with both the Conservatory of Lugano and the Conservatory of Parma, has recorded two albums and performed as a soloist with the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic Orchestra.
“I have a friend who has visited Australia many times who told me about the competition,” Mr Locatto said.
“I recorded my entries while Italy was in lockdown, and have also been teaching online and working on various projects and recordings.”
Hosted by the Adelaide Guitar Festival, the competition is the most prestigious of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
The final round is usually held at the Festival Centre, but the pandemic crisis meant this year’s winner was decided from video entries.
Mr Locatto competed against finalists from Australia, Thailand, the UK and fellow Italian musician Riccardo Calogirui to win the prize of a $23,000 Jim Redgate guitar valued and an invitation to perform at the next Adelaide Guitar Festival.
“I am really excited to have won my first Australian guitar competition, and I look forward to coming to the next Adelaide Guitar Festival,” he said.
“Also the Jim Redgate guitar will be a welcome addition to my collection. My father is a guitar maker, so lucky for me I have never had to buy a guitar.”
His winning performances included Free Range by Ken Murray, the prelude from Frank Martin’s Quatre Pièces Brèves and the fugue from Bach’s BWV 914.