The Winners of Transilvania International Guitar Festival

The Winners of Transilvania International Guitar Festival
	23 August 2008 Harold Gretton is the winner of the Open Category Guitar Competition of the sixth edition. He will go back to Australia with a Constantin Dumitriu guitar, valued to 3500 euros.
Here is the complete list of prizes: A Category: I - Alecu Ciapi (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) II - Bogdan Stefan Marin (Bucuresti, prof. George Popescu) III - Vlad Soare (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) B Category: I - Alecu Ciapi (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) I - Radu Ionescu (Craiova, prof. George Mitrache) II - Patricia Nicula (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) II - Sergiu Hudrea (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) III - was not granted M - Miruna Moanta (Craiova, prof. George Mitrache) M - Bogdan Stefan Marin (Bucuresti, prof. George Mitrache) C Category: I - Mihai Popescu (Turnu Severin, prof. Victor Rosu) II - Walter Michael Buchholtzer (Iasi, prof. Eugen Mang si Constantin Lazar) III - Patricia Nicula (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) III - Porumb Andrada (Baia Mare, prof. Eugen Mang si Marinel Petreus) M - Sergiu Hudrea (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) M Radu Ionescu (Craiova, prof. George Mitrache) D Category: I Harold Gretton (Australia) II Eduard Leata (Bucuresti, prof. Liviu Georgescu) II Cristina Ciortan (Bucuresti, prof. Liviu Georgescu) III Ana-Maria Iordache (Bucuresti prof. Eugen Mang) M - Costin Soare (Bucuresti) M - Olivia Iancu (Bucuresti) M - Bogdan Mihailescu (Bucuresti, prof. Liviu Georgescu) M - Tudor Niculescu-Mizil (Bucuresti, prof. Catalin Stefanescu-Patrascu) M - Cristian Gramesc (Suceava) A Chamber Music Category: I - was not granted II - Sergiu Hudrea, Patricia Nicula, Alecu Ciapi (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) II - Vlad Soare, Mihai Tanta (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Stefan Trifan) B Chamber Music Category: I - Ana-Maria Iordache, Mihaela Iordache (Bucuresti, prof. Eugen Mang) II - Alina Suciu, Pitic Andrada (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Constantin Andrei) III - Marian Balan, Cezar Cimpeanu (Cluj-Napoca, prof. Constantin Andrei si Stefan Trifan)

Gabriel Bianco wins 2008 GFA International Solo Competition
	16 August 2008 The final day of the convention featured concerts by Michael Nicolella, Gyan Riley, and Marcin Dylla, filling in for Xue Fei Yang (whose visa was not approved in time for her to make the trip to San Francisco).
In the 14 and Under Division, the winners were: 1st prize: Saki Kato (Japan; Teacher- Shini Ichi Fukuda) 2nd prize: John-Marcel Williams (USA; Teacher - Stephen Aron) 3rd prize: Vincent Turner (USA; Teacher - Matthew Hinsley) 4th prize: Kevin Sherwin (USA; Teacher- Tali Roth) In the 15-18 Division, the winners were: 1st prize: Molly Manarchy (USA; Teacher - Mark Maxwell) 2nd prize: Tim Callobre (USA; Teacher - Bill Kanengiser) 3rd prize: Vladimir Bashmakov (Russia; Teacher - Leo Konsky) 4th prize: Ryan Voldstad (USA; Teacher - Slobodan Vujisic) And finally, in the International Competition, the winners were: 1st prize: Gabriel Bianco (France) 2nd prize: Pablo Garibay (Mexico) 3rd prize: Otto Tolonen (Finland) 4th prize: Austin Moorhead (USA) Congratulations to all the winners! Next year's convention will take place June 16-21, 2009 in Ithaca, New York. The Board of Directors has selected "Compadre," from Piazzolla's Cinco Piezas, as the required piece for the International Solo Competition. We look forward to welcoming you all to New York next summer! Source: guitarfoundation.org