About Gitaristenpodium Groningen

Gitaristenpodium Groningen, one of the most renowned classical guitar series in the country was run uninterruptedly between 1993-2013. Organising concerts of classical guitar crème de la crème and impeccable organisation attracted audiences from all over the Netherlands that helped to ensure an international prominence of Gitaristenpodium Groningen. After five long years of absence, the DGF has taken it upon itself to bring the GPG concert series back to classical guitar lovers. Last season we enjoyed concerts by Lorenzo Micheli, Gérard Abiton, and Samuel Asistores.
This year, we have an exceptional list of artists ready to grace the stage in Groningen: Guy Hirschberger, a duo with Daniel Rowland and Alberto Mesirca, and Kristina Vårlid! These talented guitarists promise to captivate audiences with their exquisite artistry.
Don’t miss out on this thrilling and diverse season! We highly recommend securing your tickets in advance. Join us for an unforgettable experience!
GPG Seasonpass
This season’s artists
Guy Hirschberger
31st of January 2024
Guy is really something else. This young guitarist has won several prizes for his phenomenal playing. The most important prize he has won so far is, of course, the Audience Prize of the last edition of the Groningen Guitar Festival. You, our beloved audience, have voted for him as your favorite. So this concert is really one you can’t miss. Guy will show his abilities on the guitar by presenting a virtuosic program full of color and variety. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to see this rising star in real life! English: Guy Hirschberger, an Israeli guitarist, won prizes such as 1st prize at the Antwerp Guitar Competition and the Audience Prize at the Groningen Guitar Competition. In 2024, he received the “Prix de la Ville de Genève” for his artistic and academic achievements. He is supported by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. Nederlands: Guy Hirschberger, een Israëlische gitarist, won prijzen zoals de 1e prijs in de Antwerpen Gitaarcompetitie en de publieksprijs in de Groningen Gitaarcompetitie. In 2024 ontving hij de “Prix de la Ville de Genève” voor zijn artistieke en academische prestaties. Hij wordt gesteund door de America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
Alberto Mesirca & Daniel Rowland
21st of February 2025
Guitar and violin, what a combination. Especially when Daniel Rowland and Alberto Mesirca are playing. Alberto Mesirca is an accomplished guitarist who plays everywhere, and Daniel Rowland is an amazing violinist. They are going to play Paganini, De Falla, and other composers, and… a world premiere. How exciting is that? We are definitely going to be there. Are you?
Kristina Vårlid
23rd of May 2025
Kristina has been a household name in the guitar world for a while now. She already has two great CDs to her name, has won several important prizes, and is the inspiring guitar teacher at the Prins Claus Conservatory. Kristina will not play any pieces from the CDs. She will present a totally new program, especially for you! Recently, she has been overstepping the limits of the guitar by arranging new pieces for guitar. So you will hear pieces never heard on guitar before by an award-winning guitarist! If that doesn’t convince you to come to the concert, we don’t know what will! English: Kristina Vårlid, a Norwegian guitarist, was praised for her album 5 Stages of Grief. She won prizes like the Antwerp International Guitar Competition and performed in prestigious venues. A professor at the Prince Claus Conservatoire, she received the Norwegian State Artist Work Grant for her artistic work. Nederlands: Kristina Vårlid, een Noorse gitariste, werd geprezen voor haar album 5 Stages of Grief. Ze won prijzen zoals de Antwerpen International Guitar Competition en gaf concerten in prestigieuze zalen. Ze is docente aan het Prins Claus Conservatorium en ontving de Noorse Staatsbeurs voor haar artistieke werk.
Artists of Gitaristenpodium Groningen 2023 / 2024
Samuel Asistores
17th of November 2023
The young Filipino Samuel Asistores stole the hearts of the Groningen audience earlier this year and won the audience award of the Grande Finale of the competition of the Groningen Guitar Festival 2023 with a convincing majority. He began his guitar studies at the age of nine in the Philippines and continued his education in the United States. He is currently studying at the École Supérieure Musique et Danse Hauts-de-France in Lille. Despite his young age, he has given several concerts worldwide as a soloist, (read more..)
Lorenzo Micheli
15th of March 2024
The musician and classicist Lorenzo Micheli is a true all-rounder. During more than eight hundred concerts worldwide and on more than twenty albums, he has explored and performed the full breadth of guitar music. From the European Baroque, Classics and Romanticism to the South American twentieth century, with him, all styles and composers are in excellent hands. He arranged himself many of the works that he performed and recorded whether solo, with orchestra or with his duo partner Matteo Mela. (read more..)
Gérard Abiton
31st of May 2024
World-renowned French guitarist Gérard Abiton has been giving concerts on all continents for decades. Although he only began playing guitar as a self-taught musician at age 12, he was admitted to the Conservatoire Supérieure National de Musique in Paris just four years later. He won prizes at several festivals and attended master classes and summer schools with such twentieth-century luminaries as Andrés Segovia, Abel Carlevaro and John Williams. Throughout his career, he has performed music from all continents (read more..)
Artists of Gitaristenpodium Groningen 2022 / 2023

Marko Topchii
25th of November 2022
Marko Topchii has won more than 100 awards worldwide in the international guitar competitions in the professional category. Among them, 50 first places in the competitions in United States, Mexico, Australia, Japan, China, Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, Indonesia, Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Liechtenstein, Poland, Serbia, Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Ukraine. Marko actively performs around the world, regularly gives concerts with the orchestra; he is the desired teacher of master classes and juror of competitions; he constantly (read more..)

Luka Lovrekovic
24th of March 2023
Luka Lovreković, born in 1995, started playing the guitar at the age of 8. After graduating in 2019 from the Music Academy in Zagreb, where he studied in the class of Krešimir Bedek. He attended master courses of renowned guitarists like Manuel Barrueco, Lukasz Kuropaczewski, Xhevdet Sahatxhija, Carlo Marchione, Petrit Çeku, Paolo Pegoraro, Zoran Dukić, Judicaël Perroy, Lorenzo Micheli and others. He is currently a student at the Kunstuniversitat Graz in the class of Lukasz Kuropaczewski. Since the beginning of his musical career, he has been involved (read more..)

Pavel Steidl
2nd of June 2023
‘Here was a guitarist who knew how to laugh with the music and share the joke with his audience. But behind the entertainer lies a serious artist, whose extended composition in memory of Jana Obrovska proved fully capable of stirring emotions at the other end of the scale. Never was a standing ovation more richly deserved. Pavel Steidl had won the hearts and minds of a capacity crowd.’ (Classical Guitar Magazine). Pavel Steidl was born in Rakovnik (Czech Republic). Since he won first prize at the Radio France International Competition in Paris (read more..)