Giacomo Susani was born in 1995 in Padua, Italy. He started playing the guitar at the age of 7 and eventually studied under the direction of Stefano Grondona at the Conservatorio Arrigo Pedrollo in Vicenza where he graduated with the highest marks and honours in 2013. He is currently continuing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, in the class of Michael Lewin, where he has completed his Bachelor of Music, gaining First Class Honours and the discretionary Bache Fund Prize, and is now studying for his Master’s degree. On his entrance to the Academy he was awarded the prestigious Julian Bream Trust Scholarship, after an audition with Julian Bream himself.! ! Over the years he has taken part in masterclasses and attended advanced courses with leading guitarists such as Paul Galbraith, Oscar Ghiglia, David Russell, Carles Trepat, Fabio Zanon. In particular he obtained scholarships and diplomas of merit in Oscar Ghiglia’s renewed guitar courses at the Accademica Musicale Chigiana in Siena.! ! He has regularly taken part in guitar competitions from an early age, always obtaining excellent results and, on many occasions, winning first prize. In October 2016 he won first prize at the London International Guitar Competition playing on this occasion the premiere of Orpheus by Graham Lynch for guitar and orchestra. Among the most recent prizes are a Special Prize for the best performance of a newly commissioned piece at Guitar Masters Competition in Poland, 2nd Prize at Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Award in Switzerland and ESTA prize for the best performance of a contemporary piece at Forum Gitarre Wien Competition, all of them awarded between September and November 2016. In the same year he was also selected by the International Guitar Foundation under their Young Artist Platform Scheme for a series of concerts across the UK.! ! In April 2017 he was awarded 1st Prize at the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award in London after which he became a Yeoman of The Musicians’ Company. Shortly after, he won the Ian Fleming Award following an audition for Help Musicians UK as well as the Star Award of the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and 1st Prize at the David Russell Guitar Award held at the Royal Academy of Music. Since November 2017 he has been selected to become part of the EuroStrings Young Stars Project, which will lead him to perform in several guitar festivals around Europe.! ! As a performer he regularly appears in important venues in Italy and other countries as soloist, soloist with orchestra and in chamber ensembles, the most important venues including London, Cambridge, Canterbury, Bristol, Barcelona, Vienna, Milan, Venice.! ! In February 2015 the recording studio Stradivarius brought out his first solo CD Giacomo Susani plays Petrassi, Bach, Tansman, Weiss, which obtained excellent reviews from the public and critics alike published most notably in BBC Music, Gendai Guitar, Il Fronimo, and Amadeus.! ! Besides performing, he works in the field of composition, writing and premiering in London most recently Quintet for guitar and strings, Songs of Elegance and Wisdom for soprano and guitar and Of Dark Tales for two guitars. He is also the Artistic Director of Momùs-More Music, a Musical Association based in Italy which promotes and organises classical music concerts.! Among the future engagements are solo and chamber music recitals in Italy, UK and Brazil as well as the recording of a new CD focused on the solo guitar music by Giulio Regondi and Johann Kaspar Mertz.! ! Giacomo is grateful for being kindly supported by The Julian Bream Trust, The Calleva Foundation, The Musicians’ Company, Help Musicians UK and The Countess of Munster Musical Trust.
Born in 1988 in Varna, Bulgaria, Boyan Doychev took his first musical steps at “Marin Drinov” school, in Stanimir Dikov's guitar class. Later between 1998 -2006, he studied at National Music School "Dobri Hristov" in guitar classes of Liuben Haralambiev , Neli Nedeva and Sevdalin Stefanov. He graduated at National Music Academy "Pancho Vladigerov" Sofia, in Rossen Balkanski's guitar class in 2012.
As a student, Boyan was honored with three distinguished awards for his contribution in the fields of music and art, where he was recognized as one of the most gifted and promising students. His concert activity has seen him playing an important role in famous musical events in Bulgaria and abroad. Boyan has won many awards from international competitions worldwide.
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Boyan is pedagogue at his private school. He is a member of the association “Friends of Classical Guitar”, and a major part of the organizers of “Days of Classical Guitar” Festival in Varna, which has more than 30 years history. He is also well-known and welcomed guest at many music forums, where he is performer, teacher and jury . He is often described by the musical media as charismatic, performer with big heart and great attitude to the audience. Boyan is often invited as soloist of Pleven Philharmonic, New Simphonic Orchestra, State Orchestra of National Music Academy and others.
Tiit Peterson
