International Guitar Festival - Jay Kacherski & Dragos Ilie
"Virtuosismo" and "technical dominance" are the words used by the press to describe American guitarist, Jay Kacherski. A native of New York, Kacherski has performed around the world as a soloist and member of the Grammy nominated Texas Guitar Quartet. He has performed at distinguished music festivals and venues such as the Festival International de Guitarra de Taxco, Mexico, the Florida Guitar Foundation, the Brevard Music Center, Round Top, the Austin Classical Guitar Society, and the International Guitar Art Festival in Shenzhen, China.
Jay Kacherski spent two years living in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar and member of the guitar faculty at the Escuela Nacional de Música, the music conservatory for the National University of Mexico (UNAM) researching, performing, and promoting contemporary classical guitar music of Mexico. His debut solo album Synthesis: 20th & 21st Century Guitar Music from Mexico was the culmination of this work and has been hailed as a “…brilliant album” and “one of the finest guitar solo recordings of recent years” by Soundboard magazine.
Jay Kacherski is currently on the guitar faculty at Loyola University of New Orleans, the University of New Orleans, and McNeese State University, as well as NOCCA, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. He has presented at music conventions and festivals throughout the U.S. and is often invited to adjudicate at national and international competitions. As a teacher, his students have been finalists and winners of international solo and chamber music competitions and recipients of scholarships for continued study. He is the Artistic Director of the Houston Classical Guitar Festival and Competition, and his academic studies include a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Music degree in Guitar Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music, and undergraduate degrees from Florida Southern College where he graduated with honors.
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Romanian guitarist Dragos Ilie has delighted audiences across Europe, Asia and the United States with his charismatic and dynamic interpretations. At an early age, Dragos fell in love with the instrument after listening to his father play. Soon he enrolled at the Popular School of Arts and later the National College of Arts in his native city Iasi, with Professor Marius Timpau. During that time, Dragos also studied with Dr. Daniel Dragomirescu at the National Music Conservatoire of Iasi.
His dedication for the art led him to receive numerous grants for competing, performing and studying in his home country and abroad. Some of these include the MOL Foundation Scholarship for Young Artists, the “Young Talents" Grant offered by the Margareta Principess Foundation, with support from the Royal House of Romania, and the Grant “Moștenitorii României Muzicale”, offered by Radio Romania and Rotary Club Pipera. After receiving the prestigious “Wooddruff Award”, Dragos went on to complete his Bachelor studies at “Schwob School of Music” - Columbus State University, at the class of composer and pedagogue Andrew Zohn.
Dragos has placed in over 40 international competitions, with more than 20 Grand Prizes. Some of these include the Koblenz International Festival, Changsha International Guitar Festival, the Tokyo International Guitar Competition, Culiacan International Competition, Indiana Guitar Festival, the Columbus Guitar Symposium, Texas A&M Guitar Competition, and Florida Guitar Festival. He has performed, taught masterclasses and workshops across the United States, China, and Europe, and has been featured in Classical Guitar Magazine, Gendai Magazine, and Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
Dragos is currently completing his Doctoral studies at the University of Austin Texas, with the renowned performer, recording artist, and teacher Adam Holzman. Concomitantly, he is serving as Teacher Assistant for the same institution. Aside from the canonical guitar pedagogy, Dragos is also invested in the study of Body Mapping, a technique focusing on body awareness and injury prevention for musicians.
