Guitar Foundation of America

International Convention and Competition

2005 - Photographs

The 2005 GFA Convention and Competition was held at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. This was my first time to attend the convention and I found it to be tremendously entertaining and informative. Although I have corresponded with many of the participants for years through the internet and Soundboard, this was my first chance to meet them in person and it was both inspiring and delightful. Stephen Aron, Artistic Director, put together an exceptional lineup of events and an organization that worked flawlessly. For me, perhaps the strongest impression was made by the talent and enthusiasm that were shown by the next generation of players. Although the purpose of this web page is simply to introduce the photographs that I took at the convention, I do want to relate one anecdote. I first took lessons as a young teenager for a short time in 1966 in Newtown Square in Pennsylvania. My teacher was Joseph Mayes and he got me started on this long relationship with our wonderful instrument. In the 39 years since then we had never met. At the evening concert on Tuesday night, who turned out to sitting next to me in the front row? Why, Joseph Mayes, of course. Thank you for everything, Joe!

The photographs in the pages linked below are selected from about 500 that I took over the week. At first I was taking them as my own souvenirs of the event but after a while it was apparent that others would like to have them also. However, it was not possible to get comprehensive coverage of the convention so what you see here is inevitably a record of my personal experience of it. Most notably absent are any from the Manuel Barrueco concert from the first night – plane delays prevented my attending. So, if your favorite heroes and friends do not appear here, I apologize.

Copies – The photographs on these pages are scaled for display on a computer monitor and so are quite low resolution. They will not look very good printed. However, if there are any that you would like to have in a high resolution digital format or as ink jet prints just send me an e-mail at richard@yatesguitar.com. You may distribute the pictures or use them for whatever purpose you want, just please include an attribution.

Navigating - The photographs are organized according to the events that I attended and you can access them by clicking on the links in the following table. I suggest that you bookmark this page first as there is no easy way to return to it from the picture gallery pages.

David Tanenbaum Masterclass – Saturday, October 22

Goran Krivokapic Concert - Saturday, October 22

Duo Spiritoso Concert - Saturday, October 22

Stanley Yates Concert - Saturday, October 22

Ricardo Cobo Concert – Saturday, October 22

Ricardo Cobo Masterclass – Sunday, October 23

Martha Masters Concert – Sunday, October 23

David Tanenbaum Concert – Sunday, October 23

Stanley Yates Masterclass - Monday, October 24

Antigoni Goni Concert - Monday, October 24

Paul Galbraith Concert - Monday, October 24

Paul Galbraith Masterclass - Tuesday, October 25