In 2026, GuitArt Festival Plovdiv celebrates its tenth edition — a decade in which the festival has grown from a local cultural initiative into an international meeting point for distinguished artists, emerging talents, educators and guitar enthusiasts from around the world.
The first edition was held in Plovdiv in 2016, inspired by the idea of creating the kind of festival its founders had wished to experience as young musicians: a place where Bulgarian students and audiences could meet leading international performers, encounter different musical traditions and gain access to high-level education. From the beginning, GuitArt was conceived not only as a series of concerts, but as an open platform for artistic exchange, learning and professional development.
Over the years, the festival has welcomed some of the most remarkable names on the international guitar scene. Its stages have featured artists such as Yamandu Costa, Aniello Desiderio, Anabel Montesinos, Pavel Steidl, Marcin Dylla, Mateusz Kowalski, Vlatko Stefanovski, Darko Bageski and Nino D’Amico. GuitArt has also expanded beyond the boundaries of classical guitar, presenting flamenco, jazz, world music, rock and cross-genre projects by artists and ensembles including BaBa ZuLa, Trio Mandili, Light in Babylon and many others.
This artistic diversity reflects the festival’s central philosophy: the guitar is not confined to a single genre, tradition or audience. It is an instrument capable of connecting cultures and generations — from the classical concert hall to the jazz club, from flamenco and Brazilian music to contemporary and experimental projects.
An important chapter in the development of GuitArt Festival Plovdiv was its participation in EuroStrings – the European Guitar Festival Collaborative, co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union. Through this international platform, Plovdiv welcomed outstanding young guitarists from across Europe, as well as established EuroStrings ambassadors and competition winners.
In 2021, GuitArt Festival Plovdiv hosted the annual EuroStrings Conference, bringing together representatives of leading European guitar festivals. The conference was streamed internationally and placed Plovdiv at the centre of an important professional conversation about cooperation, audience development, education and the future of the European guitar sector.
The International GuitArt Classical Guitar Competition, launched as part of the festival in 2019, has become one of its most important long-term achievements. Its first laureate was Bulgarian guitarist Pavel Ralev. Subsequent winners and distinguished participants have included musicians such as Nino D’Amico, Cassie Martin, Pavle Filipović and Samuel Solomon.
The competition combines an online preliminary round with live finals in Plovdiv and is open to guitarists of all ages and nationalities. Its purpose is not simply to award prizes, but to identify and support exceptional musicians by offering them international visibility, concert engagements and opportunities to return to the festival as performing artists. In this way, GuitArt creates continuity between competition, education and the professional stage.
Education has remained at the heart of the festival throughout its history. Masterclasses, workshops, lectures, children’s programmes and meetings with international artists give young Bulgarian musicians direct access to different schools, traditions and approaches to the guitar. The festival works closely with Plovdiv’s musical and cultural community and presents its programme in concert halls, academic institutions, theatres, radio studios, clubs and open urban spaces across the city.
The tenth edition, GuitArt X, will take place in Plovdiv from 1 to 4 October 2026. The anniversary programme will celebrate both the festival’s history and its future, bringing together established international artists, former competition winners and a new generation of musicians.
The festival will culminate on 4 October with the return of Brazilian seven-string guitar virtuoso Yamandu Costa, whose concert was one of the defining moments of GuitArt in 2019. His return for the tenth anniversary creates a symbolic bridge between two important stages in the festival’s development.
Ten editions later, GuitArt Festival Plovdiv continues to pursue the idea with which it began: to connect artists and audiences, to create opportunities for young musicians and to present the guitar in all its richness, freedom and diversity.