Introduction
2009 is the year of the fourth edition of the Twenthe Guitar Festival in Enschede, a town in the eastern part of The Netherlands. Again this year, the organisers were motivated by the success of the last year festival and not in the last place by their passion for the guitar and a great guitar event.
As usual, the Twenthe Guitar Festival took place in the week of Ascension Day. Due to the late Easter this year, the festival would be at the end of May. I particularly like this planning, because Ascension Day is a day off, and the Friday after Ascension Day is a compulsory holiday in my company. Which makes a nice long weekend!
Never change a winning team is a popular slogan. Consequently the dedicated organisers of the Twenthe Guitar Festival Foundation (Bobby Rootveld, Jaap Majoor, Niels Ottink and Paul Driessen) and a large backing of family, friends and sympathisers were ready to make this event a great success.
The more often I experience an event like this, the more admiration I have for the work of the organizers. Take a few details which are hardly obvious for a visitor.
The lunch for the teachers and the assistants was excellent (I do know that because I caught a roll en passant, it was delicious). First Aid was there, at least one of the volunteers was a certified professional first-aider. The hotel accommodation for the participants from afar was well organized. The help desk was continuously staffed, providing everyone with a walking festival oracle. Additionally there was the opportunity to buy tickets for the concerts, CDs, DVDs and merchandise, nice for a souvenir!
They seem to be just small things, but without food you cannot play and teach, in case of an emergency it is of vital importance that you have someone to deal with it, and a place to sleep is quite comfortable if you want to start the competition fit as a fiddle. Ad finally, if you are lost in the Concordia Theatre, it is good to know that someone can help you out.
In brief, the organisation is first-rate, guys! In these four years the people behind the Twenthe Guitar Festival perform like a well-run engine, where everybody has great flexibility. Despite the organisation-stress and the late hours (which you can deduce from the time stamps of their e-mailings). Chapeau!
I had subscribed for a Masterclass with Pavel Steidl and accepted the offer for the Improvisation workshop. This year the Let's improvise package included an additional workshop for Flamenco and Fingerstyle guitar, a nice opportunity to get a taste of these disciplines.
After three editions of the festival, my report of the musical and social aspects of this event has become a tradition by now. ;-) Watching the back side of the Festival programme, I consider the chance fairly high that I can write a Quincennium edition of these reports.
A bit of a disclaimer to start with. The impressions that I describe here are subjective. I just admit that. So please do not be angry or piqued if I write down complete nonsense in your opinion: My impression is just one of many.