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IARGUS 2007!!!
Dear Guitarists,

I hope by now it is clear to everyone that the Russian seven-string guitar offers a whole neighboring universe to classical (and not-so-classical) guitarists. One can be enamored by the fiery Gypsy dances, fascinated by the complexity of Sychra’s and Vysotsky’s compositions, blown away by the virtuosity needed to perform Sergei Orekhov’s variations. Or one can be intrigued by the possibilities of the DGBdgbd’ tuning for the future, which may include transcribing the existing piano and orchestra music as well as composing new music especially for the Russian guitar (such as Concerto di Novgorod by Angelo Gilardino). Or one can shy away from getting involved in all this and stay on the beaten track. One thing is clear: the treasures are all there, and the most efficient way to get exposure is to attend our annual seminar, IARGUS 2007.

Both the audience and the participants loved last year’s festival, IARGUS 2006 (feel free to check out some videos at http://www.guitarandluteissues.com/videos/iargus2006.htm). IARGUS 2007 is going to be a more colorful, more diverse, and overall, more interesting event, where the resourcefulness and versatility of the Russian guitar will be represented in their full glory. For example, we are inviting a specialist in Portuguese guitar Pedro Caldeira Cabral, since – as some of you know – our instruments share a predecessor, the so-called “English guitar.” The festival will have a very special guest – Tony Morris, the producer of Classical Guitar Alive!, who will be preparing a full-length report for his renowned NPR program. And we are particularly proud to present some of the best Russian guitarists today, Dmitri Illarionov, Julia Lonskaya, and Nadia Borislova.

One more thing: you don’t have to be an advanced player to enroll as a student, you don’t even have to own a Russian guitar. Our goal is to make this exciting musical culture available to everyone interested, so our patient faculty will gladly teach the instrument at any level. The full general tuition is $350 ($250 for college and highschool students), and this includes admission to all of IARGUS 2007 concerts. To register, please send checks or money orders to

IARMAC
423 7th Ave. South,
Iowa City, IA 52245

For more information, write to iarmac(at)russianguitar(dot)net

Hope to see you ALL here!

Oleg Timofeyev, Artistic Director
IARMAC (Int’l Academy for Russian Music, Arts, and Culture)