Who can participate?
If you master some basic skills like chords, strumming, maybe a bit of fingerpicking and do have a solid basic knowledge of Guitar playing, you should do just fine. Whatever level of experience you have, we promise, that you will not be disappointed, there will be always plenty of challenges in further developing your skills.
The idea of this 1 week workshop is to give you some new fundamental, important "tools" to take home with you, so you will be able to improve on your techniques, composing, improvisation and get some inspiration to experiment with new approaches to percusive and Fingerstyle Guitar playing.
Our Teachers for this year:
Soenke Meinen
Soenke Meinen and his unconventional and captivating way of seducing the audiences worldwide with his unique guitar playing and his compositions, formed part of the „Acoustic Guitar Spectacular Tour“ in Australia and the "International Guitar Night"in the USA and Canada. With his music, in which he combines virtuoso fingerstyle guitar with influences from jazz, world- and classical music, Sönke Meinen has acquired an outstanding reputation in the international guitar scene.
After the success of his debut album „Perpetuum Mobile“ (2016) and touring Australia, China, Japan, Russia and almost every European country, Sönke Meinen took the next step being not only the performer, but also the composer and producer of his second solo album „Spark“. Leaving traditional musical stereotypes behind, his unconventional and equally fresh and approachable sound has made Sönke Meinen win numerous prizes; in 2016 he collected awards at two of the largest international guitar competitions: the well-respected „Guitar Masters“ (first prize) and the European Guitar Award (sponsoring prize). The Australian guitar wizard Tommy Emmanuel introduced Sönke Meinen to his audience as „one of the most creative guitarists in the scene today“.
Sönke Meinen was born in 1991 and grew up in Ihlow/East Frisia.
Pino Forastiere
Italian guitarist Pino Forastiere creates music that defies easy categorization, drawing from a rich background in classical, contemporary, and rock traditions. His playing is a virtuosic fusion of techniques—slapping, tapping, strumming, alternate tunings, and harmonics—blended with classical phrasing and a strong melodic sensibility. His style has been described as “something like a mix of Steve Reich’s interlocking rhythmic patterns meets Michael Hedges’s techniques, all while admiring Eddie Van Halen” (John Schaefer, WNYC Radio).
His compositions are inviting the audience to join him on a musical journey through new dimensions and soulful adventures supported by captivating rythms and melodies and his very own and highly fascinating techniques performed on the guitar.
Born in 1966 in Latronico, Southern Italy, Pino moved to Rome with his family at an early age. In 1992, he graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory with a degree in classical guitar, completing his final exam on a ten-string classical instrument. For several years thereafter, he performed live using this unique guitar and his own original repertoire. In 1996, he transitioned to the six-string acoustic guitar. In addition to classical guitar, he studied composition and chamber music, performed with various ensembles—both classical and original—and collaborated across genres including jazz, experimental, electronic, and pop.
Based near Rome, Pino has performed at festivals and venues throughout Italy, the United States, and Canada. In 2017 his 19-string Lab-Guit was born (6 strings + 5 basses + 8 high-pitched), as well as a new album "Village Life" , with compositions designed and written for this rich instrument, but also inspired by his new life in a small town.
Heiko Bloemers
Heiko Bloemers was born in 1987 and grew up in Rheinberg, Germany. At the age of 8 he started taking piano lessons. After seven years he felt “technically limited” so he began playing electric guitar and formed his first band. About one year later he was suddenly drawn to the acoustic guitar after he had seen youtube videos of Tommy Emmanuel, Andy McKee, Jon Gomm and others.
He started teaching himself more than 100 songs until he eventually began writing his own compositions. At this point in time he knew he’d like to become a full-time musician and started diving deeper into the adventurous world of music, discovering all kinds of techniques and artists along the way.
Heiko has shared the stage with artists like Don Ross, Stefano Barone, Amrit Sond and others. He’s a regular attendant of Thomas Leeb’s Guitar Bootcamp in Austria and performed in cities like Berlin, Paris and London. His debut album Sentiment EP was released April 2016.