Classical Guitar Magazine 11

GRADUATING FROM the Karol Lipi ski Academyof Music in Wrocław where he studied under thedirection of Piotr Zaleski, Pełech then went on tostudy with Gordon Crosskey at the RoyalNorthern College of Music in Manchester. TodayPełech gives around sixty concerts a year(recitals, chamber-music performances, and asa soloist with orchestras). He performs in theensembles Krzysztof Pełech & Robert Horna -classical guitar duet; Duo Guitarinet (Jan JakubBokun - clarinet); and Mazurtango (Piotr Rangno- accordion). In addtion, Pełech regularly givesconcerts with Jorge Morel who has also dedicat-ed one of his compositions to him. He is thecofounder and artistic director of theInternational Guitar Festival Gitara+, held inWrocław since 1998, as well as the creator andartistic manager of Krzyzowa Summer GuitarFestival. For several years on Radio Wrocław hebroadcasted his own programme, GuitarSculptors. At this time Pełech is completing adoctoral research programme in Academy ofMusic in Bydgoszcz.

You invested a lot of time as a competitor in yourearly career. Why were competitions important toyou and at what point did you decide to stop com-peting? I started the regular life of a competitor quiteearly, at the age of eleven. There were many com-petitions held in many countries (including veryexotic ones) and all were of huge importance to

me. I quickly realised, however, that such sport-like rivalry was difficult to assess reliably. Forme, they were a ‘necessary evil’. Competitions willbe the most efficient springboard for young musi-cians until someone comes up with somethingjust as efficient, but also more friendly, elicitingless negative emotions and causing less disap-pointments.

There have emerged the opportunities to takepart in television programmes like Got Talent!,which, with a little bit of luck, may be very help-ful and ensure broad media recognisability, oreven a short-lived fame. Nowadays, there is littleroom for culture in the media, unless you pay forit, just like you pay for advertising a product. Itseems to me that competitions organised todayhave slightly devalued themselves and do nothave the potency they had some 20 years ago.

Just how effective do you think competitions areat launching a career?In the past, after one returned from a competi-tion with the first prize, the media showed keeninterest in the success of a young guitarist.There were interviews in the press (and not onlytitles devoted to music), invitations to nationaltelevision and radio recordings, concert propos-als and so on. Victories at competitions gave meexcellent new instruments (I have won twoexquisite Manuel Contreras guitars) and cashfrom which I could buy a small car and anapartment!

KRZYSZTOF PEŁECHInterviewed by GUY TRAVISS

Krzysztof Pełech with Joscho Stephan and his quintet.

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What about the people you network with?I was lucky to have taken part in really diversecompetitions, taking place in interesting places:Lome (Togo) and Pretoria (RPA), for example.Beside pure rivalry, I could often come to knowmany excellent musicians, teachers and com-posers who helped me in my later music career.They include Jorge Morel, Maurice Summerfield,Costas Cotsiolis, Edmund Jurkowski, JosephUrshalmi, Colin Cooper…I gave up competitiverivalry because I simply didn’t need it. I started togive many concerts and record albums. And thatis what matters most for a musician.

You lead an active concert life, what perspectivehave you gained of your own work?My activity can be described as one with manystrands. On the one hand, being loyal to the clas-sical guitar, I enjoy performing recitals withdiverse repertoire (Polish, Spanish and SouthAmerican music). I also devote a lot of time toBach, who is, in my opinion, the number one com-poser, the artist of all time. Ihave been lucky to performwith various orchestras on aregular basis. Of course, theimmortal and timeless guitarhit, Concierto de Aranjuez,can be most often heardfrom the stage of MusicHalls, but I also tend to con-vince directors of the institu-tions to include in concertsprogrammes Concierto Anticoby Richard Harvey orFantasie de la Danza byJorge Morel.

In addition, I greatly enjoycooperation with such giantsof non-classical guitar asJoscho Stephan (anabsolutely amazing gipsy-swing guitarist, the suc-cessor of Django Reinhardt) or Tommy Emmanuel(the most fantastic fingerstyle guitarist). WithJoscho Stephan and his quartet, we have givensome 50 concerts across Poland and we arepreparing concert tours for the coming years (Irepresent the artist in Poland).

Moreover, I really appreciate giving chamberconcerts. I form two duos: the Duo Guitarinet withclarinettist Jan Jakub Bokun and a guitar duowith Robert Horna.

Like many performing artists who lead varied lives,you have your own festival. What’s the status ofthe event at this time?I have been the artistic director of the WrocławGuitar Festival for 15 years. The event hasbecome strongly rooted in the music landscapeof Wrocław and it is the artistic showcase of thecity. Within last year’s edition of the Festival,the King of Flamenco Guitar, Paco de Lucia,played for 6,000 people. www.gitara.wroclaw.pl

My next undertaking is the Summer GuitarFestival. With a history of more than 10 years, theevent attracts around one hundred participantsfrom all over the world to Krzyzowa (55 km fromWrocław). Within the Festival, there are work-shops for classical guitar (conducted by the mostexcellent teachers and virtuosos from Poland andabroad), jazz, fingerstyle, flamenco guitar, as wellas flamenco dance. The Festival is targeted ateveryone: professionals and amateurs, beginnersto the advanced, primary school pupils and uni-versity students. There is no age limit.www.gitara.krzyzowa.pl

Recording…As regards my recording achievements, an albumcontaining Concierto de Aranjuez has been recent-ly released by the DUX company, as well as anextremely interesting Concert for guitar and stringsby Robert Kurdybacha (premiere recording). Itwould probably be nothing significant, if it wasn’tfor the fact that the recording was made with the

National PhilharmonicOrchestra under Anotni Witand the Amadeus Orchestraunder Agnieszka Duczmal.

At 60 concerts per year youare a very active player. Howhave you managed to getyourself into this position?Nowadays, it is not enoughto just work with the instru-ment, one has to be active inmany areas. The 60 concertsper year you mention com-prise performances in vari-ous configurations andchamber settings. I enjoyplaying recitals, but I also

like doing concerts with the excellent clarinettistJan Jakub Bokun and the guitar duo (RobertHorna). I also perform with one of the Polish phil-harmonic orchestras at least once a month, andcollaborate with recognised Polish composers andmusicians from the jazz (Leszek Mozdzer,Krzesimir Debski) and popular world musicworlds. This diversity lets me retain freshness andthe joy of making music, since routine and bore-dom with what you do are the worst possiblethings.

What do you feel is important with regard to treat-ing audiences?The key element is the creation of a warm, inti-mate atmosphere. It is important to befriend theaudience during the concert and to convince themthat the classical guitar can be interesting. In myopinion, guitarists who perform these days oftendo not think about the audience’s preferences andlikings, just playing the works they like, or want tobe very ambitious, serious and choose repertoire

“My next undertakingis the Summer Guitar Festival.

With a history of more than 10 years,the event attracts

around one hundred participants from all over the world

to Krzyzowa (55 km from Wrocław).”

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that is heavy and difficult to absorb. Thisapproach often results in almost empty concerthalls or audiences leaving the halls after the inter-val. If we want to ensure high attendance at con-certs, if we want to attract new listeners, we needto pay a lot of attention when selecting the reper-toire for our recitals. Of course, one can play fourserious, ambitious sonatas by contemporaryartists, which will be appreciated by a small groupof experts – music lovers and critics. Yet the vastmajority of those who have decided to come to theconcert will be overwhelmed by such repertoire.They will appreciate the virtuosity and hard workput into preparation of the repertoire, but they willprobably never attend a concert like that again.

I infer from my personal observations and expe-rience that there are very few places and organis-ers who are capable of presenting the classicalguitar in the appropriate conditions. Moreover,when you organise a guitar recital, it is veryimportant to take care of several details such as:the room, acoustics, stage, appropriate lighting,sound system, setting, hosting the concert andestablishing rapport with the audience.

You identify South American music as a favourablestyle. Does this has something to do with the obser-vations you have just made? Indeed, Latin music has stuck to me in a way andI like performing it very much. My friendship with Jorge Morel means a lot to meand I owe him a lot, but I also think that SouthAmerican themes are extremely attractive andsuitable for the classical guitar. I believe that theaudience expects us to play just those kind ofsounds. Therefore, I often and readily pick theworks of composers like Astor Piazzolla, JorgeCardoso and the aforementioned Jorge Morel.

You have enjoyed a great career so far, what do yousee as coming next?It must be admitted that the music market is cur-rently very crowded and high competition is inplace in the world of artists. On the other hand, itis difficult to meet an art management companywhich operates effectively and at the same timedoes not attempt to makequick money on the artist, useand deceive the artist and thenabandon him or her. These are,at least, my observations, so Imanage my affairs on my own.Over more than two decades, Ihave built a network of trulyprecious contacts that enableme to cooperate with guitaristsand concert organisers world-wide.

There is a certain trap hid-den here. I do more and morefrequently meet guitarist-organisers, who are at thesame time the managers of

various guitar festivals. In the majority of cases,the guitarists created their events only to makeuse of the opportunity of appearing at other festi-vals by way of exchange (so-called collaboration).

They spend most of the time in front of the com-puter sending emails, while they devote tinyamounts of time to working with the instrument.This is how it is done: you arrange a meeting witha friendly mayor and present the idea of an excel-lent, unique guitar event. The friend mayor givesmoney to implement the task, and during a ratherprivate event (there are usually several dozen peo-ple in the audience), quite mediocre concerts areperformed. Such provincial mini-festivals areusually poorly publicised and posters are not evenplaced in the venues, artists stay in poor hotelsand generally little happens. I would often experi-ence such situations personally. It happened thatwe played (together with Jakub Bokun) a concertin a cave, where the conditions were extreme.Water was dripping on our heads, the tempera-ture was 16 degrees and humidity exceeded 90%.We also performed open air concerts on a bushovergrown stage. We were bitten by mosquitoes

and a pack of barking dogs lin-gered around. Now, I amtelling this as an interestinganecdote, but we did not feellike laughing then. Meanwhile,the artists who reciprocated tous in such an interesting andoriginal way had performed aprofessionally organised con-cert in a philharmonic hallwith the accompaniment of thebest orchestra in the city. Imust admit that I let myself betempted by the so-called col-laboration more than once,which I sincerely regrettedafterwards.

Krzysztof Pełech with Paco de Lucia.

Classical Guitar Magazine

The Wrocław Guitar Festival, of which I havebeen the director from the onset, is completely dif-ferent. It is a huge event, of international stand-ing. Together with Katarzyna Krzysztyniak (themanaging director) we take care for our artists ina unique way. They stay at the best hotels, per-form in good, prestigious halls, we also ensurepresence in national media.

Posters are displayed all around the city (thepopulation of Wrocław exceeds 600,000), we alsoinvest in billboards, tens of thousands of leafletsand brochures, advertisements are placed on theInternet, at airports, press and television inter-views are held.

Thanks to such marketing activities, we enjoyfull audiences at all festival concerts and highinterest from commercial media.

What kind of teaching are you involved in at thistime?I am very active as a teacher. I conduct the guitarclass at the Music Academy in Bydgoszcz, where Isupervise six students. Each year, I visit severaldozen music schools and universities in Polandand abroad. I have prepared special packages,which cover: individual classes, my short recitalperformance, and a lecture entitled How to prac-tice to acquire the skill? I share my almost 30-year-long experience with young guitarists. I presentnew guitars and accessories, which have appearedon the market. I advise how to select the rightinstrument, how to care for the nails, how to prop-erly hold the guitar, how to practice effectively etc.

How do you advise young players on careers asguitarists?In my opinion, young guitarists who are seriouslythinking about a career with the guitar shouldmake the decision as teenagers: will I play for myown pleasure only? Will I become a guitarteacher? Will I embark on an international careerperforming solo or in a group? The earlier such avisualisation is made in one’s mind, the fewer dis-appointments that person will have after gradua-tion. It is key to consider whether one plays foroneself, for the audience, or maybe just for theclass? Each of the factors may be important, buttheir proportions are significant as well. The worldis currently full of guitarists – craftsmen, playingmega-difficult programmes on carbon -sandwichguitars, which sound as if they have small loud-speakers built-in, at super quick (dizzy) tempos.Those guitar players very often forget aboutmelody, a beautiful and noble sound, phrasingand vibrato. Their interpretations do not leaveroom for playing with timbre, and shading thedynamics and articulation. There are no emotionsand and sense of building up the dradrammatur-gy in a piece. Everything is played clearly, skilful-ly and loudly, and Bach sounds exactly likePiazzolla. I happen to attend such concerts moreand more often, while real musician-guitaristscan be met less and less frequently.