blog - otto vowinkel

Cyprus Guitar Festival

17 June 2018 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

Last year Mustafa Elmas and Can Belgeli came to my workshop to buy two of my 2A models. The guitars were meant for guitar students in Cyprus where there happens to be an active guitar community.

Mustafa, Can and the Academic Members of Near East University, Dr. Erkan Sülün and Ünal Dede are playing a leading role in this community. Together they organize a guitar festival to which Esther and I were invited.

There were lectures, concerts and masterclasses.

Ozan Saritepe (photo Emre Ünlenen)

Zoran Dukic (photo Emre Ünlenen)

2nd international cyprus guitar festival team

Erkan Sülün (most left) and Ünal Dede (most right) with their team members : Arda Özsegkin, Neriman Soykunt and Murat Alihan. (photo: Facebook)

And there was a boat ride hosted by Ünal Dede who, besides being a guitar professor, is also a renowned sailing instructor.

Zoran Dukic after his concert

Susana Opanski

28 March 2018 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

These are Susana Opanski, Costas Cotsiolis and students of Susana in the dressing room of Costas after his concert in our series Meesters op de Gitaar. Susana and her students are loyal visitors to the series.

Susana Opanski is convinced that music connects people and that playing an instrument plays an important role in the personal development of children and young people.

For more than 20 years Susana Opanski is working as a guitar teacher at the Music School in Amersfoort. Besides that she develops educational projects to bring children into contact with music.

In addition to being a guitarist, bassoonist and guitar teacher, Susana Opanski is also the founding conductor a of the Student Gitaar Ensemble Nederland (SGEN). Last year the ensemble released a CD thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign. Significant donors were rewarded with a visit to my workshop.

On May 25, the ensemble can be heard at the Vondelkerk in Amsterdam.
Our concert series continues in September. Subscriptions for sale.

Eduardo Bossa

12 February 2018 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is Eduardo Bossa on the balcony of his house in Cartagena (Colombia).

A few years ago Eduardo Bossa came to my workshop in Amsterdam where he studied classical guitar at the conservatory. Last October, after a concert in Cartagena by Esther and the Trejos Brothers, we met again. I am a guitar maker now Eduardo said and to my surprise the visit to my workshop had been of great influence to him, to become one. The atmosphere, the work, the peace, it had all appealed to him. And in the course of time he slowly but surely started to realize he would rather be a guitar builder than a guitarist.

Eduardo built a number of guitars and also does a lot of repairing. He introduced Esther and me to another Colombian guitar maker, Luis Alberto Paredes Rodríguez. He wrote a book about guitar building which was just published.

Last week Eduardo sent me an email to let me know, things are going well and his website is up in the air.

Matthijs van Delft

8 December 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is Matthijs van Delft, a young, Dutch guitarist, studying at the Royal Conservatory in Den Haag with Fernando Cordas in his Young Talent Class. Matthijs came to the workshop together with his father to by a new guitar. Less than a month later he sent me an email, telling me that he is very happy with his guitar and won the junior competition of the Antwerpen Guitar Festival as well as the Leo Brouwer prize!

Well done Matthijs!! Congratulations!

Matthijs van Delft (photo Antwerp Guitar Festival)

Jan Depreter, Matthijs van Delft, Fernando Cordas , Izhar Elias (Foto KonCon)

Billy Chi

14 September 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This still shows the hand of Billy Chi, a versatile, American based guitarist who owns a popular YouTube Channel where he uploads instructional video’s.

In the video from which the still was taken Billy Chi teaches you in 60 seconds how to play Despacito from Luis Fonsi. To be honest I had never heard of Luis Fonsi but I noticed that Billy Chi plays on a guitar made by me.

But for the ones interested in playing Despacito, herewith Billy’s instructions as well as the original version.

Nelson Faria #2

3 September 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is Nelson Faria discussing his Otto Vowinkel in Fica a Dica, (this is a tip). Nelson Faria is a great Brazilian guitarist whom I wrote about earlier.

What a pleasant surprise it was when I opened the link Swedish guitarist Kristoffer Skoog sent me. I found this episode of Fica a Dica in which Nelson talks only positive words about his 2A model, Flamenco.

Fica a dica is part of Um cafe la em casa, the internet show in which Nelson discusses and plays music with colleagues and friends. A must see for all guitarists who want to play Brazilian music.

Galerie des Luthiers

17 July 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is Maurice Freton from Galerie des Luthiers in Lyon, France.

Esther and I only knew the city Lyon from passing it on our way southwards. Last time we decided to make a stop and pay it a visit, something we should have done a long time before. Lyon is a beautiful place, full of nice people and fantastic restaurants!

We went to see Galerie des Luthiers, a guitar shop specialized in classical guitars, run by Alice and Maurice Freton. That particular day Alice was out of town, but her father Maurice welcomed us with great enthusiasm.

Next week Galerie des Luthiers will have two guitars of mine in stock: a 2A and a 3A model.

Minsu Yu

23 May 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is Minsu Yu, the owner of Classical Guitar Studio Partita, in Seoul, South-Korea. Last March he came all the way to Europe, to meet and greet guitar makers he represents, including me. Before he came to Amsterdam he spent more than a week in Italy and after all the pasta he felt like some noodles. The first night we took him to a restaurant called Korea, which didn’t happen to be the perfect choice… Luckily Minsu Yu stayed a few more days so we could make up for it.

Minsu Yu and I got to know each other thanks to the South Korean guitarist Ricardin Hwang about whom I wrote earlier. Minsu, besides owing the most important guitar shop of South-Korea, turned out to be a very good guitar player.

Otto Vowinkel en Minsu Yu op het terras van Café de Prins in Amsterdam

Krisna and Prawira Pijloo

18 April 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

These are Krisna and Prawira Pijloo after having performed Manuel de Falla’s La Vida Breve in Concertgebouw Amsterdam. Both Krisna and Prawira play the guitar from an early age and both want to become professional guitarists.

We invited them to play one piece before Rafael’s concert, to get a taste of the real thing. In the video below you can see them getting prepared, at home as well as right before the concert.

I know Krisna and Prawira since 2013 as you can see in the other video, recorded when they visited the workshop with their parents.

Rafael Aguirre

20 March 2017 By Otto Vowinkel Leave a Comment

This is the Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre, taking applause after his debut in het Concertgebouw van Amsterdam. Rafael played a beautiful concert in a full house. Our series Meesters op de Gitaar consists of three concerts each year and is getting more and more attention. That is good news for the ones who missed the concert. Rafael can be watched and listen to via Opium op 4 and Podium Witteman. There were also pictures taken from the concert.