Otto Vowinkel

Guitar maker Amsterdam

concert model

Pieter Nanne now feels what he is playing

Loosing both parents, getting divorced and becoming a grandfather in a period of four years has had a great impact on Dutch gitarist, teacher and organizer Pieter Nanne. “But now, when I play a note, I feel it.”

After fifty years of playing the guitar, “my physique is declining, but the intensity of my playing has increased,” so he tells in an interview in Dutch news paper NHD.

Most of his professional life he spent with what he now describes as “making things possible for others”, teaching and organizing concerts. During the silence of the lock down, he concentrated on his own music. This resulted in a new cd: Gentle Guitar.

Pieter Nanne plays an eight-string concert guitar with spruce top.

Website Pieter Nanne | Interview website NH Dagblad

Frits Nierstrasz actually was a guitarist

Frits Nierstrasz in the workshop of Otto Vowinkel

Frits Nierstrasz in my workshop

Back in 2016 I got a phone call from Mister Nierstrasz who wanted to buy a concert guitar. I told him about my waiting list. Would I, in his case, be so kind to make an exception, he asked. Mister Nierstrasz happened to be 90 years old.

Frits Nierstrasz (1926-2021) was an international authority in the housing field. But according to his son, he was actually a guitarist. Frits Nierstrasz bought his first guitar at the age of 14. Many lessons and endless studying followed and eventually he even started performing. This he would do for the rest of his life.

As a student at the Netherlands School of Economics, now the Erasmus University Rotterdam, he travelled to Spain to learn the language. There he spent most of his time in flamenco bars in Burgos, Barcelona, Madrid…

Mr. and Mrs. Nierstrasz in Spain.

Mr. and Mrs. Nierstrasz in Burgos, Spain.

Last month I got a sad message from his son, who is now selling his fathers guitar. Normally I don’t promote occasions, not even if they were made by me. But again I make exception:

For sale: a beautiful instrument with a spruce top and Amazonas rosewood back and sides. It’s in good shape, since Mr Nierstrasz has always taken great care of it.

If you’re interested it’s best to contact me.

Arne Willems performs Marius Bajog

This is Arne Willems, a classical guitarist from Wuppertal, Germany. The picture above was taken back in 2017 when he visited my workshop to collect his guitar. The picture can be found on his instagram account. Every now and then, Arne drops by for lunch, combining his holidays at the Dutch coast with a social visit. Last month he sent me two YouTube videos in which he premieres the work of his friend, composer Marius Bajog. I herewith forward them. Arne plays a cedar top concert model.

Almudena Rubio (voice) and Isabelle Laudenbach (guitar)

These are Almudena Rubio (voice) and Isabelle Laudenbach (guitar) during their concert at the Embassy of Spain in Den Haag (The Netherlands).

Singer and art historian Almudena Rubio works at the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam, researching the Cajas de Amsterdam, photo archives from two Jewish immigrant photographers, Margaret Michaelis and Kati Horna, who put their camera at the service of the social revolution during the Spanish Civil War.

Together with Isabelle Laudenbach, a French flamenco guitarist, living in Barcelona, Almudena Rubio performs on a regular base.

Rubio started singing at a later age and much of her repertoire is related to her research: music by singer-songwriter Chicho Sánchez Ferlosio, Latin American folklore, songs by Chavela Vargas and music-set poetry by Rosalía de Castro, García Lorca and Agustin Garcia Calvo.

The hauntingly beautiful and passionate voice of Madrid singer Almudena Rubio immediately transports you back to the 1920s and 1930s, to the zarzuelas of Madrid, the milongas of Buenos Aires and the agit-prop cabarets of pre-war Berlin and France.
Stuart Christie

Every year , with the arrival of Sint Nicholas in the Netherlands , the Spanish Embassy organizes a concert at the Paleiskerk in The Hague. Due to Covid-19, this years concert took place at the Embassy itself. The entire concert, including the ambassador’s introduction, can be seen on YouTube.

links: Almudena Rubio | Isabella Laudenbach | IISH | Spaanse Ambassade den Haag | Sinterklaas explained

Isabella Laudenbach plays a concert model flamenco guitar

Lazaro Tejedor on the Spotify List

Leyenda - Lazaro Tejedor_CD

This is Leyenda, a CD by Lazaro Tejedor. He sent it to me a while ago since he recorded it with a spruce top cutaway concert model , built by me.

Lazaro Tejedor works as a guitar teacher, guitarist and composer. He also organizes guitar workshops in the Netherlands, Spain and Morocco.

Lazaro Tejedor was born on Tenerife, the largest and most populated island of the Canary Islands (Spain). He’s fluent in Spanish, English and Dutch. Occasionally he performes as a singer-songwriter, usually in Spanish.

Last week Spotify celebrated it’s ten year anniversary so I updated my playlist on Spotify with albums or tracks, played on guitars built by me. It’s named Played on guitars made by Otto Vowinkel. The playlist is far from complete. If you know an album or track which should be added, please tell me. For now, I hope you enjoy Lazaro’s interpretation of the title track of his CD, which obviously, I included on my list.

Sanel Redzic Trio plays Lau Euskal Abesti

Sanel Redzic, the young, successfull guitarist I have written about earlier, invested a lot of time and effort in making high quality recordings. It pays off as one can see on his YouTube channel where he releases new videos on a regular basis.

Recently he released an original quarantine video: Lau Euskal Abesti, four Basque songs by composer Jesus Guridi. It was written for guitar trio and Sanel Redzic takes care of all three parts.

Last year Sanel also released a new cd called Journey with music by Aguado, Tarrega, de Falla and Bach.

Sanel Redzic_CD_Journey
Sanel Redzic Journey-booklet

In the video and on the cd Sanel playes two different concert guitars. The one on the cd was built in 2004. The one in the video in 2019. For more info about Sanel and his cds, please check out his website.

Nina Fourie Gouws

This is Nina Fourie Gouws, AKA Nina_Guitar. I wrote about her earlier.
Nina is a South-African guitarist. Active as a concert player as well as a guitar lecturer at Stellenbosch Konservatorium where she teaches pre-undergraduate and undergraduate practical music studies, accompaniment, repertoire studies and teaching methodology.

Nina plays a cedar top concert guitar with, as you can see in the picture above, a beautiful back.

Nina is very active on Instagram where I found all photos in this post – taken by Marnhe Grové. Among other things, she uses Instagram to keep herself motivated and to share her ideas about practising .

Last year she challenged herself with a so-called # 100daysofpractice in which she posted a video of her progress every day. This year she is doing something similar but reduced the challenge to # 40daysofpractice. Below you can watch day 32: a short video from Asturias, recorded by candlelight due to a power outage.

Keep it up Nina, only 8 more days to go!

José Antonio López

This José Antonio López, a classical guitarist from Puerto Rico. Every year he travels through Europe, accompanying his students from the Universidad de Puerto Rico where he teaches at the Department of Humanities. Last year he paid me a visit.

This year he came to collect his guitar and to celebrate we went out for dinner. José Antonio is very active man. Performing, teaching, composing and traveling. He does it all and all with great dedication.

Check out his instagram account where he posted a lot of pictures and video’s of his new instrument: a concert guitar with maple back and sides and a spruce top. I herewith forward one which shows the beautiful bear claw spruce.

Bear claw _Spruce Guitar

A Maple Guitar for Guitar Salon International

Otto Vowinkel_Andy Lee_ Guitar Salon International

This is Andy Lee from Guitar Salon International. Andy attended the Frankfurter Messe where producers of instruments and accessories meet their suppliers and dealers. Because Andy came all the way from Santa Monica – California, he decided to combine Frankurt with a visit to Amsterdam where we had dinner together in one of my favorite restaurants: Hotel de Goudfazant.

  • Guitar_Salon_International_Otto_Vowinkel_Maple_Spruce_Detail
  • Guitar_Salon_International_Otto_Vowinkel Maple Spruce

I recently sent a maple concert guitar to GSI, with a beautiful bearclaw spruce top, as you can see in the pictures above. The guitar was sold almost immediately, which is good for both GSI and me, but a bit unfortunate for Irina Kulikova. She was planning to record a video with it, as she announces in the instagram post.

I also visited the Frankfurter Messe, just like last year when the video above was made, a short interview with Andy’s GSI colleagues, John Paul Trotter and David Collet. As you can see, already then I talk about how satisfied I am with the use of maple.

The interview above about the cooperation between GSI and me, is part of a longer reportage about GSI visiting the Frankfurter Messe in 2018. You can view this reportage here in full.

Tiana Taya

This is Tiana Taya, a Serbian guitarist living in Barcelona, Spain. She tagged me on Facebook, posting a recording of Se Ela Perguntar by the Brazilian composer Dilermando Reis. I think she plays it beautifully and asked her if I could share the video which I could, but for some reasons I couldn’t share it on my website. But then guitarist Ozan Saritepe found the video on the YouTube Channel of RM Acoustics, so here it is.

My concert model with maple back and sides played by Tiana in the video, is getting more and more populair now. Soon I will post about the one which just arrived at Guitar Salon International. Irina Kulikova will make a recording with it to which I am looking forward very much. But first Tiana Taya, on top of the mountain, playing Dilermando Reis.