Ante Čagalj
Photos from Uzmah summer school, Korčula, Croatia, 2007:
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
The founder of Zagreb Guitar Quartet, born on October 6th, 1954 in Makarska, Croatia, graduated from Zagreb Academy of Music and Academia Benedetto Marcello in Venice. He is the headmaster of the classical guitar department at the Elly Bašić Music School and has a class of guitar and chamber music at the Zagreb Academy of Music. Since 1993, he has lead masterclasses of guitar solo and chamber music at the International Summer School Upbeat in Hvar, Croatia.
His students have won numerous awards at national and international competitions in Croatia, Poland, Italy and Czech Republic. In 1996, at the International competition Trofeo Kawai in Tortona, Italy, he was proclaimed the most successful teacher with four prizes won by his students. He gives masterclasses and is a member of the jury in various national and international competitions in Croatia, Slovenia and Italy.
Ante Čagalj transcribed a lot of music originally composed for organ, piano, harpsichord, violin, orchestra, etc., for guitar solo and guitar ensembles.
Guitar days in Zagreb, a festival founded and organized by Ante Čagalj, is a meeting of guitarists and guitar ensembles from Croatia and abroad.
He received the Annual Award of the Croatian Music and Dance Teachers Association in 1998, and the National Award Ivan Filipović in 1999.