Summer 2020 was a busy period of online competitions. Steve was a semi-finalist in the 2020 GFA competition, a first prize winner in the Tallinn Guitar Festival in Estonia, and a finalist in the Altamira International Guitar Competition. Click below for details and links to the competition videos.
Steve’s virtual GFA round 1 performance can be seen here. The program features the set piece of 5 Caprices by George Rochberg, La fille aux cheveux de lin by Claude Debussy, and Voyage from Gulli Björnsson’s Arctic Sonata. While players were obligated to play the 1st and 51st Caprice, the other choices were at the discretion of the competitors. Steve was one of the 12 semi-finalists before the live final round was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Steve won first prize in the Tallinn Guitar Festival competition, making him a 2021 EuroStrings artist. As part of the EuroStrings program, Steve will perform in guitar festivals in Spain, Italy, Romania, Estonia, and Finland during summer 2021.
The Open Final category from the 2020 Altamira International Virtual Guitar Competition can be seen here. Steve’s performance of Bjornssön’s Arctic Sonata earned him the award of “Best Performance of a Contemporary Work”.