Dear friends,
“It’s on paper” – yesterday we received official notification that the 50th ANNIVERSARY EDITION of the J. K. Mertz Guitar Festival was NOT GRANTED funding by the Fund for the Support of the Arts – we received 0 EURO. However, the FPU has been the festival’s main partner since the fund’s inception.You can probably imagine what this means with less than 5 weeks to go before the event. We will have to cancel some concerts and adjust and reduce other activities. However, we are not giving up, and we will do everything we can to see the festival through to its 50th anniversary—it deserves it!
We will certainly need your help, though. We have expanded the fundraiser on Donio.sk, originally intended for the publication of a book marking the event’s 50th anniversary, and all contributions will now go not only toward the book but also toward the actual realization of the event itself. In addition to financial contributions, it would help us if you could spread the word and share the link to the fundraiser. This will help us find people who care about preserving what is perhaps the oldest event of its kind in the world.
Let’s not let this international event, which has been held in Bratislava since 1976, fade away. The world is watching us!
https://donio.sk/50rokovfestivalu
The J. K. Mertz Guitar Festival is likely the oldest continuously running event of its kind in the world.
Since 1976, it has provided a venue where the stage belongs to world-renowned stars, where Slovak artists perform, where young artists gain their first international experience, where teachers and lovers of guitar music come together, and above all, where a passion for the guitar has been intertwined with human stories for half a century.
Although the festival is firmly rooted in the classical music genre, for decades it has also blended with jazz and world music. When Slovak guitarist and educator Jozef Zsapka founded the festival half a century ago, he had no idea that the statistics would reach these figures: 310 evening concerts featuring more than 560 artists from 41 countries, over 3,000 musical works, and dozens of masterclasses, lectures, and workshops. The festival has succeeded in fostering a guitar community that bridges generations on an international level.
The Story of this Unique Music Festival
will be presented in a book that serves as a mosaic of experiences, memories, and emotions, captured through interviews, photographs, reviews, and behind-the-scenes glimpses of the festival’s preparations. You’ll learn how the festival took shape under the guidance of its organizers, what music was played there, and how world-renowned artists perceive it.
There is no longer any doubt that, thanks to enthusiasm, determination, and a love of music, a music event of international scope can exist long-term in Slovakia.
You, too, can decide whether it will be documented in book form, thus preserving its memory for future generations. If this story resonates with you, we would be grateful if you could help us create and publish its chronicle, which is being created because we value the history, present, and future of guitar culture.
Who is behind the campaign?
The festival is organized by the J. K. Mertz Society civic association and its partners.
The book is published by the J. K. Mertz Society civic association, which has been organizing and developing the J. K. Mertz Guitar Festival since 2008 as a community of passionate Slovak guitarists and educators.
The book is being prepared for you by Martin Krajčo and Katarína Godárová, who have joined forces to compile the event’s extensive archive and, based on it, are creating a chronicle of half a century of world guitar music in Bratislava.
FO ART, s.r.o. will handle the graphic design and printing of the publication.
The authors of dozens of photographs are: Rudolf Biháry, Martina Lukić, Roman Spišiak, Jozef Uhliarik, and others.
What will we use the money for?
Your support will help us cover all the expenses required to produce the book and print a run of 500 copies.
From processing archives and databases, writing, editing, and translating texts, through graphic design, layout, and typesetting, to the actual publication of the book.
And finally, your support will enable us to hold the 50th J. K. Mertz Guitar Festival on the scale we have planned and to cover the necessary costs of organizing the concerts, educational activities, and all related events.
THANK YOU!
