Johan Fostier Concert Information

On Tuesday, February 18, 2003 at 8:00 PM one of Belgium's finest guitarists will play a concert on the Classical Guitar at the All Saints Episcopal Church on 1710 South Foothill Drive in Salt Lake City. This concert is part of the 2002-2003 Guitar Master Series, and is jointly supported by a grant from the Utah Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, Washington, D.C. This recital is made possible in cooperation with the Guitar Foundation of America.

Season tickets are available for $35 per person. Ticket prices at the door will be $15. Student tickets are $10. Call 531-7066 for additional information.

Johan Fostier Bio

One of Belgium's young generation of guitarists, Johan Fostier was a laureate in the main international guitar contests : 1st Prize in Eindhoven (The Netherlands, " Tromp Muziek " 1998) , 1rst prize in Mottola (Italy, 1999), 1st Prize at the "De Bonis" Contest in Cosenza (Italy, 1999) where he also won the Prize of the Public, 3rd Prize at the Alhambra Contest in Alcoy (Spain, 2000) and at the " Printemps de la Guitare " in Walcourt (Belgium 1998), special Interpretation Prize in Alessandria (Italy, 1997) and 4th finalist at the " Philippos Nakas " Contest in Athens (Greece, 1997).
In October 2001, he was awarded the 1st prize at the International Classic Guitar Contest of the "Guitar Foundation of America" in La Jolla(San Diego, California) by the jury's unanimous decision .

His professional activities regularly bring him on Belgian , French , Swiss ,Dutch and German stages , and soon in the USA and in Canada both as a soloist as in chamber music together with the soprano Evelyne Bohen (Almaviva Duo), in guitar duo with Delphine Bertrand, with guitarists Pia grees, Matthias Kläger and Luc Vander Borght (Take Four Guitar Quartet) and with the Chamber Music Group "Emanon" ( dedicated to Belgian creation).
In his concerts, his lyric nature turns him onto the works of the famous "Latin" guitar composers such as Sor, Barrios, T‡rrega, Piazzolla, including the more subtle Asencio, Ponce and Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

In 2001, he performed as a soloist in Joaquin Rodrigo's "Aranjuez Concerto" with the Brabants Orkest in the Netherlands, in 1999, with the Orchestre National de Belgique and before that with the Prima La Musica Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Wallonie and with the Orchestre du Conservatoire de Bruxelles. He gave recitals in the main Dutch music halls such as the "Oude Schouwburg" in Amsterdam, the "Vredenburg Centrum" in Utrecht, the "Concertgebouw de Doelen" in Rotterdam, The "Muziekcentrum Frits Philips" in Eindhoven, the "Theater De Schalm" in Veldhoven, "De Cenakel" in Tilburg.

Johan Fostier has taken part in the Beloeil Nights, the International Guitar Week in Helecine, the Summer Festival in Rochefort, the Guitar Kaleidoscope, the classical concerts of the University of Brussels, the concerts Musica nel Mendrisiotto (Switzerland).

In November 2001, he created in Belgium, together with comedian and director Vincent Dujardin, the French version of the Spanish folk tale "Platero y yo" of Juan Ramon Jimenez set to music by Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco.

Holder of a diploma from the Brussels Royal Conservatoire of Music in guitar, pedagogy and chamber music, Johan Fostier studied further first at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Musique in Paris where he attended the teaching of Alberto Ponce and where he obtained the Performer Diploma with the jury's congratulations in 1996, and afterwards at the Conservatoire of Fribourg (Switzerland) with Joaquim Freire and Susanne Mebes, where he was awarded the Diploma of Virtuosity summa cum laude and with the jury's congratulations.

He has also studied during international training periods with Eduardo Isaac, Nigel North, David Starobin , and has attended masterclasses by Manuel Barrueco and David Russel. 

His musical thinking has been especially marked by his meeting with the musician , teacher and director Guy Van Waas.

In 2000, Johan Fostier recorded a CD dedicated to Fransisco tarrega and Vicente Asencio under label Guitart- Niccolo, and in 2001 with the Take Four guitar quartet under label Ars Musici.

He is now preparing a new solo recording for Naxos record company (due for release in September 2002)

Johan Fostier Concert Reviews

Jury of the Tromp Music Competition (Holland-1998)

"Johan Fostier is the complete guitarist. He is a mature artist. An excellent technique. Certainty and musical intelligence."