Petrit Çeku awarded the first prize in the prestigious guitar players’ competition

The silver medal was awarded to the Spanish guitarist Rafael Aguirre, while the bronze medal went to Florian Larousse from France.  American guitarist Solomon Silber was positioned in the fourth place and the fifth place belonged to the Australian Alberta Khory.  All prizes awarded reach a total of 65 thousand US Dollars.  Prizes ranked from second to fifth place amount at 35 thousand dollars.

For the Kosovo guitarist, who celebrated his 27th birthday exactly on June 2nd when the completion was also concluded, to him this prize has an even greater significance.  To him this is not the first time he attends this competition as in year 2006 he won the silver medal.

"This prize for me represents another satisfaction of advancement", said Çeku for "Koha Ditore".

According to him, it is an honour to triumph in an event where all the best guitar players come together to compete for the great prize.

"Certainly the competition is extremely tough since here we are talking about a major financial reward, that's why I feel honoured to have been selected as the winner", stated Çeku who is currently in Malibu, California where this event took place.

”“Parkening International Guitar Competition” is held since 2006 every third year.  On this year it was held from May 29 until June 2 at “Pepperdine University Center for the Arts”. The competition was names after Christopher Parkening in honoring him as one of the best classic guitar players in the last 25 years.  Parkening was nominated for three "Grammy" awards in the category for best classical performance.  The American guitar player is known as the heir of the Spanish Andres Segovia who has deemed Parkening to be the best guitar player of the world. Another prize named after Andres Segovias is also awarded a few years ago and it was awarded to Petrit Çeku. The winning of this prize had confirmed Çeku as a quality and world renowned guitar player.  But Çeku says that neither the prize he won nor the other prizes he won earlier do not make him the best.

"We should always be reminded that music is not a competitive discipline and this does mean that I am better than others. No way", Çeku stated.

"The majority of guitar players presented in this competition are my friends, fantastic guitar players with whom a had a wonderful time here in Malibu". Guitar players Tim Callobre, Riccardo Calogiuri, Silviu Ciluei, Ricardo Escobar, Samule Hines and Andrea Roberto were some of the competitors at “Parkening International Guitar Competition” .

The Prizren-born guitar player, Petrit Çeku, has also won may other international prizes.  After music studies in Prizren and Zagreb, in 2003 he won the first prize in pan-Croatian competition in Dubrovnik. Later on he would also win a series of prestigious awards including the "Anna Amalia" award in Weiman and the  “Emilio Pujol Guitar Competition” in Italy.

“Parkening International Guitar Competition” competition this year had a jury in whose composition where also Dave Grusin, composer and jazz artist, Costa Pilavachi, Deputy Director of "Universal Music Group" who also was a member of the 2009 jury, David Russel, guitar player, Julie Smith, "Grammy Awards" host and also the manager of "Recording Academy", and Jim Svejda, "Classic KUSC" producer.  Initially all guitar players were part of the competition, meanwhile only three guitar player passed on the second and final round and the same have performed in the concert together with “Young Musicians Foundation Debut Orchestra” in front of a large audience.  One ticket to this concert was priced up to 100 Dollars.  (KOHA.net)