FINALS of the 2021 GFA International Concert Artists Competition

[@sologuitardeath]

I've followed Marko's playing for years, and his performance gave me goosebumps. A true artist.

[@ΝίκοςΑργύρης-ω7υ]

I don't care who won, but I'm sure for one thing. The only performance that I came back to see again and again is Marko's.

[@francescodeluca4864]

All of them are incredible, but Topchii's sound on Bach blows my mind. Unbelievable

[@KMT9999]

Marko Topchii "... my long time dream come true because I really wanted to present the Pictures at an Exhibition at this particular competition" (3:17:33). I have a lot of admiration for his courage to choose this extremely challenging work as a competition piece. This transcription work seems to have proven its capacity to arouse controversies yet again this time. But part of being a great concert artist would be to rise above all such controversies and I am sure Marko will do just that. (To be clear, I also have a lot of admiration for Bokyung and others with their stellar performances showcased in this competition.)

[@christhabib]

Congratulations to all the finalists! Wow what wonderful playing!

[@nialvora]

I am not a fan of Marko but he played Bach so well!

[@slayerla707]

The jury is what you have with your hearing, what is wrong. Second time Mark does not receive his well-deserved first place, do not lower the status of the competition, because you are one of the standards, and after that I don’t know if I’ll be interested and look next time, very much disappointed and upset, well, you probably don’t care.

[@jeromeducharme2671]

Congratulations Bokyung Byun!

[@randymeyer3541]

Ok folks, almost two weeks, I was in thoughts to write here or not. I was too shocked and upset. First, those people hate Marko. I am trying not to be personal, but hey, René Izquierdo, your comments were ridiculous on Facebook last year when you were on the jury and stole his final, again this year, your "not a competition piece" complaints. Are you missing the CONCERT ARTIST words in the competition name? I would like to see more professional and ethical members of the jury. "Jury is 100% about quality as always" - Jury is about guitarism and no place for music here. All I see is that guitar teachers vote for a guitar teacher. The jury is not able to understand the dynamics, polyphony, accents, phrasing, voice leading, etc. They don't care. All we must hear here is a stupid and precise execution of simple pieces. Better with zero dynamics like Michael Butten or boring like Johan Smith in the 2019 finals. I wish you all to fall asleep during the concerts of guitar teachers because it was nothing to call a "concert" in the finals of the last five years or even more. Yes, Bo is better than the previous winners, but she is incomparable to Marko. Marko is a competition addict, and he only wants to win another competition? Seriously, you do not respect his work and goals? It's pretty simple to see what Pictures at an Exhibition means for guitar as an instrument. Maurice Ravel; Emerson, Lake & Palmer; Kazuhito Yamashita - all of them bring a new life to this iconic solo piano piece. It's marvelous on guitar. Someone prefers the original Kazuhito Yamashita version, but for me, the sound is too harsh here. Jorge Caballero is another one proud of his unbearable performance. But Marko's understanding is so crystal clear and complex. The sound is unbelievable. Not on guitar, not a competition piece, mistakes here? Come on, people, no one from those teachers in the jury or competitors whos only dream of becoming teachers and getting paid has such a goal to bring you music or concert. I'm sick of boring, cautious programs and playing, I'm sick of guitarism, and I'm sick of the "teachers for teachers" jury. To GFA organizing committee: I want to see public votes next year. I want to know those names. We all want. You mimic the Olympics with the different juries each round, but where are their votes? Be transparent! Thanks to pandemics, the preliminaries were public for the first time, so no more preliminaries under closed doors like in previous years, please. It is very unpleasant how varied the sound is in the recordings of the finals. If you wanted to do it in two different places, what was the problem of putting the sound engineer with equipment on the plane to make recording it in at least a similar form? The location, recording setup, and models of the microphones are different. I am pretty disappointed. I quite do not understand Bo's disrespect. If she was not able to participate in the live call, you could record her for sure. That was not a 100% live event. I was under the impression that she knew everything for the early and was sitting on the couch getting ready. I don't understand what the GFA competition means to her. To Marko: I was in tears. I have no words to describe my feelings. This year it was a CONCERT ARTIST COMPETITION because of you.

[@mrsbirthday]

Thanks, bro! Agree!

[@empoly]

So incredibly truthful comment about that 2021 GFA. Thanks.

[@castor5001]

whoever is your winner, the only you have to do is buy his disc, attend to his concert and promote him with yours friends.

[@johnedwards5184]

Topchi's Bach---unbelievable!!

[@olga3551]

Браво,Марко! Картинки с выставки шедевральны!👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@Siberian_procrastination]

картинки сыграны безобразно. Это не гитарная пьеса. Никогда она на гитаре звучать не будет. Глухомань. Вы гитарные фанатики просто глухари больные.

[@marcelo.cau.]

The GFA will never give the first place to Marko, even he plays like he played at this final round. Maybe if he was sponsored by Augustine Strings he would win, but it is not the case. Did you see the Augustine's prize went to an Agustine's artist? Was it coincidence? I hope so, but I am convinced that for a competition it is not enough to be honest, moreover it must look like honest… I have a lot of appreciation for Bokyung Byun, she is a real guitarist and a real artist. She is neither better nor worse than Marko, but in this competition, Marko did better. But of course this type of analysis is always subjective, based on personal feelings and impressions, which vary for each person, etc. But there are cases on which there is no doubt, and this was one of them.Anyway congrats to all competitors. Marko Topchii WON GFA ONCE AGAIN! Everyone could saw.

[@njc9894]

I believe marko is on the same level as bo and could have possibly won had he played a different ending piece. he made a mistake to pick mussorgski and play it on guitar because of the difficulty. he was noticeably sloppy and made mistakes on the piece which i think was his downfall.

[@marcelo.cau.]

All respect for your point of view.

[@nicoburi7334]

sloppy?!

[@mrsbirthday]

I think if he just wanted to win the competition, he would not have played Mussorgsky, which is a very risky decision. Mussorgsky is a creative concept, perhaps a desire to bring the conservative competition to a new level.

[@njc9894]

@@nicoburi7334 sloppier than bo absolutely. More buzzed notes as well. Too often he plays sul tasto. Overplayed his guitar. Bokyung’s playing is overall more mature, aware and delicate

[@benkim2016]

한국인으로 첫 GFA 우승 축하해요!!

[@kwlee8428]

Congratulations! 경사났네♡♡♡♡♡

[@cheezoy]

Bravo Lovro !

[@matiashermosillamusico]

Es obviamente que aquí hay un ganador único(Marko T.) , no se que estaba escuchaba el jurado ? Marko a seguir eres grande !!!

[@majaradovanlija9625]

great playing everyone! Lovro svaka čast !!

[@withguitar]

대박! 축하드려요! 기타리스트 변보경님!

[@vanessabernardi3622]

Congratulations 👏🏻 What is the name of the fist piece plays by Alan?

[@Leo-qb3jb]

It’ Oulan Bator by Duplessy

[@Leo-qb3jb]

It’s

[@tyg715]

Congo

[@stephendick43]

The more I listen, the more I agree with the judges' selection. I will make one general observation. As a composer, I wish players would play contemporary dissonances with more subtlety, looking for ways to bring out the beauty of the rich overtones instead of 'over-blowing' them to stress the harshness. The guitar is so perfect for this.

[@tomgutierrez7573]

Sorry to say that the bottom line is that, if you are technically in another category like Marko Topchii, don't enter competitions like the GFA.

[@demiorgus]

Please can you explain your comment, it's not clear, what do you mean having said that?

[@podslushanovoykovskaya6163]

@@demiorgus I guess for some people great technique is all about speed and not about control and clarity, also musical competitions is about technique only and not about musicality. I’m not saying I didn’t like Marko play, he is great, but Bo played musically better, better dynamics, phrasing, interpretation, she was cleaner and more precise; in other words she has greater control and greater control means greater technique since technique is all about control 😅

[@ejej444]

Marko is on another level than all the finalist and should've won! Everyone else plays shitty music that is even hard to call music, just random notes. Marko plays the great Mussorgsky, and does it well

[@podslushanovoykovskaya6163]

@@ejej444 Mussorgsky is great no doubt in that, but not on the guitar, although I agree on some strange musical choices here and there)

[@Thefare1234]

Mussorgsky is so difficult on the guitar. It was an epic performance, but because of the difficulty, his mistakes were more noticeable.

[@sebasfelipecast]

where can i see the program of each every finalist?

[@tomgutierrez7573]

It's available but KZbin doesn't allow URLs to be posted.

[@brucefulton]

@@tomgutierrez7573 Sure it does. The channel owner can delete it, however.

[@alvaroedy]

join the link

[@alvaroedy]

@@tomgutierrez7573 True, my comment has already been deleted twice.

[@brucefulton]

@@alvaroedy What link? And, the link to the program is posted in the chat - unfortunately not until halfway through. Whoever is deleting the link from comments is doing a disservice.

[@pablovilla7539]

By this point I think they just don’t give him first prize so he comes back the following year to play a free concert for them, with an even better repertoire.

[@guitargalleryseoul6279]

WONDERFUL RESULTS...WE LOVES BOKYUNG BYUN.....CONGRATULATIONS

[@SedLexSK]

Марк лучший! Судью на мыло

[@Siberian_procrastination]

Лучшая была девушка. Всё правильно . А тебе нужно слух прочистить. Топчий завалил всю програму ,кроме Баха. Переоценённый гитарист.

[@SedLexSK]

@@Siberian_procrastination русские и сюда лезут со своим ущербным мнением 😆

[@04421]

Bo 우승 너무 축하드려요! 한국에서도 콘서트 해주세요ㅠㅠ

[@ignacioshin]

대 축하드립니다 !

[@sardorsamadoff4354]

Tashkent, Uzbekistan

[@demiorgus]

That feeling when you know that Marko is obviously deserves that first place. He doesn't have GFA 1st place as I undestand and we all also clearly see that it's his time to get it. But, we all see that the win was just stolen! I wish all the best to Bokyung Byun and another finalists, but guys be honest to your self...

[@podslushanovoykovskaya6163]

no

[@EmanuelEstradaYarce]

@@podslushanovoykovskaya6163 The fact that you say that someone "deserves" a prize in a music competition is precisely the reason why you are missing the point of the whole event. Toppchi is a competition addict and every time he takes part in a new one or wins a new one does not get him any closer to being a better guitarist, nor better musician. Just a better runner and music is not about that. No one deserves a prize just for needing acceptance from others.

[@podslushanovoykovskaya6163]

@@EmanuelEstradaYarce I didn’t say that 🙃

[@EmanuelEstradaYarce]

@@podslushanovoykovskaya6163 I just realized I replied the wrong comment hehe. It was meant for the first post =P

[@tomgutierrez7573]

@@EmanuelEstradaYarce "Toppchi is a competition addict". This is 'ad hominem' - there are many reasons to enter competitions.

[@podslushanovoykovskaya6163]

GFA jury is 100% about quality as always. Well done Bo!

[@gilbertwalker3222]

A bigger robbery than even Thomas Csaba’s loss in 2014.

[@curaticac5391]

I don't know why the thirty year old Topchii is allowed to participate in competitions, other than for making the audience stare at the funky style of what was left of his hair or at the blinking snickers. If the man had a grain of decency, he would abstain. The Korean first prize lady was exceptional, indeed!

[@gilbertwalker3222]

Her tone is thin in comparison and her programme, was pretty trite. Marko had some big ol’ balls on him playing the Mussorgsky in a final. I’m not even Marko’s biggest fan, he can be too florid in terms of colour but he won this competition hands down. To attack his personal appearance and his mannerisms is just fucking gross man. Nasty jealous old man or something. Must be.

[@ivan_larin9876]

Firstly, there is no age limit in this competition, and for example, Marcin Dylla and many others won it at thirty or more. And in your comment, there is nothing but anger, stupidity, and envy. The program of the winner of the competition consists of several small isolated pieces, learned with the teacher in order to play them cleanly - this is the level of a student, and does not demonstrate the ambitions of a real performer.

[@АндрейОлесеюк]

Наверное, затем же, зачем таким недалеким людям как вы позволяют здесь писать подобные глупости...?

[@anthonyluu9121]

Amazing Marko ❤❤❤❤