Announcing the winners of the

Ex-Aequo Emerging Artists Initiative :

Cassie Martin

Aytahn Benavi

Thatcher Harrison

Bowen Zheng

Jesse Reece

Gwenyth Aggeler

Meet the artists:

Cassie Martin

Classical Guitar Magazine Revelation 2018, Cassie Martin began playing the guitar at the age of 5. After training at the Conservatoire d'Orléans, she entered the class of Gérard Abiton in Paris with whom she studied for 4 years. At the age of 17, she entered the CNSM of Paris in the class of Olivier Chassain. In 2020, she is part of the Eurostrings artists and opens up to the European scene. In 2022, she participated in Gautier Capuçon's tour "Un été en France 2022". 

At the age of 20, she has won numerous international competitions, the most recent of which are: 1st Prize in the Silesian Guitar Autumn 2022 in Poland; 1st Prize in the Forum Guitar Wien 2022 in Austria; 1st Prize in the Taiwan International Guitar Competition 2022; 1st Prize in the Alirio Diaz International Competition 2022 in Austria; 3rd Prize in the Paris International Guitar Competition.

Cassie Martin has performed in many festivals around the world: Korea, Morocco, Germany, Austria, Poland, Italy, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Belgium...offering a repertoire of various styles from early music to contemporary music. She has played the most important concertos with orchestra in France and Poland.

Aytahn Benavi

Aytahn Benavi, born in Austin, Texas in 2001, is one of the eminent young guitarists in America. Aytahn began his studies at 5 years old, and is currently studying with professor Adam Holzman at the University of Texas. Aytahn has won numerous first prizes in competitions throughout the United States, including the CSU Guitar Symposium and Competition, Boston GuitarFest academy competition, James Stroud International Classical Guitar Competition, and several others. A growing proponent of new music, Aytahn has premiered two new works for guitar, by Angelo Gilardino and Thatcher Harrison.

Thatcher Harrison

Thatcher Harrison is a guitarist and a composer. As a composer, Thatcher Harrison tries to expand the boundaries of classical guitar repertoire through what he calls “classical fusion” composition: pieces based in classical composition and performance techniques, but with influences from other genres such as jazz music, rock music, fingerstyle guitar music, blues music, pop music, film score music, and world music. As a guitarist, Thatcher Harrison chooses to perform unconventional and daring programs, oftentimes consisting primarily of his own compositions. Thatcher Harrison is currently working to establish his career as an international concert artist, with his 2022-2023 season including concerts for Boston Classical Guitar Society, Pleven Guitar Festival, The 21st Century Guitar Conference, Boston Guitarfest, Domaine Forget International Music Festival, and Twents Gitaarfestival. Thatcher released his first album, Classical Fusion, in 2022. Thatcher Harrison is currently studying for his Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance at New England Conservatory with Eliot Fisk and Jérôme Mouffe. 

Bowen Zheng

Born in Shanghai China, classical guitarist Bowen Zheng is a unique musician with a diverse background in psychology and computer science. Having only begun studying music and classical guitar at a late age, he progressed quickly and his passionate hard work has allowed him to develop all aspects of of serious musicianship. He performs actively in the Baltimore Maryland area in both solo and chamber concerts as well as outreach performances. He had participated in masterclasses with renowned guitarists including David Russell, Manuel Barrueco, Judicaël Perroy, Sergio Assad, Marcin Dylla, and so on. With a background growing up programming and studying computer science, Bowen brings a unique perspective to his music, integrating his logical and artistic skills. Despite his late start, his dedication led him to earn scholarships that enabled him to receive a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance at the Peabody Institute, where he continues his studies for a Master’s degree under the tutelage of Dr. Thomas Viloteau.

Jesse Reece

Classical guitarist and North Carolina native, Jesse Reece is known for delivering performances with a unique and wonderfully sensitive voice. Outside of solo classical guitar, he has experience playing jazz, rock, and pop and they have all played a significant role in the development of his unique musical identity. Jesse has been awarded first place in the solo guitar competition in the Appalachian State University Guitarfest (Undergraduate division, 2022), and received awards in the Columbus State University Symposium (Undergraduate division, 2023) and the Queens University of Charlotte Symposium (Open division, 2023). He has completed his BM at East Carolina University with Dr. Elliot Frank and will be pursuing his MM at The University of Texas at San Antonio with Dr. Isaac Bustos.

Gwenyth Aggeler

Gwenyth Aggeler is a classical guitarist whose performances have been described by the Cultural Voice of North Carolina as “full of energy” and “striking.” She is a laureate of several competitions including the Philadelphia Guitar Competition, New York Guitar Competition, Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Guitar Competition, and the Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition. Gwenyth is passionate about collaborating with other musicians and composers and frequently performs with fellow guitarist David Manzanares. At the age of seventeen she received the Excellence in Music Leadership Full Scholarship to attend the Peabody Institute where she currently studies with Manuel Barrueco.

These artists will have the opportunity to…

Record a group album (+video) with Drew Henderson

Each of the 6 chosen artists will contribute select pieces in their repertoire to a collaborative album recorded and produced by Drew Henderson. The album will also feature a recording of “Six by Six",” a new piece by Sergio Assad the artists will be premiering in Austin. Every piece recorded on the album will also have an accompanying video for maximum reach and publicity.

Premiere “Six by Six” by Sergio Assad

Sergio Assad has written a groundbreaking new work for this initiative called “Six by Six”. Each movement of this work is a short solo piece which can be performed on its own, but between the solo movements there are ensemble interludes that can only be played when each of the 6 movements are played by a different guitarist. Each artist selected would play one movement of this piece in the premiere performance for Austin Classical Guitar as well as take part in the premiere album recording

Play concerts for the Austin Classical Guitar Society

The 6 selected artists would take part in a recital for the Austin Classical Guitar Society at their new venue The Rosette. This concert will be recorded as well as live streamed out to a global audience. This concert will also contain the world premiere performance of Sergio Assad’s “Six by Six” played by the selected artists.

Receive personal career mentorship workshops on topics that really matter

Talk one on one with people in the music industry about what matters most for artists at the outset of their careers. Topics include how to cultivate a career as a citizen-artist, how to present yourself to a concert promoter, how to manage yourself, how to produce high quality video and audio at home and more. These workshops are meant to be flexible and the chosen artists can use the time to get whatever answers are most important to them.

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