13th Annual Texas Guitar Competition and Festival

Congratulations to the 13th Annual Guitar Competition Winners

Main competition

First Place Winner Oman Kaminsky

Oman Kaminsky was born in Mexico City in 1983. He has a Master’s degree in Solo and Chamber Music from the Koninklijk Conservatorium in The Hague, where he studied with Zoran Dukic. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree with highest honors in the Escuela Superior de Musica in Mexico City where he studied under the supervision of Isabelle Villey. He has a second Master’s degree in Music Pedagogy from the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, The Netherlands. In 2013, he won First Prize in the International Guitar Competition Forum-Guitarre in Vienna, Austria; the International Guitar Competition Villas de Aranda, Spain; the National Guitar Competition in Saltillo, Mexico; and the National Guitar Competition in Durango, Mexico. Kaminsky has played in several music festivals in Europe and America, including venues like the Carnegie Hall in New York or the Concertgebow in Amsterdam.

Second Place Winner Stephen Lochbaum

Born in Canada, Steven Lochbaum earned a Bachelor in Music and Master in Music from the University of Victoria with Alexander Dunn. He has won numerous awards and performed with Pepe Romero during this time. He is currently a Doctoral teaching fellow at the University of North Texas.

Third Place Winner Jesus Serrano

Born in Mexico City, Jesus Serrano began his professional studies in music at the National Conservatory of Music in Mexico City under the guidance of Selvio Carrizosa, concluding his degree in 2012 under the direction of Jaime Soria, actually study under the instruction of Guillermo Gonzalez Phillips. He has taken master classes with David Russell, Carlo Marchione, Ana Vidovic, Marcin Dylla, Norman Ruiz, Nemanja Ostoich, Ioana Sandrabur, Eduardo Fernandez, Victor Pellegrini, Gonzalo Salazar, Pablo Garibay, Gerardo Arriaga, Juan Francisco Padilla, Manuel Espinas, Jorge Luis Zamora, Victor Villadangos and Horacio Franco. Most recently, Serrano has won the following prizes: first prize at National Guitar Competition, Xalapa, Veracruz 2013; second prize at International Guitar Competition Culiacan 2013; first prize at International Guitar Competition Virtuosismo Guitarrastico Morelia 2012; and first prize at International Guitar Competition Guitarra, Sin Fronteras, Chihuahua 2012.

Fourth Place Winner Janet Grohovac

Janet Grohovac is currently pursuing her Doctorate of Musical Arts specializing in guitar performance at the University of Texas at Austin. With Adam Holzman as her main pedagogue, she completed her Master of Music degree in Austin. She is originally from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, where she completed her Bachelor of Music with distinction at the University of Victoria studying with Dr. Alexander Dunn. Grohovac performs and competes in music festivals throughout North America and has played in master classes for world-renowned artists such as Pepe Romero, Oscar Ghiglia and Eliot Fisk. She was awarded first place in the 2009 Northwest Guitar Competition and was a prize winner in the 2010 Texas Music Festival “Classical Minds” Competition as well as the 2011 Dallas International Guitar Competition. Since 2010, Grohovac has been the head of the guitar program at Huston-Tillotson University in Austin. In 2013, she joined the faculty of Concordia University Texas as Adjunct Professor of Guitar.

Youth Division II (15-18 year-olds)
First = Augustus Woodrow-Tomizuka
Second = Hannah Wade
Third = Sedona Farber

Youth Division I (11-14 year-olds)
First = Aytahn Benavi
Second = Tiffany Chang
Third = Eliza Balmuth