An evening of music and conversation with Rez Abbasi, Derek Gripper, Kaki King and Glenn Jones. Hosted by WNYC New Sounds' John Schaefer.

Creation: A panel discussion on trends in composition,  commissioning,  performing and publishing new music for classical guitar. FeaturingRobert Cuckson,Marco CappelliandAndrew McKenna Lee. Moderated byMichael NewmanandLaura Oltman, of the Newman Oltman Duo.

Renowned luthierSaul Kollwill present a keynote talk about his guitars and design process. Koll is known both for his ‘Glide’ electric guitars, which hybridize many attributes of classic instruments, and his innovative custom instruments, the RE 7 and 8 String ergonomic archtop jazz guitars, played by artists such as David Torn, Elliot Sharp, Bill Frisell, and Lee Ranaldo. Q&A with the audience will follow the talk.

In recent decades an increasing number of luthiers have addressed the challenges surrounding ergonomic guitar design. Shape, weight and playability are part of this; the greater availability of new materials and manufacturing processes have played a substantial role also as builders use carbon fiber, synthetic materials, laminates and aerospace glues, and CNC milling machines for fabrication. Some controversy surrounds these instruments, as some players enthusiastically adopt them and praise sound and playability while other guitarist insist on more ‘traditional’ forms and materials. The discussion will address these questions, and more- and include demonstrations of some ergo instruments.

A discussion on American Primitive presented by Tompkins Square, featuringDon Bikoff,Jeff Conklinand and moderated byKid Millions.The Tompkins Square Label has released many essential recordings by first-gen cosmic guitar players like Harry Taussig, Michael Chapman, Peter Walker and Max Ochs, as well as young gun slingers in the medium such as Chris Forsyth, Daniel Bachman and Ryley Walker.

Liberty Ellman, Grey McMurray and Gyan Riley in conversation with Alternative Guitar Summit founder/curator Joel Harrison. A loose, wide-ranging discussion on the incredible breadth of guitar styles and approaches that have proliferated in new music and jazz in the 21st century.

A presentation byNigel Northon the instrument, tuning, tablatures, and music that a lutenist lived with 350 years ago.

Beauty and Noiseis devoted to players who inhabit electronic frontiers, creating sonic rapture, sometimes absent of notes. Listeners will be immersed in wild, mysterious textures rarely imagined. Some artists will play solo, others will have accompaniment, some of the music will be composed, some improvised. Participants areDavid Torn,Dither Guitar Duo,Elliot Sharp,Anthony Pirog,Ben Monder, andPatrick Higgins. Of particular note will be a rare pairing of Sharp and Torn, both of whom are long time innovators in this vein. Expect collaborations.

This year, the Alt Guitar Summit launches a new annual series entitled "While We're Still Here," celebratinglivingcomposers. For this inaugural, the honorees will be none other than jazz big-band leaderCarla Bleyand the widely influential Canadian singer-songwriterJoni Mitchell.Bley, a 2015 NEA Jazz Masters recipient as well as the composer of “Ida Lupino” and “The Girl Who Cried Champagne,” plays piano, but like Duke Ellington, she makes an entire orchestra her instrument, expressing her trademark wit in large-scale structures of piquant harmonic density. She has also written for guitar, as heard on her 1977Dinner Musicand Gary Burton’s all-Bley albumDreams So Real. Mitchell, whose long career has traversed folk, pop, rock, and jazz, needs no introduction: her era-defining anthems like “Big Yellow Taxi,” “River,” and “Both Sides Now,” continue to resonate across the generations, as do her collaborations with the celebrated bassists Charles Mingus and Jaco Pastorius.

The South African guitarist/composerDerek Gripperin conversation with author, guitarist, broadcasterBanning Eyre.  Eyre has spent years exploring the guitar styles of Africa, and is the author of four books, includingIn Griot Time: An American Guitarist in Mali. The conversation will cover issues from techniques and innovations to the ethics of appropriation.

Perched atop North Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, with a view of the Hudson River below and cliffs of the Palisades across the way,The Cloistershouses one of the world's finest collections of medieval European art. The structure, assembled from Romanesque architecture and borrowings from Gothic cathedrals and abbeys, features chapel-like galleries, the repose of ornately carved tombs, unicorn tapestries, windows with centuries-old stained-glass panels, as well as cloistered gardens of fragrant herbs and spring crocus. In essence, what better place to hear 14 guitarists whose collective repertoire spans the Renaissance to right now. This year’s Guitar Marathon will be mostly unamped music and includes performances on the lute, oud, and pipa – all historic precursors of the guitar.  Hosted by WNYC'sJohn Schaefer, curated by the New York Guitar Festival's Artistic DirectorDavid Spelman, and presented in collaboration withMetLiveArts.

NYGF ‘16 begins with a Mother's Day concert in honor of gospel/blues legendSister Rosetta Tharpe, the godmother of rock & roll. She was America’s first national gospel star, and her famous windmill guitar moves lived on in Keith Richards and Pete Townshend. From the Cotton Club to Carnegie Hall and the Apollo, Sister Rosetta merged sacred lyrics with secular rhythms in a scorching guitar style.