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.

Listening to music can be an emotional experience that stirs you to sadness, joy or exhilaration. Music can also take you on a stimulating intellectual journey that has you appreciating form, structure, history and cultural idioms. However, music is perhaps most magical when it is both emotionally engaging and intellectually provocative. Dom Flemons’s brand ofold-timey folk musicfalls into this more magical realm.

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.

For most, Valerie June’s success to date seems meteoric. This Southern gal from Jackson, Tennessee has already wowed British audiences on the legendary music show “Later… with Jools Holland”, an iconic musical program that has showcased everyone from Paul McCartney to Björk. She sang a duet withEric Church at the American Country Music Awardsin 2013. She, along with her distinctive dreadlocked mane, has enjoyed features in countless magazines, including the coveted September issue ofVoguemagazine andO: The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, as well as serious features on NPR’sAll Things Considered,Fresh Airwith Terry Gross andTiny Desk Concert. And, her last and much talked about 2013 debut albumPushin’ Against the Stone, was the creative product of her collaboration with Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys and record producer Kevin Augunas.

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 British lutenist, scholar, and pedagogue,  Nigel North has been captivating audiences with his brilliant playing for decades. He has become one of the premier authorities on the performance and interpretation of early music. His performance at theAudible Cloisters: Guitar Marathonwill focus on French lute music of the 17th century. In the following interview he elucidates certain aspects of the lute and music of this period. Additionally, he talks about the issue of authenticity in early music and gives his advice to young artists negotiating the pitfalls of historical performance.

As we prepare for the ‘Audible Cloisters’ marathon in May we hope to give all the artists involved an opportunity to share their thoughts and opinions about their lives in music and provide a greater insight for our audience. We are kicking off this series of interviews with the brilliant guitarist,Dylan Carlson. For the better part of 30 years Carlson has been the frontman of the drone metal band, Earth. He has subsequently gone on to cultivate a unique style blending a visceral, raw aesthetic with an almost penitent improvisational simplicity. We conducted this interview through email and, like his music, his words seem to pour fourth - devoid of capitalization, salient in their content, and showing intensity in a variety of different subjects. We are very excited to present this lens into a man that can appear a little elusive and the music behind him.

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.

This year, we asked musicians to fill out a page in our 2014 digital scrapbook (crayons and colored pens provided). The results are fascinating--- see this fun assortment of Q&A's from your favorite artists at the New York Guitar Festival:

What current or future project are you the most excited about?

The Footstool Chronicles

What current or future project are you the most excited about?

Pepe Romero opened the 2014 New York Guitar Festival on Friday, January 10th at the Brookfield Place Winter Garden. We interviewed him here during his soundcheck.This New York Guitar Festival appearance marks Maestro Romero's first ever all-Bach recital in New York.