2026 BCGS Spring Festival

Join us for our BCGS 2026 one day festival and evening concert on May 2, 2026.

For our headline concert we are featuring the super virtuosic and dynamic duo from Europe – Aniello Desiderio and Zoran Dukić.  For over thirty years these great artists have been honing their combined musical talents into a perfectly synchronized duo performance of exquisite beauty and charm – a must see.

The theme for our day festival activities will be – The Musician as an Athlete.

Just as an athlete trains mind and body to perform at their highest level, so does a musician guitarist.  Years of deliberate training of technique, interpretation, and execution have direct parallels in the world of sports and musical performance.  Imagine a world class golfer at the Masters or tennis player at Wimbledon.  Also imagine a recreational golfer or tennis player with their club groups.  Then imagine a concert guitarist playing solo at Symphony Hall or an amateur guitarist playing with an appreciative audience at a performance party or open mic.  The parallels are many and evident.

We have two workshops in our festival which will explore these themes – one on the Alexander Technique and another on Performance Psychology.  These workshops will address the following areas.

• Mind and Body
• Positive Habits
• Positive Self Identity
• Self Talk
• Inner Game
• Incentives
• Quieting Self
• Trusting Self
• Concentration
• Relaxation
• Performance Anti-anxiety

In addition, we will feature our usual engaging technique class, master class, and open mic, and of course free breakfast and lunch and socializing.  We truly hope you can join us for what will be a hugely enjoyable and inspiring day.

If you already have tickets to the Aniello Desiderio and Zoran Dukić concert, you can purchase a festival-only pass here.

Festival Schedule

9:00 am
Festival Welcome & Breakfast
Scones, granola, yogurt, coffee, water, juice

9:30 am
Playing with Ease: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique for Guitarists
Instructor: Fanny Lora

10:30 am
Technique Workshop
Instructor: Fred Springer

11:30 am
Performance Psychology Workshop
Instructor: Olivia Papakyrikos

12:30 pm
Lunch
Provided by Surya Indian Caterers 

1:30 pm
Master Class with Chris Ladd

Four 30 minute master class spots are available for $75 each.

4:00 pm
Open Mic Concert

Festival participants are invited to perform up to 10 minutes of music for the Open Mic Concert. Sign up in advance by emailing Catherine O’Kelly at catherine.okelly@bostonguitar.org. Space is limited to 80 minutes of music total, so sign up soon to reserve your spot!

5:45 pm
Break for dinner (on your own)

7:30 pm
Aniello Desiderio and Zoran Dukić in Concert

To close out the festival, as well as this year’s Artist Series, we welcome Aniello Desiderio and Zoran Dukić to the BCGS stage!
Your ticket to the concert is included in your Festival pass.