APRIL 2-5, 2026
Rochester Classical Guitar is proud to present our 5th guitar festival, featuring international performers & local guitarists!
To celebrate our 10-year anniversary, our festival will present Raphaella Smits, Nicholas Goluses, Juliana Athayde, Petar Kodzas, Kinloch Nelson, Bob Sneider, the Eastman Guitar Ensemble, local guitarists, and students from the Eastman School!
Rochester Guitar Festival is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors: the Hochstein School, Bernunzio Uptown Music, the Bop Shop Records, Eastman Community Music School, Fret and Bow, Java’s Cafe, Penfield Guitar School, and the Rochester Mandolin Orchestra.
Festival Events
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #1 of 5
Guitar in the Round with Petar Kodzas, Kinloch Nelson, and Bob Sneider in Concert
Thursday, April 2, 7pm
Location: Performance Hall, the Hochstein School, 50 N Plymouth Ave, Rochester, NY
Tickets: $20 students, $25 general admission.
Tickets are available at doors
Petar Kodzas was guided toward a career in mechanical engineering until he discovered a 19th century parlor guitar in his grandfather’s closet.
Before graduating from the University of Belgrade, he had toured and recorded as a lutenist, sat in jazz sessions, and performed throughout the former Yugoslavia as a musical ambassador for Jeunesses Musicales.
Following his studies in Europe, Kodzas moved to the United States and eventually settled in New York State. From 1997 to 2017 he served as a Senior Instructor in Guitar for the Eastman Community Music School.
Since 2017, Petar became the Associate Dean of the Eastman Community Music School.
Kinloch Nelson’s 55 years-and-counting career has run the gamut from solo concerts in coffeehouses, folk festivals to club dates, with programs range from J.S. Bach to John B. Sebastian and may include references to Miles Davis, Franz Schubert, John Fahey, Leo Kottke, The Ventures, The “folk scare,” Flatt and Scruggs, and the occasional TV theme.
Nelson has played with such notables as Tom Paxton, Amos Garrett, and Buddy Guy. Recent concerts have included appearances with Stephen Bennett, Muriel Anderson, Teja Gerken, Al Peteway (Ken Burns documentaries) and Wings alumnus Laurence Juber. Nelson can be heard on Heartland Records, BKNjr Records, Hodgepodge Music, Sampler Records, and Tompkins Square Records.
Before joining the Eastman faculty in late 1997, Bob Sneider toured with two-time Grammy Award winner Chuck Mangione. He frequently appears with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Pops and has performed throughout the Americas and Europe. Sneider is a graduate of the University of Rochester where he studied with Bill Dobbins and Ramon Ricker. Growing up in Brockton, MA, Sneider’s mentor and teacher was Chet Kruley.
Sneider’s recordings have received rave reviews and international airplay. His students have won major competitions and attended renowned institutes. Bob’s newest CD is co-led with his brother John: The Sneider Brothers “The Brockton Beat”. Bob enjoys making music with his son Ben (trombone) and daughter Emily (French horn).
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #2 of 5
Nicholas Goluses (guitar) and Juliana Athyade (violin) in concert
Friday, April 3, 7pm
Location: Theatre 1, Little Theatre, 240 East Ave, Rochester, NY 14604
Tickets: $20/students, $25 general admission.
Tickets are available at doors
Nicholas Goluses’ concert tours have taken him across the world to critical acclaim. “Nicholas Goluses reached the highest levels of instrumental virtuosity,” says Generalanzeiber (Bonn, Germany), while Twentieth Century Guitar writes, “Nicholas Goluses is a true American master,” and the Star-Ledger calls him “dazzling.”
“Goluses is masterly, a musician’s musician,” writes American Record Guide. Committed to performing new music for the guitar, Goluses has given world première performances of more than 100 works.
Goluses is Professor of Guitar, founder, and director of guitar programs at the Eastman School of Music, where he received the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching
Juliana Athayde became the youngest person and first female to hold the position since the orchestra’s founding in 1922. She has appeared as a guest concertmaster all across the US and Europe. Ms. Athayde has been praised by critics for her “power and precision,” “melting lyricism,” and “larger than life” performances. Ms. Athayde is Associate Professor of Violin at the Eastman School of Music and serves on the faculty at music festivals throughout the U.S.
She can be heard on multiple RPO recordings for the Harmonia Mundi label and is also featured with the Eastman Virtuosi for a recording of Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat. Ms. Athayde performs on a J.B. Vuillaume violin and a Jean Dominique Adam bow.
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #3 of 5
Eastman Guitar Ensemble
Saturday, April 4, 12pm
Location: Interfaith Chapel, University of Rochester, 1045 Wilson Blvd, Rochester, NY 14627
Tickets: Free and open to the public
The Eastman Guitar Ensemble is made up of current and former students from the Eastman School of Music as well as the University of Rochester. Led by graduate student Henry Davidson, they are dedicated to performing original, contemporary music written for large guitar ensemble.
This semester they are performing Sergio Assad’s The Walls with soloist Bruno Guedea and bassist Danica Rebudiao.
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #3 of 5
Raphaella Smits in Concert
Saturday, April 4, 7pm
Location: Performance Hall, the Hochstein School. 50 N Plymouth Ave, Rochester, NY
Tickets: $20/students, $25 general admission.
Tickets are available at doors
Raphaella Smits plays worldwide in her unique way on eight-string guitars and period instruments. She has been praised as “an uncommonly musical guitarist” (Tim Page, New York Times), “Une Grande Musicienne” and “one of the most sensitive and cultured performers of our time” (Jean Bernard, Diapason, FR). In 2019, she received a unique award “Por su aporte a la Guitarra y la Cultura” in Argentina at the Festival Guitarras del Mundo. In addition to stage work, Raphaella Smits has realized over 25 albums, many of which are listed as indispensable for refined music lovers.
In 1986 Raphaella Smits was the first woman to win the First Prize of the “Certamen Internacional de Guitarra Francisco Tarrega.” She taught at the Lemmens Institute / LUCA School of Arts in Leuven, Belgium, from 1986 to 2022.
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #4 of 5
Raphaella Smits Master Class
Sunday, April 5, 1:30 – 4:30pm
Location: Ciminelli Lounge at the Eastman Student Living Center (100 Gibbs St, Rochester, NY 14605)
Tickets: Free and open to the public
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #4 of 5
Classical Guitar Night
Sunday April 5, 7pm
Location: Little Theatre Café, 8 Winthrop St, Rochester, NY 14604
Tickets: Free and open to the public
This month, we will be presenting a fundraising concert with the theme, “Guitar Music in the Past 30 Years”, featuring Eastman students and local guitarists.
All donations from this performance will be used to support Rochester Guitar Festival 2026.
Rochester Guitar Festival Day #5 of 5
Raphaella Smits Master Class
Monday, April 6, 1:30 – 4:30pm
Location: Ciminelli Lounge at the Eastman Student Living Center (100 Gibbs St, Rochester, NY 14605)
Tickets: Free and open to the public
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