Leon Kudelak: Classical Guitar Maestro

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Leon Koudelak classical guitarist.

Leon Koudelak has toured internationally in most parts of Europe, Asia and the Americas. He inspired famous composers such as Tom Pegram, Apostolos Paraskevas or Michael Buchrainer to write guitar music. In addition to his notable concertcareer, he founded the Liechtenstein Guitar Festival (Ligita), the Asia International Guitar Festival (AIGF) in Bangkok and the Pattaya Classical Guitar Festival. Among many in the international music scene he is known as "La mano santa de la guitarra" ('the holy hand of the guitar'). 1996 he released a CD with the major Guitar Solo Works by Joaquin Rodrigo^] which brought him worldwide recognition. Maestro Rodrigo wrote him a letter expressing great enthusiasm after listening to his CD about his interpretation. On the following concert tour, Koudelak played a complete program with works by Joaquin Rodrigo. Leon Koudelak entered in 2011, the ranker list of "the most famous classical guitarists of all time".

When Leon was six years old, his family moved to Algeria from the former Czechoslovakia. His father, who was a medical doctor and musician, got a three years work contract at the general hospital in Skikda. Leon was brought up on American jazz as his father appreciated the likes of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong. His father also exposed Leon to a lot of classical music, especially those of Slavic extraction such as Antonín Dvořák, Leoš Janáček and Bohuslav Martinů.
When his father's work contract expired in Algeria in 1970, he opted to return to Switzerland rather than eastern Europe due to the Prague Spring and the ensuing 1968 invasion. During his time in Switzerland as a nascent classical guitarist, Koudelak heard Andres Segovia for the first time. This would galvanize, at quite an early age, his desire to be a musician.

In his later teenage years, he studied with the most famous guitarists and teachers such Karl Scheit (Leon Koudelak was one of his last students) at the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna, at the Zurich University of Music and Arts with Konrad Ragossnig and was one of the few students of Julian Bream in Liechtenstein. He obtained the Bachelor's degree, the Master of Art Education degree, the Masters of Arts degree and the Magister (degree) in Vienna and Zurich . During his time in Vienna he studied as well Contemporary Music with Roman Haubenstock-Ramati. Shortly after he became a prize winner of the prestigious guitar competition “Fundation Jacinto e Inocencio Guerrero” in Madrid, he was contacted by a Swiss concert agency with which he signed a long-year contract as well an exclusive contract with Tyrolis Music. 1989 He has recorded his first album with Tyrolis Music called : "Guitar Music from Spain, Mexico and Brazil" and 1993 the following CD “Modern Trend of Factories for Guitar". At this time he performed on music festivals and concerts in Europe, in countries like such Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic and Slovak Republic, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Hungary, France, Greece or Liechtenstein. He did the premieres in Vienna of works by composers such as Roman Haubenstock-Ramati, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Michael Buchrainer.

In 1996 the albums “Joaquin Rodrigo - Guitar Music" and 1997 “Pavana Triste" were released by Tyrolis Music and led him to major music festivals and concert halls around the world. The album “Joaquin Rodrigo – guitar music" becomes one of the best selling CD in classical guitar music, highly praised by critics around the world. 1998 he did an interview with the guitar magazine "Gitarre & Laute". which earned criticism because of this statement about the classical guitar repertoire, which actually was misunderstood.