EuroStrings is the first platform of European guitar festivals, led by Zagreb Guitar Festival and ever expanding with an initial 14 members’ festivals in 2018 and reaching 17 members’ festivals in 2021; with four Associate Festivals also added in 2021 as well as Affiliate Partners around the world. The project is co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union and is the first guitar project ever to receive such funding.

EuroStrings Artists are a group of young professional guitarists, who are the laureates of the international competitions organised by the 17 EuroStrings platform members’ guitar festivals. They are invited to take part in the EuroStrings Exchange Programme, which is delivered through the EuroStrings Curriculum.

This concert is 50 minutes long, with no interval. Each EuroStrings Artist will play for 25 minutes. 

The musical qualities of the classical guitarist Álvaro Toscano have been endorsed by his winning of more than 15 international awards, among which are First Prize at: 96th Concurso Permanente de Juventudes Musicales of Spain and Festival International de Guitarra de Guimarães in Portugal. He is also proud to have won several ‘Audience’ prizes that reflect his immense communication skills as a musician. Apart from his solo work, Álvaro Toscano was the soloist with the Málaga Philharmonic Orchestra performing music by Enrique Baños. In ensemble, he has also performed with the F.I.P Guadalquivir Ensemble and the Leonor Quartet, among others, and premièred Proserpina and Brumas del Guadalquivir by Antonio Blanco Tejero at the Teatro Góngora in Cordoba.

Álvaro Toscano has played more than 70 recitals throughout Europe, highlights include his participation in the Szeged International Guitar Festival in Hungary, International Festival of Guitar José Tomás Villa de Petrer, Lope de Vega Theatre in Seville and International Guitar Festival ‘Ciudad de Coria’, in Cáceres. He also offers recitals in unusual venues such as ‘Sofar Sounds’, trying to bring classical music closer to all kinds of public. His 2021 programme, titled The Cosmic Guitar, comprises music based on ethereal, spatial, and natural themes by Frederic Mompou, Antonio Blanco Tejero, Vicente Asencio and Marco Smaili.

Filip Mišković was born in Split, Croatia, in 2002. At the age of nine, he started his guitar studies at the Music School ‘Josip Hatze’, Kaštela with Vicko Novak and, in 2013, he continued with Maroje Brčić. At 17, two years earlier than usual, he began studying at the Academy of Music, University of Zagreb, where is now in his second year, studying with Darko Petrinjak.

Filip Mišković has won First Prize in more than 40 guitar competitions, including Anna Amalia Competition for Young Guitarists in Weimar, Rago International Guitar Competition in Stuttgart, and the International Guitar Competition for Young Guitarists ‘Andres Segovia’ in Monheim am Rhein; he won Second Prize in the Senior Division of the GFA Annual International Youth Competition in Miami 2019. In the open age category, he won First Prize at the Poreč Fest Competition and Second Prize in the Zagreb Guitar Festival Competition. As a soloist, Filip Mišković has performed a Vivaldi Concerto with ‘I Giovani Solisti’ from the USA, conducted by Emmet Drake, and Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Guitar Concerto with Croatian National Theatre Orchestra in Split, conducted by Gianna Fratta. The Ministry of Science, Education and Sports awarded him five ‘Oscars of Knowledge’. In 2019, he was given the title ‘Splitski pulpulak’ as a rising star in Split and, in 2020, he received the Rector’s Prize from the University of Zagreb.