Shohei Toyoda & the 2013 International Finger Style Guitar Championship
Excerpt from Bluegrass Today … “Winners have been announced from the prestigious instrumental championships at the 42nd Annual Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Trophies and new instruments are offered annually for fiddle, mandolin, dulcimer, and autoharp, but the pièce de résistance is the guitar championship where “winning Winfield” puts a guitar slinger on the map.”
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Shohei Toyoda is already on “the map” internationally given the release of his CD and the other wins he has celebrated but winning third place at Walnut Valley for the 2013 International Finger Style Guitar Championship is cause for celebration!
Earlier this month 40 of the finest finger style guitarists came together in Kansas to duel it out at this acclaimed competition where the best of the best earn top honors.
Congratulations Shohei for placing in the top! and we are pretty happy that he was playing his trusty custom Lichty Guitar.
Some background on Shohei …
Born in Japan and raised in Ohio, music has been a part of Shohei’s life from a very early age. He is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and is winning awards and gaining international recognition. In 2010 he was chosen as one of the top 16 guitarists to compete in Japan’s National Finger Picking Contest and he followed this with a two month / 30 show tour in Japan. In 2011 he landed two prestigious awards: Placement in the top five at the 2011 International Finger-style Championship in Kansas and Grand Champion at the International Thumb Picking Contest in Central City, Kentucky.
* In 2012 Shohei was the winner of Japan’s National Finger Picking Competition *
We can now add winning third place at the 2013 International Finger Style Championships in Winfield Kansas to his achievements.
Shohei resides in Japan where he performs and teaches private lessons for all skill levels, from beginner to advanced.
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Lichty Guitars is honored to be hosting a concert by Shohei at Tryon Fine Arts Center September 25th, 2013.