Dear friends
it took a few days to recover from the great effort and joy of the success of Cremona Musica International Exhibitions and Festival: over 20,000 visitors, with a strong increase compared to the 2022 edition, and then 364 exhibitors from 35 countries, more than 180 events in 3 days at the fair and in the city, over 100 international buyers from 28 countries and more than 300 artists and personalities involved in concerts, masterclasses and presentations!
Cremona Musica confirms itself once again as the most important event dedicated to quality music and handcrafted musical instruments in Italy and leader in Europe.

The Acoustic Guitar Village is the most vital salon and undisputed protagonist of all the events on the live stages, within the daily Fair area and in the afternoon and evening events in the historic center of Cremona.
After the problems linked to Covid and in front of a clear growth of stands and luthiers present, we finally saw the guitar people, musicians and enthusiasts, filling the stages, seats to watch the performances, corridors of the exhibition area, stations for cultural conferences and masterclasses. Not since the event in Sarzana have we seen such participation and enthusiasm!

23 participants in the Acoustic Guitar Making Masterclass, masterfully conducted by the Argentine luthier Leo Buendia and by the excellent luthier Martino Quintavalla who addressed interesting and complex insights into acoustic engineering applied in the construction of stringed instruments, 12 participants in the Mandolin Masterclass conducted by maestro Carlo Aonzo , and then how can we forget the Sunday afternoon finale, the musical tribute dedicated to the great David Crosby with the presence on stage of many of his musician partners and admirers, conducted by Jeff Pevar, alongside David on tour for many years.

These beginning and end of the AGV, in the middle of the three days we remember an infinite series of events, with more than 300 printed musician badges, 3 non-stop live stages which saw the 2023 edition of the New Sounds of Acoustic Music competition for emerging artists, the 10th edition of the Italian Bluegrass Meeting (19 bands for 79 musicians), the demos and performances of the Open Stage and the increasingly extraordinary review of ensembles and mandolin orchestras of the Classic Stage.

The exhibition area of ​​the stands, with the various companies present and the return of very important brands, and the Luthiers’ Row, with many beautiful instruments on display including guitars, mandolins, ukuleles, charangos, etc., were vital and full of presentations and meetings. The satisfaction of the exhibitors was palpable, with many musicians trying out and commenting on the new creations.
Infinite thanks to those who brought their contribution and commitment: exhibitors, collaborators, teachers, musicians, communication partners, technical partners and the public, it was an edition of great growth and which rewarded the efforts in the presentation and elegance of the areas so such as the leap in quality in communication and promotion of the event.
Thanks to the Management and Staff of the Cremona Fair for the great work in organizing and setting up the areas, to Carlo Aonzo and Giulia Alliri for the commitment and success of Cremona Mandolini in Mostra, to Danilo Cartia for the coordination of the 10th Italian Bluegrass Meeting , to Leo Petrucci, Martina Gozzini and Lorenzo Frignani for the exhibitions of historical instruments, to Francesco Lucarelli for the collaboration at the David Crosby Celebration, to Max Monterosso and Mirko Borghino for the coordination of the acoustic guitar making masterclass, to Massimo Ottini for Cremona Musica Downtown Giovani , to Monique Mizrahi for Charango Presente! and to the Staff of our Association for the organization and excellent coordination of the entire AGV.
A special mention and thanks to our top-level technical partners: the Acus-sound Engineering audio systems and amplifiers and the Neumann and Sennheiser microphones supplied by Exhibo spa.

We are ready to increasingly increase our commitment and that of the Management of the Cremona Fair for another successful edition in 2024, 27-28-29 September

We conclude with the memory of the two unforgettable evenings and the afternoon for young people in the historic center of Cremona: the Special Night in the Auditorium of the Violin Museum on Friday evening, with the award ceremony for Amalia Ramirez and the performances of Luca Zanetti, Carlo Aonzo, Roberto Fabbri, Christian Saggese and Edin Karamazov, and Cremona Musica Downtown on Saturday evening in the Cortile Federico II in Piazza Duomo, where we admired the mandolins of Carlo Aonzo and the Brazilian Paulo Sà, the great performance of the quartet of the Toscanini Next Orchestra, the guitar of Giovanni Baglioni and the Jam of Latin American charanguists led by Monique Mizrahi.
We leave the comment on these two events to the words of the Argentine luthier and resident in the United States Leo Buendia: “This is definitely an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life”.
The event for young musicians from Cremona and beyond which took place in the Galleria XXV Aprile, Cremona Musica Downtown Giovani, was very popular and continues to grow. It is an event that will have more and more of our attention, to bring together and bring out young acoustic guitar performers and acoustic bands, placing them in an international context like Cremona Musica.

At this point, thanking once again all the actors of the Acoustic Guitar Village 2023 in Cremona Musica, let’s meet everyone at the next edition in 2024, 27-28-29 September!

Follow us on www.acousticguitarvillage.net  e su  www.facebook.com/acousticguitarvillagecremona e https://www.instagram.com/acousticguitarvillage_cremona/

For further information you can contact us on + 39 0187-626993 and write to info@armadilloclub.org

Best regards,
Staff at Cultural Association Armadillo Club APS – Sarzana (SP) Italy