The Cologne Guitar Quartet is an international ensemble based in Germany. Its members have four different nationalities: Tobias Juchem-Germany, Henrique Almeida-Portugal, Ptolemaios Armaos-Greece and Tal Botvinik-Israel.

Since its founding in 2014, the Cologne Guitar Quartet has evolved in various musical directions that reflect its artistic interests and goals. Their programs are shaped by influences from the local music scene as well as the home countries, traditions and cultural backgrounds of the ensemble members. The repertoire ranges from classical and world music to contemporary, experimental and electronic music. The ensemble have premiered new compositions by prominent composers such as Feliu Gasull, Sergej Maingardt, Yair Klartag, Jonah Haven, Dariya Maminova, Vincent Michalke, Francisco Goldschmidt, Ptolemaios Armaos, Henrique Almeida, Tom Belkind, Alexander Held and Lucia Kilger.

Recognized for their captivating and virtuosic performances, the quartet has been invited to perform in various festivals such as “speGTRa”, (DE) “Zeitgenuss” (DE), “Les Musicales” (FR), “CEME” (ISR) “Felicja Blumental” (ISR), “Algarve music series” (PT) and “AchtBrücken” (DE). They have toured in various countries such as China, Germany, France, Israel, Portugal, Greece, Serbia etc.

The quartet released two albums: “phasma”, with contemporary music for classical guitar, and “Routes”, ranging from classical to world music.

The Cologne Guitar Quartet was awarded in various competitions, such as “Karlsruhe Competition for the Interpretation of Contemporary Music”, “Wuppertal Chamber Music competition”, “Brigitte Kempen” competition and acquired various scholarships and grants such as the “Live Music Now” scholarship from the Yehudi Menuhin Foundation. The quartet is supported by the Ministry of Culture and science of the state of Nord Rhine-Westphalia.

In 2022 the quartet founded a new international crossover chamber music festival in Cologne: the SoundLinks Festival. The festival included 8 different concerts by renowned local and international artists in various concert halls around the city during the festival’s first edition.

Born in 1991 in Bucharest, Romania, Bogdan Mihailescu began  his guitar studies at the age of 10 under the guidance of Liviu Georgescu at the George Enescu National Conservatory in Bucharest. At 17, he made his debut as a soloist with the Romanian National Radio Orchestra.

In 2012, he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, where he studied with Olivier Chassain and Laurent Blanquart, while also benefiting from the guidance of Judicaël Perroy. He graduated with a Master’s degree in guitar in 2018, awarded “Très Bien à l’unanimité” followed by a second Master’s degree in Instrumental Pedagogy from the Haute École de Musique de Genève in 2020 under Dusan Bogdanovic.

Throughout his career, Bogdan Mihailescu has had the opportunity to perform around the world, giving concerts and masterclasses in France, Italy, Romania, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, Portugal, Finland, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico.

Bogdan is a laureate of numerous international competitions, including 1st prize at the José Tomás International Competition (Spain), the Enrico Mercatali International Competition (Italy), the Adelaide International Competition (Australia), the Kutna Hora International Competition (Czech Republic), the Harmonia Cordis International Competition (Romania), and the Tallinn International Competition (Estonia). He has also won 2nd prize at the Forum Guitar Wien International Competition (Austria), the Paganini International Competition (Italy), the Denver International Competition (USA), the Ligita International Competition (Liechtenstein), and the Primavera International Competition (Portugal), as well as 3rd prize at the Toccata International Competition (France) and the Velbert International Competition (Germany).

Passionate about exploring new guitar repertoires, he regularly transcribes works by composers such as Chopin, Bach, Ravel, and Debussy. His debut album, Nocturne, released in 2016 at the José Tomás Guitar Festival, features several of his transcriptions.

Bogdan is sponsored by Savarez strings and plays a guitar crafted by Australian luthier Jim Redgate.

Italian Guitarist, Andrea Roberto’s triumph in the 2019 Parkening International Guitar Competition, the world’s preeminent competition of it’s kind, has moved him into the forefront of the classical guitar world.

Andrea commenced his studies at the Giordano Conservatory at the age of 14. He went on to distinguish himself at the Maastricht Conservatory under Maestro Carlo Marchione, where he began to display his prodigious talent.

Since then, his remarkable musicianship and virtuosity have led to performances across the globe. In 2017, Andrea made debut recording, “El Viaje de la guitarra italiana” with JSG Records which has received much critical acclaim.

At the 2019 Parkening International Guitar Competition, during a sold-out final round held with orchestra, Andrea’s rich sound, polished technique, and musicality captured the Gold Medal, $30,000 Jack Marshall Prize, from this gathering of 15 of the world’s top young virtuosos. This Gold Medal Prize has secured his place firmly in the front rank of young guitarists worldwide.

Born in Oslo (Norway) in 1976. Began his guitar studies at the age of 12.
Graduated in 1999 at the Koninklijk Konservatorium in The Hague. In 2000 he received a scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and moved to Barcelona, where he completed his postgraduate studies at the Escuela Luthier de Artes Musicales with Álex Garrobé and Sadahiro Otani as teachers, obtaining a “cum laude” qualification. He obtained his Master’s Degree in Performance at ESMUC in 2020. Subsequently, he expanded his training receiving master classes from internationally renowned guitarists such as David Russel, Marco Smaili, Marco Socias, Fernando Rodriguez, Manuel Barrueco and John Williams among others.

Awarded in competitions such as the Infanta Cristina International Guitar Competition (Madrid), the José Tomás International Guitar Competition (Petrer-Alicante), the Julián Arcas International Guitar Competition (Almería) and the Alhambra International Guitar Competition (Valencia). In 2003 he won the first prize at the XIX International Classical Guitar Competition “Andrés Segovia”, which opened the doors to an international career as a soloist. Since then he has given concerts throughout the European Union, as well as in the United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, South Korea, India, Sri Lanka and Brazil.

Anders Clemens is a regular guest at the most important festivals in Norway (Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo, Røros, Gloger, Vestfold), as well as the Jeju Island Festival (Korea), the Vile de Grasse Guitar Festival (France), the Tampere Guitar Festival (Finland), Cátedra Emilio Pujol and the international guitar festival of Petrer (Spain). At these festivals he has collaborated with various chamber ensembles and soloists such as Mark Kaplan, Denise Djokic, Jean Ferrandis, Isa Gerricke, Stig Nilsson, Thomas Kjekstad and Sølve Sigerland.

Anders has been a soloist with several orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra and others.

Artist of nordicsound label has recorded so far the following albums: Romanza (2003), Sonatas (2005), Recuerdos de Tárrega (2009), Fernando Sor “selected works” (2010), Alexander Tansman “selected works” (2018) and Manuel Ponce “selected works” (2021) receiving excellent reviews.

Anders combines his career as a concert performer with his work as a guitar teacher at the conservatory of Aragon.

Álvaro López Soriano was born in Elche, where he completed his classical guitar studies with Miguel García Ferrer at the Professional Conservatory, graduating with the highest marks in all subjects and obtaining the Professional Prize unanimously by the jury.

In 2013 he graduated from the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música de Madrid under the direction of maestros Miguel Trápaga and Gerardo Arriaga. He is currently studying the Master of Guitar in Performance at the Musikhochschule in Cologne with Prof. Roberto Aussel. He has been finalist in the Concurso de Jóvenes Intérpretes del Festival de Guitarra Villa de Petrer and in the Festival de Guitarra Ciutat d’Elx, obtaining in this one the Prize of the Public. He also won the Second Prize at the XXIII Concurso de Jóvenes Intérpretes “Villa de Cox”.

In addition, he has attended advanced courses of concert players such as David Russell, Zoran Dukic, Marco Smaili, Pedro Mateo, Margarita Escarpa, Carmen Ros, Álvaro Pierri, Elliot Fisk and Ricardo Gallén.
As a camerist he has developed and continues to develop an intense work with groups such as Com Una Guitarra, the 1909 Quintet or the singer Núria Vinyals.