We would like to invite you to attend the first annual Dominguez Hills Guitar Festival and Competition.  The event will take place in beautiful Southern California September 4-6, 2009.  Those of you who attended the 2007 GFA Convention are already familiar with the Cal State Dominguez Hills campus and its facilities.   CSUDH is located in the city of Carson, CA which is in the South Bay area of Los Angeles.                 This year’s artist line-up includes concerts by Scott Tennant, William Kanengiser, Tom Kerstens, and the YMT Guitar Trio with Jeff Young (formerly of Megadeth and Badi Assad), Scott Morris, and Steven Thachuk.  Master classes and lessons will be given by all festival artists with additional classes by John Dearman (LAGQ) and Jack Sanders.                 A number of fascinating lectures will be presented by some of the most respected guitar scholars including Dr. Jonathon Grasse (CSUDH), Peter Yates (UCLA) and Carlos Rafael Rivera.                   Come and do a bit of “guitar tasting” at our Luthier’s and Vendor’s Fair.  A number of today’s greatest guitar builders will be displaying their instruments along with other vendors selling the latest guitar accessories, books and sheet music.                   At the center of the DHGF is the Dominguez Hills International Classical Guitar Competition.  This year’s competition will award over $10,000 worth of cash and prizes to the winners.  In addition to the monetary awards guitars will be awarded to winners which have been generously donated by California luthier Kenny Hill and Alhambra Guitars of Madrid.   Semi-finalists will all receive strings and accessories donated by the D’Addario Co. and Savarez.   You can find the application for entry on the festival website at www.myspace.com/csudhguitarfest.com                                    If you will be traveling to the festival from out of town you will be pleased to know that we have negotiated a special DHGF rate at the Holiday Inn Torrance Gateway Hotel (see photos at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/hi/1/en/hotel/trrca#) which is located not far from campus.  They also offer complimentary shuttle bus service to the festival as well as to local shopping areas and beaches.                   If you have any questions about the festival or competition please feel free to contact the festival director Dr. Scott Morris directly at ssmorris@csudh.edu