GUITARIST ON
THE ROOF
Tel Aviv International Classical Guitar
Festival & Competition
15TH - 17TH OF DECEMBER 2025
“Guitarist on the Roof” is an international classical guitar festival, based in Tel Aviv.
Our aim is to promote and develop the classical guitar in Israel, to encourage the young generation of guitarists, and to shine a spotlight on Israel’s various classical guitarists and composers
This year, the festival will take place in ANU - Museum of the Jewish People (located on the campus of Tel Aviv University) from December 15th to 17th, 2025, and will consist of several events:
-
A classical guitar competition
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Masterclasses with artists from Israel and from abroad
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Evening concerts
Our events are open to participants from Israel and from abroad. Please view each category for additional details.
THANK YOU
What an incredible three days! Three days full of music, guitar, learning and inspiration. We hope all of you get lots of well-deserved rest. Before saying goodbye, we want to say an enormous thank you!
Thank you to Nadav Foundation & ANU Museum, who welcomed us and made us feel at home throughout the entire festival. Thank you to Roman Kogan and Anna Leykin, as well as Sigalit and Ateret, and the entire ANU staff, for being by our side and being so incredibly helpful. Thank you to the wonderful Dalit & Marcelo Raij from the Tenor music store, for their invaluable presence and support. And of course thank you to all of our sponsors who wished to remain anonymous, your support is invaluable.
We also want to thank our amazing maestri, who took upon themselves the roles of performers, teachers and jury members: our amazing guest from Russia Rovshan Mamedkuliev, as well as our brilliant professors Ruben Seroussi and Yoram Zerbib. You're all incredible!
A big thank you to Pavel Konovalov, Ilya Liebkind, Leonid Fridman, Pavel Mostinsky and Roy Zaig, for being the amazing technical team that they are, and taking care of the lights, sound, photography, recording and everything in between and beyond that.
Thank you to all of wonderful competition participants, as well as their teachers and parents. Just for the countless hours of hard work that you're putting in, you already deserve a prize. Thank you to the wonderful audience that came to our concerts! And thank you to everyone we might've missed (sorry, we're all tired at this point). This was Guitarist on the Roof's very first year, and we're hoping to see you all again next year. Happy holidays!
FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER 15TH
SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER 16TH
SCHEDULE FOR DECEMBER 17TH
PROGRAMS OF THE COMPETITORS IN CATEGORIES A & C
PROGRAMS OF THE COMPETITORS IN CATEGORY B
Click the underlined parts to view the files.
NEWS & UPDATES
6.12.2025- The registration has closed! Thanks to everyone who signed up, you will receive the detailed festival schedule in the following days. It will be sent via email and will appear here as well.
18.11.2025 - There's still time to sign up! Our deadline has been extended till the 5th of December. Looking forward to seeing you!
10.11.2025 - We're excited to announce that the concerts are now up on our website and on ANU! Please go to the Concerts page for more details.
INVITED ARTISTS
Rovshan Mamedkuliev (Russia)
Rovshan Mamedkuliev has won more than 25 awards in national and international guitar competitions. In 2012 Rovshan won one of the most prestigious guitar competitions in the world — XXX Guitar Foundation of America International Concert Artist Competition (Charleston, SC, USA).
Rovshan Mamedkuliev has performed throughout the world. His solo career has taken him to numerous places and cities such as Moscow, Los-Angeles, Toronto, Tokyo, Beijing, Brasilia, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Helsinki, Zagreb, Belgrade, Istanbul, Vilnius, Sarajevo, Chisinau, Baku, Minsk, Seoul, Bangkok and others.
Rovshan has premiered many new works for classical guitar, including Concerto № 3 «Antony» for guitar and symphonic orchestra by Philippe Lemaigre (Antony, France, 2012), new works for solo guitar by Nikita Koshkin and others. Rovshan also performs his own arrangements.
Ruben Seroussi (Israel)
The composer and guitarist Ruben Seroussi was born in Uruguay in 1959 and immigrated to Israel in 1974. He studied with Fernando Díaz Quintana in Uruguay and Menashe Bakish in Israel, and he participated in masterclasses with renowned artists.
He has performed as a soloist with various orchestras and ensembles in Israel and worldwide, including the "Ensemble Modern" (Frankfurt). He was the first in Israel to perform many pieces by contemporary international composers, as well as many works by Israeli composers.
He has given recitals and masterclasses in Germany, Switzerland, Greece, the UK, Georgia, Armenia, Belgium, the US, Spain, as well as various countries in Africa and South America.
He has won several awards, including two ACUM prizes, the Prime Minister's Prize in 1994, and an ACUM Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. In 2017, the German company Neos released a CD dedicated to his works for chamber ensembles, performed by the "Meitar" Ensemble and featuring him as a musician. His works for various ensembles are performed both in Israel and abroad.
Yoram Zerbib (Israel)
His main teachers were Professor Yossi Yerushalmi and the Spanish maestro Alberto Ponce, with whom he completed his studies at the École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot".
He was invited to perform recitals and give master classes in Israel and abroad - France, Germany, England, Italy, Bulgaria, Hungary, Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, South America, Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique, Guatemala, Mexico, and China.
Composers who dedicated pieces to him include Roland Dyens, Lior Yekutiel, Boris Pigovat, Abraham Kefeli, and Dalit Raij.
Since 2002, he's been teaching at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance, and from 2018 to 2024, he served as the head of the String Instruments Department.
Yoram Zarbib dedicates a great deal of time to encouraging young guitarists in Israel by giving masterclasses, lectures, and organizing an annual summer workshop in Nordia.
