Skip to main content

Guitar Virtuoso Performs at Artspree Feb. 28

Florian Larousse, the young French guitar virtuoso who at 22, has wowed audiences on multiple continents, comes to UALR’s Artspree for a 7:30 p.m. performance Monday, Feb. 28, in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building.

Tickets are $20 general admission with UALR students free with ID. For more information or to reserve tickets, call the Box Office at 501-569-3288.

With numerous prizes in some of the most significant international competitions of the guitar world, audience choice awards, and recording contracts, Larousse has shot to the forefront of his field since his arrival in the classical guitar scene.

Larousse has earned prizes in a number of international competitions in various countries including France, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, and the United States. His performance at the Jose Tomás Competition in Spain earned him first prize and the Audience Choice Award,  a tour of Spain to 10 different cities, and a recording contract.

In 2009, he won the Koblenz International Guitar Competition “Hubert Kappel” in Germany and later that year won the coveted first prize of the Guitar Foundation of America International Artist Competition.

His win at the 2009 GFA International Concert Artist Competition will result in a nine-month concert tour in the United States, including a performance at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall in New York, as well as a number of concerts in Brazil, Canada, China, and Mexico.

Born in 1988, French guitarist Florian Larousse began studying guitar at eight with Philippe Vanderstichele, later continuing his studies at the prestigious National Conservatory of Paris with Pedro Ibanez. After four years, he graduated with highest honors in classical guitar.

That same year, he began his studies with French virtuoso and Guitar Foundation of America laureate Judicael Perroy and entered the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris where he also worked with critically acclaimed artist, teacher, and composer Roland Dyens.

Larousse performs on a Hugo Cuvilliez guitar, and is endorsed by Savarez Strings.