With much waited anticipation by the EC music department, the 1st Annual Guitar Festival has arrived and will feature guitar ensembles, masterclass, discussion panels and networking opportunities, not only for guitar students but for anyone who is interested.

“We have been planning this event since September 2009. It’s has taken a while to send out all the invitations to all the high schools, colleges and universities,” Dr. Chris Mello, instructor of guitar and director of the guitar festival, said.

Mello, who also teaches guitar classes at Cerritos College, did something similar to this at Cerritos College last year and thought that it would be a great idea to do something like that at EC.

“I thought that with elco having such a reputation for being such a great school for music, it would be a great opportunity to have all the local colleges and univerisities come down and perform and have a day where we can have a center for guitar networking in Southern California for everyone,” Mello said. “At the same time, I think this will shed some light on whats going here at EC.”

The guitar festival has received support from the Fine Arts Dean Constance Fitzsimons, the music faculty, and guitar instructor Jon Minei, who has been very crucial in helping out, Mello said.

The festival will kickoff with a performance by the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet on Friday evening at the Marsee Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets will be $16 and $20.

The rest of the guitar festival which will continue on Saturday will be free to the public and will consist of masterclasses, clinics and performances by EC students as well as by students of the other colleges an universities that will be attending the festival.

“It betters us as musicians and it is a great opportunity to play live,” Lucas Duberow, who is taking intermediate guitar classes for preparation for a Master’s degree, said. “This will prepare me on how to dealing with pressure.”

Students will also benefit from the guitar festival because they will be able to network with other musicians across Southern California and will be able to meet music department representatives from local universities such as USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, and Cal State Northridge, among some that will be attending.

“I think the guitar festival will open my mind to a lot of new things, different people, different music styles and different guitars,” Eloy Delgadillo, Ceramics major, 19, said.

“I hope it goes really well and that students outside of the music department come as well as guitar fans, and check out some of the events and that this is something we can do every year,” Mello said.

The guitar festival is expected to occur next year and Mello hopes to have some of the larger organizations like the Guitar Foundation of America to attend and to add a third day if its possible.

“We have a great program and a great school,” Mello said. “I hope people will come out and support it and show that it is something we can do again next year.”

An event schedule may be found on www.eccguitar.com