* Grigory Goryachev *
A native of St. Petersburg, Russia, OddVille is honored to have Grigory Goryachev, who has been acclaimed the world over for his blinding virtuosity and extraordinary musical sensitivity. As a master of both flamenco and classical styles of guitar, he has created a new genre all his own. Grigory has garnered praise from such guitar luminaries as Paco de Lucía, Christopher Parkening, and Eliot Fisk. Following his debut at the age of nine, Mr. Goryachev enjoyed an extensive career as a child prodigy, performing regularly before large audiences in the most prestigious concert halls of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk, Riga, and other major cities in the then Soviet Union. He also appeared regularly on Soviet television and radio and was featured in numerous major newspapers and magazines. His participation at the age of 13 in the T.V marathon, Revival of St. Petersburg, was transmitted live to more than one hundred countries worldwide. After a tour of Spain, Goryachev was invited to play for flamenco legend, Paco de Lucía, who soon after personally intervened in support of his application for an American visa (subsequently awarded in the year 1997 on the basis of “Extraordinary Ability”). Since coming to the United States, Mr. Goryachev has continued his lifelong love affair with flamenco while deepening his involvement with the classical style. His repertoire now includes classical solos, chamber music and guitar concertos and more than six hours of flamenco solos by such composers as Paco de Lucía, Vicente Amigo, Manolo Sanlucar and others. As the flamenco repertoire is for the most part unpublished, Mr. Goryachev has also performed the somewhat incredible feat of transcribing the music himself, all by ear from the recordings.
In May 2005 Mr. Goryachev received a special prize for the Best Performance of Spanish Music at the VI International Classical Guitar Competition "Julian Arcás" in Almería, Spain. As a winner of this prize, Mr. Goryachev performed recitals in Spain at "Festival de Música Española de Cádiz" and "Festival de Música de Jimena de la Frontera".
Grigory Goryachev was one of the 30 people to become a fellow of the prestigious Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans in 2006. In June 2006 Mr. Goryachev produced a new CD, Alma Flamenca, under VGo Recordings label, which is available from online stores.