Australian National University School of Music student Andrey Lebedev has edged out finalists from across the world to win a prestigious international classical guitar competition.
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The 21-year-old received as his prize $10,000 in cash as well as a new classical guitar valued at $16,000 and crafted by revered Australian luthier Jim Redgate.
Lebedev impressed the judges of the 2012 Adelaide International Guitar Festival's classical guitar competition with his 15-minute finals performance that included masterful executions of challenging pieces by Agustin Barrios Mangore, J.S. Bach and Alberto Ginastero.
Sixteen semi-finalists from Europe, Asia and Australia competed for one of eight finals positions. The eight finalists came from Australia, Germany, China, France and Thailand.
The festival's artistic director, Slava Grigoryan, praised the competency level of all those taking part. ''The standard was just astonishing,'' he said.
''All finalists played at an extraordinarily high level and Andrey was a deserved winner.''
Lebedev, formerly from South Australia, studies at the ANU under the mentoring of renowned guitarist and teacher Associate Professor Timothy Kain.
The competition's second prize winner, Stephanie Jones, originally from Perth, is also an ANU student studying with Professor Kain.
Third prize went to Ekachai Jearakul from Thailand.
Lebedev followed his recent win in Adelaide with another gong last week - the $8000 Sydney Eisteddfod NSW Doctors Orchestra Instrumental Scholarship.