Lee Ritenour’s Six String Theory Guitar Winners:
2010: Shon Boublil (Classical) Berklee College of Music Scholarship. Graduated in 2014
2011: David Browne-Murray (Acoustic) Berklee College of Music Scholarship
2012: Karl Marino (Classical/Flamenco) Berklee College of Music Scholarship. Will graduate in 2017
2014: Tony Pusztai (Acoustic) Berklee College of Music Scholarship
2016: TBD on June 1, 2016!
Other Berklee College of Music Scholarship Winners:
Brooks Robertson, Guitar; Jonathan Brown, Guitar; Yotam Ishay, Keyboards; Andrea Erd, Guitar; Hans De Wild, Keyboards; Michael Ning, Bass; Damien Chambers, Drums
Updates on Previous Guitar Winners:
Shon Boublil (2010 Guitar Grand Prize Winner)
In 2010 Shon Boublil won the Grand Prize (out of 500 contestants from around the world) at the SST competition which was held in Santa Monica and was awarded a four-year full scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston. Shon was planning to go to college to study science but opted instead to study music in Boston. After spending four years in this city, with one semester at Berklee Valencia campus in Spain, he graduated from Berklee with a Bachelor degree in musical performance with a highest distinction. Shon made his debut recording on probably one of the most interesting live guitar CDs produced, Six String Theory, along with 20 of well-known guitarists in the world that included Lee Ritenour, B. B. King, George Benson, Steve Lukather, Joe Bonamassa and Slash. Shon has also participated and won many national and international classical guitar competitions including the CMC (Canadian Music Competition) and a first place at the International Classical Guitar competition held in Concordia. He was recognized as a Yamaha Performing Artist and a D’Addario Gold Performing Artist. During these past years Shon performed solo in concert halls in the US, France, Spain, Russia and Canada. No doubt, his decision to study the art of music was an excellent choice.
“Taking part in 6 String Theory competition and CD was a great honor for me. I’m really proud to be associated with the competition as it has opened up many music opportunities which were nonexistent before. Graduated with honors from Berklee in 2014 from full-ride scholarship won in the Six String Theory competition. I have performed solo, in duets on stage with violinists, pianist, singers and with various student jazz bands. I’ve also played my guitar for several student film scoring projects. I’ve played jazz, blues, classical, Latin and ethnic music. The diversity here is simply inspiring and I’m enjoying absorbing it all. Berklee is a lot more than what I imagined it to be. I opened the show for Lee playing solo for half an hour in 2012. It was a great experience. I also opened the show for Sonny Landreth at Peter’s Player in 2012.”
David Browne Murray (2011 Guitar Grand Prize Winner)
“Having competed in the 2010 and 2011 competitions, I had the chance to attend world-renowned master classes and workshops in the semi-finalist and finalist competition. There was such a great community aspect that blew me away. I can’t remember having so much fun playing guitar as I did at the finals-playing at that level was amazing! The people and networking were great!”
Karl Marino (2014 Guitar Grand Prize Winner)
“Going to Berklee is certainly one of the greatest things that has happened to me. I feel it is a gift of immeasurable value. I am doing a dual major, which I could be able to finish in 2 years from now, in Performance and Film Scoring. I have gained valuable insight in the fields of arranging and composing, and also I get to meet very interesting people who are very passionate about what they do. I have a few film scoring gigs in my hometown of Montreal and I also get to play and polish my craft quite a bit in Boston. It is a lot of hard work, but it is making me grow incredibly as a musician. Thanks to Six String competition!!”
Quotes from some SST Judges:
Keb’ Mo’: “They are all fantastic. Hard to choose, but this is only one contest in the game of life.”
Vince Gill: “Picking a winner was truly impossible. All these guitar players have my utmost respect.”
Steve Lukather: “Jeez I love them all and wish I could hug them, for trying so hard. They are ALL great, they really are. OK here goes… God I hate this… damn glad it is not ME on the chopping block! haha”
Abe Laboriel Jr: “this was not easy…”
Chris Coleman: “This was seriously close!! CRAZY!!”
Daniel Jobim: “So many good players out there so it was hard to choose!”
Don Alder: “The winners are getting some incredible opportunities, like performing at venues I’ve only dreamed of playing.”
Pat Kelley: “I really enjoyed seeing all of the videos. The semi-finalists are all amazing players and it was a difficult choice”
Nathan East: “Wow, some of these bass players are crazy good!”
Will Kennedy: “Wow! That was an amazing line up this year!!”
Hotei: “All of the candidates were really fantastic, so it was not so easy to evaluate them”
Tom Kennedy: “It’s always difficult, but I definitely based my decisions on functionality first”
