Dedicated to the interests of classical guitarists and those who enjoy classical guitar music.
Our next meeting will be Saturday, December 6th at 7:30 pm. At this meeting we will hear a nice selection of holiday music played by our members. We will also hear a special 30 minute presentation of holiday music from guitar virtuso Wesley Park. Our December 6th meeting will take place at our new permanent location - The Faith Lutheran Church at 7500 De Soto Ave in Canoga Park, CA.
On Saturday November 1st - AGS Hosted Our Annual Bickford Competition
Our competition featured 11 junior classical guitarists who age from 8 to 17 years. This competition is our way to foster and encourage the future of the classical guitar and our organization. It is also a shining example of how many excellent teachers are out there working with young students to nurture their talents and guide them toward mastery the classical guitar. AGS is very proud of the young contestants that performed world class compositions for the classical guitar on our players platform.
In our Division 1, First Place was awarded to Joaquim Park and Second Place was awarded to John Barsoumian.
In Division 2, First Place was awarded to Hea Lee and Second Place was awarded to Dylan Watanabe.
Division 1
AGS President Gregory Newton, 1st place - Joaquim Park, 2nd place - John Barsoumian, AGS Treasurer Mark Achuff
Division 2
AGS President Gregory Newton, 2nd place - Dylan Watanabe, 1st place - Hea Lee, AGS Treasurer Mark Achuff
A competition needs good adjudicators and we had the best! The AGS wishes to thank our esteemed professors of the classical guitar Hugo Nogueira, Michael Kozubek, and Steven Thachuk. They carefully evaluated the performance of each contestant, and collaborated to determine the final rankings. Thank you for your contributions to the 2025 Bickford Competition.
Vahdah Olcott Bickford
photo from about 1915
The American Guitar Society is the oldest, continuously operating guitar society in the United States. It was founded in 1923 by Vahdah Olcott Bickford (VOB), who was born in Norwalk, Ohio, in 1885 and died in Los Angeles in 1980. She was considered one of the foremost concert guitarists in the United States from 1910 to 1957, at which time she retired from the stage to devote the rest of her life to teaching and publishing. VOB published a number of original compositions and arrangements of popular pieces for the guitar, where she declared AGS as the publisher. Visit the LIBRARY tab to view and download all 20 of the works she published via the AGS organization.
Our Mission
The purpose of the AGS is to promote the beauty of the Classical Guitar via Education, Scholarships, Concerts, and monthly Meetings where members perform.
Meet, Play, Listen
Our next meeting will be held at 7:30pm on November 1st. We meet at the FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH located at 7500 De Soto Ave, Canoga Park. Please join AGS and sign up to perform your classical guitar pieces at an upcoming monthly meeting. Our meeting dates for remainder of our new fiscal year are these: November 1, December 6, January 10, 2026 (second Saturday due to New Year's), February 7, March 7, April 11 (second Saturday due to Easter), May 2, June 6.
