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KALIA
What is Kalia?
A nest and launching ground for classical guitarists.
Kalia is a collective of classical guitarists based in Geneva. It was formed by Florian Colombet and Sebastian Robles in 2024 as the result of many discussions between friends about our place as guitarists in the music world – especially in the context of all the doubts and uncertainties that come with having dedicated our lives to a niche art form. The project is an attempt to create a hub through which guitarists can share their art and their artistic reflections – especially those guitarists who often feel alone. Kalia is derived from the greek word καλιά, meaning "bird's nest."
A publishing company.
Kalia Editions, an imprint of MusiCurate, is the publishing company linked with the Kalia Collective. Kalia Editions seeks to share access to scores edited directly by their composers in order to keep a fast flow between the composition phase of a score and its publication. The scores are meant to be functional, only available in pdf and optimized for reading on a tablet. Our wish is for guitarists to enjoy our music and to allow them to play it on stage.
As composers, we want to develop our creativity keeping in mind the taste of guitarists and audiences. Although we are primarily interested in composing for the joy it brings to create new pieces and explore new languages, we want to avoid being self-centered and disconnected from others. On a practical level, this publishing company is a means by which we can better understand what pleases the guitar world.
A concert series in Geneva.
Geneva is the current residence of an astonishing number of world-class guitarists. Kalia Concerts is an attempt to showcase their artistry as well as provide regular events through which the community of classical guitar enthusiasts in Geneva will be strengthened. Music is a great ground for friendship and fraternity, and we seek to organize events which will allow this basic truth to be made manifest. Kalia Concerts will begin its first full annual season in the fall of 2025. In the meantime, we are offering several concerts in spring 2025.
A support structure for classical guitarists.
The life of young classical guitarists is defined by constant work and constant insecurity. Our art demands that we dedicate our lives toward the mastery of our instrument. Mastery, however, is not enough to have an artistic career in classical guitar; it seems to be also necessary to convince the world that they will enjoy our music. As a result, many of us find ourselves in the seemingly absurd futility of trying to sell our humble art to a public who already has immediate access, via the internet, to all the music that has ever been created.
The truth, however, is that the classical guitar is a beautiful art form that can bring great wonder, astonishment, and awe to our lives. Its beauty lies in detail, intimacy, and the direct revelation of personality and affect. The truth is that the details in life are important, because they are a part of the whole. Classical guitar matters.
This being said, the process of sharing the beauty of guitar is by no means easy. Kalia's mission is to make that process easier for guitarists. We hope to fund and promote the artistic activities of our artists, through grant proposals, fundraising, social media promotion, video production, and more. Orchestras provide great financial stability to their musicians. Guitarists need alternative structures through which they can not only fulfill their artistic dreams but also receive fair wages for the work that they do. We will not, by any stretch of the imagination, solve all the problems in the guitar world. But Kalia is nonetheless an honest attempt to help, even in small ways, to fulfill that need.
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