Any time a festival announces its cancellation, people tend to have a grim outlook on its future.

But when the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival and Competition was cancelled last year, the first time in the its six-year history, director Anthony Glise said it was actually beneficial.

"Every (guitar festival) takes a year down to re-group," Glise says. "The St. Joseph festival is radically growing, so we wanted to address its role in the arts community and try to get it more structured."

With structure in place and two years of anticipation, The St. Joseph International Guitar Festival and Competition will kick off next week with five days of competition, performances and improv jam sessions featuring world-renowned guitar masters.

And with the year hiatus, the effect was strangely positive in regards to the influx of performers.

"We've ended up with a flood of competitors... They're still coming every day," Glise says. "We're just a little bit short on the home hosts, but it's a great problem to have."

Of those performers, headliners will be both local and international. Glise's classical progressive rock group The Nova Project, which also features guitarist Jason Riley, electric cellist James Kew and drummer Nick Baker, will perform at 8 p.m. May 14 at the Leah Spratt MC Building at Missouri Western. At 8 p.m. the following evening in the Leah Spratt MC Building, St. Joe will be graced with a performance by Brazilian classical guitarist and 2007 St. Joseph Guitar Festival winner Eduardo Minozzi Costa.

May 16's featured act will be a returning one - the heralded Celtic guitar duo Hungry Monks at 8 p.m. in the Leah Spratt MC Building.

While initial guitar competition rounds are closed to the public, the final competition rounds featuring the three finalists will be at 3 p.m. May 17 at the Downtown University Campus at 515 N. Sixth St.

Competitors will be vying for $7,000 in cash and prizes, and in addition to being judged by jurors, this open-to-the-public round allows the audience to have its say in choosing a winner.

"We were doing this before 'American Idol,'" Glise laughs. "It's fun because the people feel like they are part of it."

If guitar enthusiasts would like to see the worldwide players in a more casual atmosphere, the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival will have five open-jam sessions in different bars around St. Joseph.

Lisa Hancock, co-owner of Cafe Acoustic, says the Cafe has hosted jam sessions for the past three years, and they are thrilling events.

"As far as the after-jams, yeah, it's pretty much one of the most incredible things I've ever been a part of," Hancock says. "St. Joe really needs to know what an honor it is to have these people here."

Hancock says one of the highlights is witnessing these exceptional musicians playing with each other without any sense of one-upsmanship.

"They get to really embrace the joy of music, which is what I assume brought them to that level in the first place," she says. "It's a sharing and a joy to be able to express your talent without the competition in that kind of way."

And this year, thanks to the St. Joseph Music Foundation, the festival is spreading beyond stages and bars and into the classroom and the Web. Master classes will be taught 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 16 in the Leah Spratt Building 101 Theater. Classes will be taught by guitar festival performers Eduardo Minozzi Costa and Hazel Ketchem from the Hungry Monks.

And in correlation with the guitar festival, the St. Joseph Music Foundation's Web radio station will present a five-part series called "The Guitar in St. Joseph." Each one-hour segment will feature past guitar festival performers and also cover St. Joseph's cultural history, according to St. Joseph Music Foundation director Michael Fuson. The series has been airing on Sunday afternoons for the past couple of months, but it will air at 9 p.m. May 11 through 15.

To access the radio station, go to www.stjosephmusicfoundation.org. For more information on the St. Joseph International Guitar Festival and Competition, go to www.missouriwestern.edu/guitarfestival.

The St. Joseph

International

Guitar Festival

Events take place May 13 through 17.

HEADLINERS

Tickets are $10 general admission, $5 for seniors and Missouri Western students, alumni, staff and faculty with I.D.

The Nova Project

8 p.m. May 14 at the Missouri Western Leah Spratt MC Building

Eduardo Minozzi Costa

8 p.m. May 15 at the Missouri Western Leah Spratt MC Building

Hungry Monks

8 p.m. May 16 at the Missouri Western Leah Spratt MC Building

Final Competition Rounds

3 p.m. May 17 at the Downtown University Campus, 515 N. Sixth St.

FREE POST-CONCERT JAM SESSIONS

Opening party and mixer, 7 p.m. May 13 at Cafe Acoustic, 2605 Frederick Ave., 671-1141

Jam with Jazz Express, 9 p.m. May 14 at Foster's, 726 Felix St., 364-4400

Jam with Soca Jukebox, 9 p.m. May 15 at Hi-Ho, 1817 Frederick Ave., 233-7363

Jam with Jason Riley Trio, 9 p.m. May 16 at Magoon's, 632 S. Eighth St., 232-3611

Jam with Jason Riley Trio, 8 p.m. May 17 at Terrible's St. Jo Frontier Casino, 77 Winners Circle, 888-2946

MASTER CLASSES AND LECTURES

Free and open to the public

Classes with Eduardo Minozzi Costa, Hazel Ketchem, David Burke and Ken Whisler take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 16 at Missouri Western Leah Spratt Building 101 Theater. Full schedule to be determined. Go to www.missouriwestern.edu/guitarfestival for more information.