ABOUT

John and Susie Beatty have underwritten the Beatty Music Scholarship Competition to celebrate and encourage young musicians in the Washington metropolitan area.  The classical guitar is the featured instrument class, acknowledging 100 years of strong support for this instrument in the Washington, DC area. 


In 1993 the International Conservatory of Music began the John E. Marlow Guitar Series, which brings leading international classical, jazz and flamenco guitarists to Washington, DC to perform recitals, teach classes, and give lectures and in 2007 ICM added the Beatty Competition among its list of community programs.


The Competition is held at George Washington University in Washington, DC, and is judged over three days to determine 5 scholarship winners in each of three age groups:


  1. ✦ Youth (up to 12 years old),

  2. ✦ Junior (13-15 years old), and

  3. ✦ Senior (16-18 years old),


in addition to the Grand Prize and the special Composer’s Prize. 


Application to the competition is free and all performances are open to the public with free admission.

In 2008, the Centro Cultural de la República Cabildo of Paraguay sponsored the $1,000 composer’s prize for the best performance of an Augustin Barrios (1885 – 1944, Paraguayan composer) composition.  


In 2009, the music of Venezuelan composer Antonio Lauro (1917 – 1986) was celebrated with a donation from Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.  


In 2010 the Competition highlighted the music of Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887 – 1959) through the generous donation of the composer’s prize by the Embassy of Brazil.  


In 2011, the Embassy of Mexico and the Mexican Cultural Institute sponsored the Composer prize in honor of Manuel Ponce (Mexican Composer, 1882-1948).  


In 2012, the Beatty Competition will celebrate the music of Fernando Sor (Spanish Composer, 1778-1839).


In 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Millennium Stage of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts featured the age division and composer’s prize winners of the Beatty Competition, which can be viewed  by clicking here.