Tommy
Emmanuel

About the Festival

Guitar Art Summer Fest (GASF) is an international guitar festival held in Herceg Novi, Montenegro, since 2006. Founded by the distinguished guitarist and educator Boško Radojković, the festival emerged as a coastal counterpart to the Belgrade Guitar Art Festival. Over two decades of existence, GASF has established itself as one of the most important cultural symbols of Herceg Novi, bringing a high-quality music programme to iconic historic open-air locations, including the Kanli Kula and Forte Mare fortresses, Trg od muzike in the Old Town, as well as the House of Nobel laureate Ivo Andrić.

Since its first edition, GASF has held more than a hundred concerts with performers from over forty countries, placing Herceg Novi permanently on the map of global guitar artistry. The most prominent names from the regional and world music scenes in the fields of classical, acoustic, jazz, pop, flamenco and fado have performed on the Herceg Novi stages, and among them stand out names such as: Tommy Emmanuel, Luz Casal, Dulce Pontes, George Dalaras, Costas Cotsiolis, Miloš Karadaglić, Zoran Dukić, Vlatko Stefanovski, Amira Medunjanin and many other esteemed artists.

Guitar Art Summer Fest operates as a complex cultural system that encompasses not only concert activities, but also combines music, education and visual art. In addition to the main performance programme, the backbone of the festival is the project Guitar Integrations, within which leading guitar professors from around the world work directly with young Montenegrin musicians through masterclasses. The festival's visual segment, Guitar Art Visual, presents works by renowned visual artists every year. The programme concept also includes all-day activities such as Herceg Novi Guitar Day, an event that promotes the guitar at locations throughout the city with the recognisable ten-metre-high guitar installation, while informal exchange of experience and knowledge traditionally takes place during the evening Midnight Guitar Art Café gatherings.

A significant step forward in the festival's development will come in 2026, as the XI ASEGA conference, titled SEGEX, will also be held as part of Guitar Art Summer Fest, bringing together representatives of guitar and guitar orchestras from 11 countries in South-East Europe. The gathering will culminate in a grand Record-Breaking Concert, featuring over 250 guitarists who will play hits of classical and popular music together at Škver in Herceg Novi.

The long-standing continuity and quality of Guitar Art Summer Fest are the result of systematic support from the highest institutions. The festival is held under the patronage of the Municipality of Herceg Novi, the Herceg Novi Tourist Organisation and the Ministry of Culture and Media of Montenegro. The project is also continuously supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, the embassies of participating countries, as well as numerous cultural centres. Successful cooperation with the private sector and renowned companies points to the festival's stable integration into the wider social and economic framework, making it an indispensable point of cultural tourism in the region.