Vojin Kocić and Julia Wenzel at the Kaltenberg Castle in Geltendorf, Germany

Our collaboration with our friends from D'Addario has brought us some new on-location videos! This time, we've had the pleasure of recording Serbian/Swiss classical guitarist Vojin Kocić performing on a guitar made by Julia Wenzel. Julia also recorded a great video in which she discusses her guitar building as well as her newest instrument made for GSI.

The location for the video shoot was chosen by Julia. It's the Kaltenberg Castle in Geltendorf, Germany (in upper Bavaria). It was initially built in 1292, but throughout the centuries it was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times. Since 1870, a part of the royal brewery has been housed in this castle. It belongs now to Prince Luitpold of Bavaria.

Vojin Kocić is a classical guitarist and a D'Addario artist. In 2017 and 2018, Vojin won two prestigious competitions - the International Guitar Festival and Competition in Heinsberg, Germany, and the 51st Concorso Internazionale di Chitarra Classica “Michele Pittaluga” in Alessandria, Italy. Following these events, he recorded two albums for NAXOS Records and gave concerts in renowned venues.

Julia Wenzel found out relatively late about her true passion - building guitars. At the age of 25, she decided to build a cedarwood canoe - while doing so she realized her magnificent talent in woodworking. During the process of building the canoe, she somehow realized there was a similarity to how one would build a lute or guitar. Attracted to guitars all her life, she knew that to learn the technical details of the craft properly, she would need to study at the "Instrumentenbauschule Mittenwald" - a three-year commitment, which she did, and ended up graduating at the top of her class. Six years later she completed her Master of Crafts Examination in Munich. Julia also befriended Florian Blochinger, and they built 4 guitars together in an apprenticeship in Munich. She has also had the great fortune to receive advice from Florian's father, the great luthier Edmund Blöchinger. After several years of working at her craft, Julia Wenzel was awarded second prize at the prestigious Antonio Marin Montero Guitar Making Competition held in Granada, Spain in October 2017.

Check out the videos below!

Videography by Karl Epp.