Karl Wohlwend, Guitarist

Guitarist Karl Wohlwend performs across North America, Europe, and Asia in various styles and settings. He is currently on the faculty of The Ohio State University where he launched the guitar department in 2023. He received the 2025 Music Educator Award from the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and was a guest lecturer on the Guitar Foundation of America’s 2025 Symposium for Guitar Scholars. Wohlwend also served on the faculties of Capital University, Otterbein University, and Ohio Wesleyan University. He served on the faculty of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music’s Classical Guitar Workshop since 1996. Wohlwend holds a master’s degree in classical guitar performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music where he studied with John Holmquist. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of South Carolina, where he studied with Christopher Berg. Wohlwend coordinated the jazz/improvisation program for the Chamber Music Connection 2008-2012. He was twice featured as concerto soloist with the Westerville Symphony Orchestra, most recently in 2019 for the rarely-performed Concierto del Sur of Manuel Ponce. Wohlwend accompanied mandolinist, Carlos Aonzo, completed a week-long residency with New York’s avant-garde ensemble, Alarm Will Sound, toured with Grammy-winning countertenor, Ian Howell including an appearance on Ravinia’s Rising Stars series. He performed with the Flamenco Company of Columbus including at the Chautaaqua Festival and with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. He played with clarinet legend Richard Stolzman and the Lancaster Festival Orchestra on stage and for their debut recording, Ragomania. He is a current and founding member of Gruviera Armonico, a mandolin and guitar duo, alongside collaborator Eugene Braig. Wohlwend is a two-time recipient of the Greater Columbus Arts Council’s Funds for Artists. The Outer Banks (NC) Forum for the Lively Arts hailed his “extraordinary talent,” and the Washington, DC Guitar Society praised his “command of technique, beautiful tone, and sensitive musicianship.” Wohlwend’s second solo CD, Out of Italy, features the only recording of M.A. Zani de Ferranti’s opus 11 Capricci. Wohlwend’s projects of 5-course baroque guitar music, Passacaglie, and Sonate, comprise the first-ever recordings of the entire 1640 publication of Angiol Michele Bartolotti. This landmark work includes a 90-minute cycle of 24 passacaglias, a chaconne, six suites, and a setting of las folias. Wohlwend also appears on dozens of other recordings, including eight CDs with the Irish bands Knot Fibb’n, Two2Many, and Dogwood Road. He recorded with lauded flautist, Kimberlee Goodman, in the EOS Duo, premiering Garrett Ian Shatzer’s The Frame. With Stanley Yates, he recorded two volumes of Guitaromanie, including premier recordings of arrangements and compositions by notable 19^th century composer Ferdinando Carulli.