He played at various festivals : Festival 'C'est pas classique' in Nice, 'Festival Des Vents' in Morières Les Avignon, 'Musiques à Pontorson', 'Guitares du Cotentin', 'Randobaie du Mont St Michel'... as well as on different regional and national venue, which resulted in musical meetings with high quality artists like Per-Olov KINDGREN, a Swedish guitarist with international fame, or the English flautist Jennifer STINTON, considered one of the best of her generation, with whom he founded the DUO ARISTON.
2017 was a year rich in awards: he won 1st Prize at the International Competition InterArtia, in the category 'Classical Guitar', for his entire body of work, and won 1st Prize at the Greek International Composition Competition 'Kithara' for his bossa-nova 'Nin-Nin' (the piece had been published earlier in the year in the American magazine 'Classical Guitar’). Finally, he won the award for 'Artist of the Year 2017' in the 'Classical guitar' and 'Musical composition' categories, which he received from the 'International Art Society', as part of the 35th International Guitar Festival in Volos, Greece. All these awards allow him to be recognized as an Honorary Member of the International Art Academy,
Success continues in 2018 with Damien winning for the second time in a row 1st Prize for best composition at the Greek International Competition ‘Kithara’, with his bossa nova piece ‘Chouttis’, soon to be published by Editions Soldano. Then, he became an Official Partner and Honorary Founding Member of World Guitar Day, supported by UNESCO.
In 2022, he wrote "Fly Me to Volos" dedicated to the Volos World Guitar Orchestra as well as Yorgos Foudoulis who conducts it. This work becomes the official anthem of World Guitar Day, played around the world by hundreds of partners on October 18, the official day of the celebration. He receives the distinction of exceptional and distinguished Honorary Member of the Volos World Guitar Orchestra in recognition, as well as the prestigious Title of Ambassador of the World Guitar Day in France, delivered by UNESCO, International Art Academy and World Guitar Organization.
He currently teaches classical guitar at ‘Ecole des Arts’ of Avranches-Mont Saint Michel (France) and plays on hand-crafted 'Damien ARIBERT signature' concert guitars made by the French luthier Renaud GALABERT.
Biography
Born in 1981, Damien ARIBERT started his classical guitar studies at the age of 7, first with Evelyne LACHERET and later on with Brigitte REPITON. In 2000, he entered the ‘Ecole Nationale de Musique et de Danse (ENMD)’ in Romans sur Isère, in the class of Gilles GOGNIAT, where he obtained his degree ‘Diplôme d'Etudes Musicales (DEM)’.
From 2004 to 2006, he studied with Emmanuel ROSSFELDER (the winner of the ‘Victoires de la Musique Classique’ in 2004 and a former pupil of Alexandre LAGOYA), and obtained in 2008 his classical guitar teaching state diploma.
His very eclectic musical tastes led him to compose a variety of works, ranging from a romantic-jazz waltz for solo guitar "La Rossfelda" (Editions du Petit Page), dedicated to Emmanuel ROSSFELDER who included it in his repertoire, suite for 4 cellos in homage to the famous Finnish group "APOCALYPTICA" (Editions du Petit Page). He also approaches South American music with "Eclipse in Rio" for solo guitar (finalist of the International Spanish composition competition Fidelio 2022), "Nin-Nin" and "Chouttis", for guitar ensemble, at Editions Soldano, swing, ragtime... even developing a playing technique inspired by bassists, unreleased on classical guitar that he called "PERCUSLAP" (simultaneous combination of slap and percussion).
Recorded in 2014 at the internationally renowned studio ‘La Buissonne’ reputed for acoustic qualities, Damien Aribert's CD 'Destinations' has been recognized by the National and International specialized press.