JOHN GILLIAT

John has dedicated himself to a fiery, world beat fusion of Rumba Flamenco and Latin Jazz.This Westcoast Music Award Nominee has toured throughout North America and Japan. Performance highlights include representing Canada at Japan's 2005 Expo, performing at Canada's 2010 Winter Olympics and performing for Canada's former Prime Minister Jean Chretien. John's recordings have been used for radio, documentaries, TV and film in North America, Japan, Ireland and the UK.

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In 1995, John won "Best Acoustic Guitar Performance" in the Music West Star Frets Competition. He won Vancouver's Unplugged Competition in 1996, in 1997 he became a finalist in Vancouver's Global Star Quest and in 2009 competed at the Montreal Jazz Festival winning the Grand Prize at the BOSS Loop Station 2009 Championship National Finals.

As an electric and acoustic 'guitarist for hire', John performed with the Vancouver Playhouse, Hinder, Jimmy D.Lane, Ben Woods, Tomas Michaud, Itamar Erez, Radio Europe, Alyssa Nielsen, Gypsalero and opened for such notable artists as Cirque du Soleil, Mae Moore, and acoustic guitar masters Strunz and Farah.

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"John Gilliat doesn't hail from sunny Spain but he plays a mean flamenco guitar"

Janice Foster - The Langley Times

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“The style is called "nouveau flamenco" and Langley acoustic guitarist John Gilliat is blazingly good at it. Light a candle, pour some camomile and don't wonder how he moves his hands so fast or you'll just stress.

 John P. McLaughlin - The Vancouver Province