2015 Peter Tsiorba SP/KO

Peter Tsiorba grew up in the Soviet Union - Uzbekistan - which is now an independent Central Asian country, situated along the ancient silk and spice trade route. As Peter himself says East and West, Asia, Mediterranean and Europe spiced and flavored the music, art, culinary and culture of the region. As a young boy he took piano lessons at a local music school but by the age of 12 had become fascinated with the guitar. He credits having seen a 1970's Manuel Contreras flamenco guitar in the late 1990's which was his first experience of handling a traditional, handmade Spanish guitar, and he was immediately taken by its superior sound qualities and inspired to learn more, which led him to get his hands on all published literature he could find in bookstores, libraries and the internet. At this time, he and his spouse moved to teach at a Czech school in the outskirts of Prague. During that year, Peter traveled extensively on the continent visiting luthier shops wherever he went, including Spain, Italy, France, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovenia. He also credits the GAL (Guild of American Luthiers ) as being a tremendous resource, and platform for connecting with many other luthiers from around the world. Then after relocating to the United States, he set-up his first tiny shop in Keene, New Hampshire where he built his first guitar in 2001. About half a dozen guitars later, Peter moved yet again to Portland, Oregon (where he remains to this day) and has been building ever since.