Georgia Tech welcomes international innovators for the 2025 Guthman Musical Instrument Competition

Guthman 2025 musical instruments. (Georgia Tech School of Music)

Ashish Valentine / NPR

The Guthman Musical Instrument Competition returns to Georgia Tech’s Ferst Center for the Arts this weekend as part of the Atlanta Science Festival.

Now in its 27th year, the competition welcomes inventors worldwide to share their original and exciting sound machines. Initially designed to identify the next generation of musical instrumentalists, Guthman has since become one of the nation’s premier events for music technologists.

On March 8, finalists will perform with their instruments in hopes of winning $10,000 in prizes.

Associate professor Jeff Albert is currently serving as interim chair of the School of Music at Georgia Tech and is running this year’s Guthman Competition. He joined “City Lights” managing producer Kim Drobes to discuss the instruments, the inventors and their ideas about the future of music.