SANDPOINT — The world-class concerts in this series take place in venues located in Spokane and Post Falls. The inspiration behind them, however, is rooted deeply in Sandpoint.

For the fourth year in a row, internationally renowned classical guitarist Leon Atkinson has put together a slate of exceptional musicians for his Friends of the Guitar Hour concert series. As the originator and host of the KPBX-FM public radio program and the nonprofit organization that go by the same name, Atkinson has been keeping classical guitar and those who play it professionally front and center for the past 26 years.

“I had the records and I knew the artists,” he said when asked how the concept for the radio show came about.

That last asset — knowing the artists — has been the catalyst for what has become an overwhelmingly successful concert series. By the end of this season’s offerings, Atkinson will have been directly responsible for putting a total of 15 highly regarded classical guitarists on sage in the Inland Empire.

The first concert was earlier this month at Holy Names Music Center in Spokane, featuring a double bill of Mak Grgic and Adam del Monte.

“I first ran into Mak when he was in his teens and The Festival at Sandpoint was doing outreach to high schools,” Atkinson said. “I told my students at the time, ‘I met this guy and he’s going to be great.’”

Both guitarists played together the following year on the Festival stage as part of a guitar quartet that performed with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra.

“We’ve since become good friends,” said Atkinson. “And he’s become an international star. In fact, he’s up for a Grammy.”

Grgic was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, and studied guitar in Zagreb with the revered Ante Cagalj at the Elly Basic Conservatory of Music and obtained his bachelor’s degree with Alvaro Pierri at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. He finished his doctoral degree at the USC Thornton School of Music and this year begins an artist diploma program at USC, where he is the first guitarist in the university’s history to receive such an honor.

Sharing the stage with Grgic will be flamenco guitarist Adam del Monte, who has managed to attract the collective ear of the classical guitar world, as well.

“I heard him 14 years ago, when he was the winner of the Guitar Foundation of America,” Atkinson shared. “And it’s very rare for a flamenco guitarist to win a classical competition.”

The two musicians promise a night of innovative exploration in their duet segments, but Atkinson insisted that they also include solo turns in the opening concert of the series.

“They’re both amazing and they each bring a certain personality to their solo playing,” he said.

Just as in previous years, the series presents a combination of international touring artists, up-and-coming players and female classical guitarists in the mix.

“I feel that females have been neglected in the classical guitar world,” said Atkinson, who has presented Elizabeth Brown and Martha Masters in past years and will showcase Chaconne Klaverenga this coming April. “There are a lot of great ones out there who deserve recognition.”

Along with his own career as a touring artist and educator who founded the guitar programs at Whitworth College, Gonzaga and Eastern Washington universities and North Idaho College, the guitarist has emerged as one of the most active impresarios of classical guitar music, no matter the location.

“I’ve been presenting concerts for 40 years — from Carnegie Hall to all over,” he said.

In an earlier chapter of life, Atkinson was found performing on that famous New York City stage, as well as one of his favorite venues, Town Hall Theatre in New York. The lead up to those notable shows could not have been more impressive. By the time he was in his teens, the young guitarist had studied with Andres Segovia, become accepted into the incredibly tight circle of studio musicians in New York City and, eventually, hit the “first call” list of musicians in the pit orchestras for hit Broadway musicals.

With so much notoriety at such an early age, did he ever think he would — a few decades down the line — spend so much time teaching and promoting other players? He laughs at the question.

“My ego was so huge when I was young that I said, ‘I’m going to be the best guitar player in the world by the time I’m 21,” he answered. “Well, 21 came and went and I learned that there’s always someone better, someone younger, coming up in the classical guitar world.”

The topic of youth brings about the observation that, compared with the previous three years’ series lineups, there is less white hair and more fresh, young faces on the poster this season. As a lifelong proponent of the art form, Atkinson allows as to having a selfish motive for the youthful presence on stage.

“If we don’t lean strongly toward the young people to continue the growth and the path of classical guitar, it’s not going to happen,” he said.

For his part, the guitarist has the luxury of looking back on a career as performing artist, master educator and concert promoter while still being very much in the midst of the action. The artists he attracts to the concert series are eager to take part, not just because of what Atkinson has accomplished in the past, but also because he is still a force to be reckoned with as an active classical guitarist.

And for that, he is thankful.

“I’m so grateful that my hands still work,” he said.

Upcoming concerts include Larry Almeida on Jan. 11, at the Jacklin Arts and Cultural Center in Post Falls, and Chaconne Klaverenga on April 12, also at the Jacklin Arts and Cultural Center.

Atkinson’s public radio program, The Guitar Hour, airs on Thursdays from 11 a.m.-noon on Spokane Public Radio, KPBX, located at 101.7 on the FM dial for Sandpoint-area listeners.

For more information on the nonprofit associated with the guitarist, go online to facebook.com/friendsoftheguitarhour.