Concerts

We collaborate with festival organisers and concert halls to present celebrity concerts, featuring world class guitarists. We are part of the regular programme at the Turner Sims  in Southampton, acknowledged as one of the finest music venues in the country.

Saturday, 11 September 2021

Concert with Laura Snowden

at All Saints Church, East Meon

​a John Coffey Memorial Concert at the the West Meon Music Festival, sponsored by SCGS

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Note: The organisers plan to move Laura's concert from the morning to the afternoon. Time to be confirmed

Hailed a ‘string sensation’ by BBC Music Magazine, British-French guitarist and composer Laura Snowden is acclaimed for her ‘poise and intensity’ (Guardian) and playing of ‘extraordinary depth’ (Strings, Classical Music Magazine). Laura studied with Julian Bream, during which time she gave two concerts at Wigmore Hall featuring premieres of his recent commissions. This led to international recognition and festival debuts across Europe, China and the US, as well as concerto debuts with Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and a recording of Lisa Streich’s guitar concerto Augenlider with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester. As a composer, Laura’s music has been performed at Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Sadlers Wells, commissioned by the Park Lane Group, Birmingham Symphony Hall and International Guitar Foundation, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Hong Kong Radio 4.
 
Described by Classical Guitar Magazine as ‘linking guitar’s past, present and future’, Laura’s eclectic musical output has ranged from producing arrangements for Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink to giving dozens of world premieres by composers including Julian Anderson, Errollyn Wallen and Olli Mustonen.She has also collaborated closely with her folk group Tir Eolas; after releasing their debut album Stories Sung Truths Told, the band toured numerous UK shows and festivals including Cambridge Folk Festival, Bestival and Shakespeare’s Globe at the invitation of John Williams.
 
Laura’s international concert appearances have included the Guitar Foundation of America, New York Classical Guitar Society, Long Island Guitar Festival, Upstate New York Guitar Festival, Altamira Hong Kong International Guitar Symposium, Uppsala International Guitar Festival, the Volterra Project in Italy and the Guitar and Lute Festival in Sweden. Alongside classes at various festivals and universities, she has given classes at the Royal College of Music, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Birmingham Conservatoire, Brussels Conservatoire, Mannes School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. She held the position of Assistant Guitar Teacher at the Yehudi Menuhin School between 2014 and 2020.
 
Laura was born in York to a French mother and English father, and grew up in Cornwall, Devon and Sussex with Celtic folk music. At the age of sixteen, she was awarded a scholarship to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School, following a donation from the Rolling Stones; she went on to study at the Royal College of Music. Her guitar is made by Christopher Dean.

The Festival Box Office opens in June and ticketing arrangements will be posted shortly before

Our 2020/21 concert programme

Our concert programme was suspended when COVID-19 restrictions were introduced.

But standby for a blockbuster of a restart in July 2021at the Turner Sims

and Laura Snowden in September at the West Meon Music Festival

Here's the very last gig we enjoyed before lockdown....

Saturday, 22 February 2020 8pm

Concert with Sean Sibe

Gramophone award winner 2019
TURNER SIMS Southampton

Fast establishing himself as one of the UK’s leading classical guitarists, as engaging as he is virtuosic, Sean Shibe was the first guitarist ever to become a BBC New Generation Artist. With success at the 2018 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards, where he won the Young Artist category, and a 2019 Gramophone Award for his release softLOUD, he visits Turner Sims with an intimate programme including music by Bach, Renaissance genius Dowland, and Benjamin Britten’s work composed for Julian Bream.