Ticket holders for this event can see George Tarlton at 6.30pm on Sat 17 Jul for free.

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The first half of the concert features Tom Kerstens’ G Plus Ensemble playing premieres of new IGF commissions:  Léo Brouwer: La Sonrisa del Griot and Laura Snowden: Into the Light and work by Anna Meredith and Max Richter.

The second half of this concert features guitarists Laura Snowden and Eleanor Kelly playing works by women composers, including Laura Snowden’s own works and a new IGF commission, Finding The Way by Florence Anna Maunders.

Hailed a ‘string sensation’ by BBC Music Magazine, British-French guitarist and composer Laura Snowden is acclaimed for her ‘poise and intensity’. Laura studied with Julian Bream and gave two of the Bream Trust recitals at Wigmore Hall, premiering his latest commissions; this led to international recognition and festival debuts across Europe and the US.

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 (IGF), and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Hong Kong Radio 4.
Laura is a double IGF Young Artist Platform awardee and laureate of IGF’s London International Guitar Competition.

Young Artist Platform: Eleanor Kelly (1995) is a student of the prestigious Máster en Interpretación Guitarra Clásica course in Alicante, Spain, studying with the world’s foremost teachers and performers. Eleanor is an advocate of women in music and in 2019 gave the UK premiere of Claudia Montero’s Latin Grammy award-winning Luces y Sombras with the Woodside String Quartet.

Tom Kerstens is a major figure in the guitar world. He is highly regarded as a versatile performer on modern and period instruments and is an influential champion of the guitar in his roles as player, recording artist and artistic director. He was chosen in Classic FM’s list of the ‘100 best classical artists’ and ‘Five best guitarists world-wide’ whilst hailed as a ‘refreshing musical explorer’. He has commissioned 98 works for IGF in the past 20 years. His G Plus Ensemble consists of one or two guitars, string quartet and percussion and is exclusively dedicated to new music.

‘Tom Kerstens is in a rather different league…he manages to make the guitar sound like a harp, a human voice or even a whole orchestra…his interpretations continue to amaze… Vivid, colourful guitar playing.’ BBC Radio 3