Welcome to London Guitar Festival 2026!

‘The 23rd edition of IGF’s London Guitar Festival brings you a wonderful series of concerts by major international artists and young artists making their debuts, plus workshops and new IGF commissions continuing IGF’s groundbreaking work with new music and new artists.

Opening the festival on 21st October, we welcome master sitar player Roopa Panesar, in concert with Gurdain Rayatt on tabla and guitarist Giuliano Modarelli, collaborating with Roopa to premiere a new work Roopa has written for sitar and guitar commissioned by IGF. Roopa is considered one of the finest sitar players to emerge on the Indian classical music scene from the UK. Embracing Indian classical music as well as jazz and Western classical, she leaves audiences captivated and peers filled with respect.
Part of IGF’s La Leona project featuring women composers and performers.

Guitarist Xuefei Yang is acclaimed as one of the world’s finest classical guitarists. Her fascinating journey began after the Cultural Revolution, a period when Western musical instruments and music were banned in China. Xuefei will also teach a masterclass on Sunday 25th October, an opportunity not to be missed!
Part of IGF’s La Leona project featuring women composers and performers.

We welcome internationally renowned multi-award-winning guitarist, Martin Taylor MBE, returning to the stage with his brand-new solo show Standards, celebrating the golden age of jazz through new arrangements of classic tunes from the Great American Songbook. Martin has a long history with IGF, first performing at IGF Bath International Guitar Festival in the 90s and returning many times since. Audiences can expect an evening of breathtaking musicianship, rich harmonies, and stories that transport you behind the music—from smoky jazz clubs to concert halls around the world.

We present two concerts by the exceptional young guitarists making their debut on our Young Artist Platform. Our La Leona programme celebrates women composers, and these exceptional young musicians will perform new pieces from IGF’s commissioning programme 2025-2026.

YAP awardees, Matilde Freiria, Fábio Fernandes, Shubbe Kabanda and Alexander Krylov will perform Freya Waley-Cohen’s Night Sky in a Stone, Laila Arafah’s afterform, Isabella Gellis’ Lullaby and Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s The Millipede is Walking.

IGF’s YAP aims to help young musicians in the critical phase between the final stages of music education and the concert platform. The programme provides much-needed performance opportunities and mentoring for young guitarists starting out in their careers, as well as the opportunity to work with a composer and premiere a new work.
Part of IGF’s La Leona project featuring women composers and performers.

Come and join us and immerse yourself in that most colourful and versatile of instruments: the guitar!’

Tom Kerstens, Artistic Director