New players. New music. New experiences

The 18th edition of IGF’s London Guitar Festival brings you a wonderful series of concerts by major international artists and young artists making their debuts, new commissions, the Final of London International Guitar Competition 2021, and plenty of workshops, foyer events and lectures.

The guitar is unique in its appeal to people of all ages, musical tastes and economic means; immerse yourself in that most colourful and versatile of instruments: the guitar.

This year’s breathtaking line-up includes new Flamenco sensation Dani de Morón, appearing with the acclaimed Flamenco dancer Patricia Guerrero; the extraordinary Sean Shibe performs works on both classical and electric guitar; and the renowned classical guitarist Ana Vidovic headlines the Big Night of the Guitar on Saturday 23 October, which also features last year’s London International Guitar Competition 2020 winner, the supremely talented Singaporean Kevin Loh. On Thursday 21 October, my own G Plus Ensemble will play a programme of new IGF commissions including works by Léo Brouwer and Laura Snowden as well as premières by Joe Cutler and Howard Skempton.

We also celebrate La Leona, Women and the Guitar with new IGF commissions by women composers Effy and Litha Efthymiou, Atefeh Einali, Sun Keting, Florence Anna Maunders, Bethan Morgan-Williams, Electra Perivolaris and Sarah Lianne Lewis and a Panel Discussion led by Thérèse Wassily Saba on Sunday 24 October.

Young artists are as always at the heart of IGF’s work and we especially welcome performances from six exceptional young artists, all international competition winners, who are coming from all over Europe to London as part of the EU-funded EuroStrings Project. In addition, we present our own wonderful performers from our Young Artist Platform.

Finally, don’t forget to bring your guitar and take part yourself in our workshops and masterclasses with Ana Vidovic, Sean Shibe and Dani de Morón and much more!

Tom Kerstens

Artistic Director