Guildford Guitar Day
Saturday 5 March
£45 day ticket, £30 students
To book a day ticket please contact the Festival Box Office on 01483 444 334
The Guitar day has become one of the highlights of the Festival and we are delighted that these outstanding artists - from rising stars to superstars - have agreed to be part of the festival's opening celebrations.
This is a real chance to listen to supreme musicians and watch their techniques at close quarters in two of Guildford's atmospheric and intimate venues.
Tickets for individual events are now onsale. Individual events can be booked online by clicking on the 'Book Online' icon next to each event.
Supported by:
Featuring...
Tom Ellis and Laura Snowden guitar duo
University of Surrey PATS Studio One, 1pm
£12
Beethoven Variations on Quant’ è più bello
Brouwer Micropiezas
Lhoyer Duo Concertant, Op 31, No3
Colin Downs Letras de Humo, 1st performance
Brahms Theme and Variations from String Sextet, Op 18
Tom Ellis and Laura Snowden, currently students at the Royal College of Music, were the first guitarists to attend the Yehudi Menuhin School under a bursary scheme funded by the Rolling Stones. Their guitar teacher, then as now, is Richard Wright. During their time at the Menuhin School they took part in numerous concerts as soloists and chamber musicians and also formed their duo partnership. At the 2007 Guildford International Festival they gave a concert of chamber music for guitar and strings with a group of fellow YMS pupils. As a duo they have appeared at Kings Place, the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, the Chacombe and Deal Festivals and the Royal College of Music’s Britten Theatre. In March 2008 they were the guest artists at the National Youth Guitar Ensemble’s annual concert at London’s Bolivar Hall.
In April 2006, aged just 16, Tom gave the first performance of Stephen Goss’s Frozen Music for guitar and string trio in a concert at the Menuhin Hall. This was followed by its London premiere at the Wigmore Hall and its first commercial recording. He subsequently played Vivaldi’s D major Concerto with the Menuhin School orchestra and, in November 2008, performed Manuel de Falla’s Seven Spanish Songs with international soprano Rosalind Plowright at a concert for the Prince’s Trust. Since joining the Royal College in September 2009, he has played electric guitar with the RCM Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Jurowski, been a prize winner in the Ivor Mairants Competition, given a recital for the European Guitar Teachers Association and played in the Cadogan Hall's 'RCM Rising Stars' concert series. In February 2011 he is to give two solo recitals in Italy . Tom is an equally accomplished rock guitarist and singer-songwriter.
While still at the Menuhin School , Laura performed with Angela Malsbury, principal clarinettist of the London Mozart Players, as well as making solo appearances at the Wigmore Hall, the Royal Academy of Arts and a conference of 60 European education ministers. She won the annual guitar prize in her first year at the Royal College of Music and took part in the RCM’s String Player of the Year competition at the Cadogan Hall. More recently, Laura was the UK winner of the Lions Clubs annual music competition and the runner-up in the European final. She has given recitals at the York Guitar Festival and the European Guitar Teachers Association’s annual conference. Laura is also a gifted composer. Her Five Impressions for violin and guitar was commissioned by the Deal Festival and premiered there in July 2010 by Hun-Ouk Park and Tom Ellis. In July 2008 her ballet score Triskele was performed at Sadlers Wells by the Yehudi Menuhin School Orchestra, and danced to by students of the Royal Ballet School . In 2007, she wrote a song for the charity ‘Voices for Hospices’ which was performed at over 300 simultaneous concerts in 60 countries.
John Williams in Conversation
University of Surrey PATS Studio One, 2.15pm
£9 or £32 joint ticket with concert
We are privileged to have this superstar of the classical music world talk to us about his life
as an international musician, the demands, challenges and rewards. Please note seating
for this event is limited to 200, so do book early.
ChromaDuo
Tracy Anne Smith & Rob MacDonald guitars
University of Surrey, PATS Studio One, 4pm
£12
Rob MacDonald is ‘…a Canadian guitar visionary,’ Minor 7th Magazine
Tracy Anne Smith ‘One hell of a guitarist - and more importantly a top-class musician.’ Festival 21 Blog
ChromaDuo visit the Festival from Canada, making their UK debut, to present some of today’s most evocative, lyrical,
and exhilarating music. They have a refreshing way of putting programmes together to highlight works by some of the most exciting living composers of our time. This exceptional Festival programme includes world premieres of works
by Welsh composer Stephen Goss, Christopher William Pierce from USA and the Parisian composer Roland Dyens, who also flies in to join us for this celebratory Guitar Day.
John Williams in Concert
Holy Trinity Church, Guildford, 7.30pm
£25 or £32 joint ticket with talk
Villa Lobos Five Preludes
Brouwer El Decameron Negro
Bebey O Bia
Williams From a Bird (Nos. 1, 2 and 3)
Williams Hello Francis
Mangoré La Catedral
The Festival has developed a special relationship with John Williams through his sell-out performances in 2007
and 2009. This year he returns to give a solo performance in the atmospheric setting of Holy Trinity Church with
a lovely programme of works by composers who really understand the sensitivity of the guitar, as well as giving
us two of his own compositions. Take this chance to see one of the world’s greatest guitarists play in this
acoustically intimate setting.
About Guildford International Music Festival
Guildford International Music Festival is a non-profit making enterprise, organised and promoted by the University of Surrey in collaboration with Guildford Borough Council.
Festival Artistic Director: Pauline Johnson
Festival Committee Chairman: Councillor Jennifer Powell
Festival Executive Director: Patricia Grayburn
For further information, please contact the Festival Director.
Presented by Guildford Borough Council and The University of Surrey Department of Music and Sound Recording and Arts Office.
