“STRING SENSATION” -BBC Music Magazine

“CLASSICAL GUITAR’S NEW CHAMPION” – Strings, Classical Music Magazine

“A POIGNANT, MESMERISING SHOW…HELD THE WIGMORE HALL RAPT” – The Guardian

“A TRUE MUSICIAN WHOSE INTERPRETATIVE CAPABILITIES ARE PROFOUND AND EXCITING” -Classical Guitar Magazine

 

A special recital by internationally-renowned guitarist Laura Snowden, as part of the Music Flood partnership. Laura will be working with students at Radley College and Radley Primary School this week, and this recital will include refreshments and a collection in aid of the Friends of Radley Primary School.

Biography

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 the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester.

 

As a composer, Laura’s music has been performed at Royal Albert Hall, Wigmore Hall and Sadlers Wells, commissioned by the Birmingham Symphony Hall, International Guitar Foundation, New York Guitar Festival and the Park Lane Group, and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Hong Kong Radio 4. Her work has been recorded for BGS Records, Rubicon Classics and Centaur Records, and her exam pieces are published by ABRSM, London College of Music and Rockschool/Hal Leonard.

Described by Classical Guitar Magazine as ‘linking guitar’s past, present and future’, Laura’s eclectic musical output has ranged from playing on Lorne Balfe’s sountrack for Marvel film Black Widow to recording Lisa Streich’s guitar concerto Augenlider with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.; she has also given dozens of world premieres by composers including Julian Anderson, Errollyn Wallen and Olli Mustonen.

 

Laura has 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’s Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the invitation of John Williams. Other collaborations include creating and recording guitar arrangements for Noah and the Whale frontman Charlie Fink’s album Cover My Tracks, and recording a new work for voice and guitar by Josephine Stephenson on the debut album by acclaimed soprano Héloïse Werner.

 

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, Yale University, the Purcell School, Brussels Conservatoire, Arizona State University, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Mannes School of Music and Manhattan School of Music. She currently teaches at the Royal College of Music Junior Department.

 

Laura is gratefully supported by Help Musicians and plays a guitar made by Christopher Dean.