This concert will explore the influences of Medieval and Renaissance music on twentieth-century composers, highlighting the enduring power, sensitivity and versatility of the guitar and its antecedents. The first half of my programme will have a Spanish and Hispanic-American theme, contrasting some exquisite Renaissance works composed for the vihuela with twentieth-century variations on Renaissance melodies.

 

The second half of the concert will have a Scottish theme, placing early medieval and traditional music composed for the Scottish lute alongside more contemporary works by Scottish composers, especially Thomas Wilson’s profound ‘Dreammusic’.  The whole concert embraces a variety of spiritual and cultural resonances, from Seville church bells to old Scottish folk lore, mingling new forms of guitar music with the rich and vibrant Hispanic and Celtic heritage.