Concerts with works by

Federico Mompou

Sean Shibe, guitar

There is nothing boring about Sean Shibe. The Scottish guitarist had demonstrated early on in his career that he not only has extremely agile fingers, but also a keen sense of programme combinations. He makes old and brand-new music, electronic and acoustic, loud and soft come together. The supposed showpieces on the classical guitar are of little interest to him; he prefers searching for particular, even unknown pieces, makes his own arrangements or commissions new works. As a result, he had already attracted attention as a »Rising Star« at the Elbphilharmonie in January 2024 – he now returns with a new genre-busting programme. Centuries old, Scottish lute pieces encounter Spanish and Latin American guitar music of the 20th century here: while Alberto Ginastera only wrote the one, but all the more splendid, guitar sonata, Heitor Villa-Lobos played guitar himself and as a result dedicated several pieces to the instrument, which now rank among the favourites of many guitarists. After the interval, Sean Shibe switches to electric guitar and turns up his volume control slightly further again: besides music by the medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen, you can hear »Lad« by Julia Wolfe. Originally composed for entirely new (!) bagpipes, Sean Shibe has already created his own version for his album »softLOUD«, which brings early Scottish lute music full circle.