Laura Snowden (classical, folk and contemporary guitar)
Laura Snowden is a British-French classical guitarist and composer. She was educated at the Yehudi Menhuin School where she studied guitar with Richard Wright and was the first guitarist to graduate from there. Following this, she studied at the Royal College of Music with Wright and Gary Ryan.
She is widely regarded as one of the leading classical guitarists of her generation since being handpicked by Julian Bream to continue his legacy of performing new commissions by leading contemporary composers, including Julian Anderson and Olli Mustonen. Snowden studied with 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 Norrköping Symphony Orchestra and Münchener Kammerorchester, and a recording of Lisa Streich’s guitar concerto ‘Augenlider’ with the Deutsches Symphonie Orchester.
A scholar of the Julian Bream Trust, Snowden’s awards include the Royal College of Music Guitar Prize; the 2012 Ligita International Guitar Duo Competition (with Tom Ellis); the 2014 Ivor Mairants Guitar Award; the 2015 Alienor International Harpsichord Composition Competition Award; and the First Prize in the Volos International Guitar Composition Competition.
As a composer, her music has been performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall and Sadlers Wells.
As a composer, her music has been performed at the Royal Albert Hall, the Wigmore Hall and Sadlers Wells. She has been commissioned by the Park Lane Group, Birmingham Symphony Hall and International Guitar Foundation, and has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio Scotland and Hong Kong Radio 4.
Snowden 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 at the invitation of John Williams
On Friday 25th August, Snowden will perform at Bantry House, in Co. Cork, as a special guest of Martin Hayes at his Masters of Tradition Festival. She previously performed at Farmleigh House in 2019, as an invited guest of composer-in-residence Dave Flynn. For this upcoming concert she will perform a programme of classical, folk, and contemporary compositions.
Getting Here
Located 5km from Centre of Dublin, in the Phoenix Park.
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