Antonio Forcione
Antonio Forcione is an artist in every sense of the word, hailed as one of the most charismatic, unconventional guitarists at large in the musical world today. With a host of international awards under his belt, this eclectic composer never ceases to stun his audience on stage, leading him to be referred to as the ‘Jimie Hendrix of the acoustic guitar”. His solo performances never fail to bring the house down.
Karlijn Langedijk
Karlijn has shared the stage with musicians like Tommy Emmanuel and Peter Finger, and has toured in Europe, China and India. Karlijn graduated from the Conservatory in Utrecht (NL) and finished her master studies in “Acoustic Guitar” at the Hochschule für Musik in Dresden (DE). Karlijn cofounded MusiSHEans a community to support and empower female musicians. Karlijn won the first prize and the audience prize at the “SAI Acoustic Guitar Competition” in the Czech Republic and played in the finals of the “Acoustic Guitarist of the Year 2018” competition in London.
Thomas Leeb
Thomas is a frequent performer at concerts and festivals in Asia, the Americas, and Europe, and has been featured in numerous guitar magazines around the world. His album, Desert Pirate, was voted one of the essential albums of the last 20 years by Acoustic Guitar Magazine. His peculiar guitar style owes as much to percussive techniques as traditional fingerstyle guitar. His ‘boot camps’ have proven to be very popular and his performances dazzling.
Chris Woods Groove Orchestra
When Google book an artist for their event, someone described as ‘changing the perceived boundaries of the acoustic guitar’, you know you aren’t talking about your average musician. A Guitar explorer and innovative collaborator, Chris, uses every inch of the guitar to create an inspirational sound in a diverse mix of lineups which he will bring to our festival. Chris is an endorsee of Elixir Strings and we are very grateful to them as our main festival sponsor
Tristan Seume
Acclaimed as one of the UK’s leading acoustic guitarists, Tristan has toured all over Europe both as a soloist and a sought-after accompanist. His solo recordings, You Just Know, Middle Child and Handpicked From the Eighties, mix handcrafted originals with beautiful interpretations of traditional and contemporary tunes. An experienced and enthusiastic educator, his CV includes countless contributions to some of the UK’s best-selling guitar magazines; Guitar Techniques, Total Guitar, Acoustic, and notably, over 130 consecutive monthly guitar tutorials spanning more than a decade of issues of Guitarist Magazine.
Eva Atmatzidou
Eva is the first modern fingerstyle acoustic guitarist and composer from Greece signed with the leading fingerstyle American record label Candy Rat. Eva has a special interest in the History of Art and has studied Composing Music At Theatre, at the National Theatre of Greece, focused on more experimental and avant-garde ways of composing. In her fingerstyle acoustic guitar playing and composing this knowledge gets in dialogue with the “real music life” and experience of an on stage performing musician. Eva has also studied Psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a focus on Educational and Developmental Psychology.
Sandro Norton
Sandro is a Portuguese contemporary jazz and world music guitarist, composer and educator. Sandro’s percussive guitar skill reaches new heights and his heart-felt music transcends culture and time worldwide. Sandro is Fretmonkey’s International Relations & European Manager and director of the Atlantic Music Performance Institute (AMPI) in Lisbon. Sandro tours extensively and works with renowned musicians worldwide.
Rodney Branigan
Americana Folk Roots with virtuoso presentation, with a touch of clean comedy thrown in for good measure. Rodney’s style is trademarked as ‘Full Contact Folk Music’. The Texas-born troubadour who learned to play in Austin, perform in Los Angeles, craft songs in Nashville, and put it all together in London has played all types of music in all types of venues in his storied career. His adventurous, boundary breaking guitar playing (sometimes at the same time) earning him the title “The Two Guitar Man” has led to performance across America, India, Africa and Europe.
Will McNicol
Will is the Guitarist Magazine’s UK Acoustic Guitarist of the Year (2011) and one of Acoustic Guitar Magazine’s 30 Great Guitarists Under 30 from around the world (2014). He holds Associate, Licentiate and Fellowship diplomas with Trinity College London in Classical Guitar Recital and has released four critically acclaimed albums of original material. He has supported world-renowned artists such as Pierre Bensusan, Clive Carroll, Jon Gomm, Martin Simpson and Mumford and Sons.
Kimwei
Kimwei is a contemporary fingerstyle guitarist, songwriter and spoke word artiste based in Exeter, Devon where our festival is held. Kimwei is the Grand Bard of Exeter and a Masters degree lecturer in music for AMSonline. Kimwei has been described as an inventive and expressive guitar player who uses every available part of the guitar. Kimwei was featured in three episodes of Sky TV’s Guitar Star series 1 and had her music played on numerous TV and radio channels.
Blake Goodwin
Kevin “Blake” Goodwin is a modern percussive fingerstyle guitar player from Conway, Arkansas USA. He won the 2015 Canadian Fingerstyle Guitar competition, and won the 2016 Acoustic Guitar Wars Competition in San Antonio, TX. He is the founder of FretMonkey Records and a renowned metal acoustic and electric fingerstyle guitar player.
Kevin Harding
Kevin is a composer and fingerstyle guitarist from Devon in the UK who has performed to sell-out shows such as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and renowned Yardbird Club. Kevin is the founder of The Academy of Music & Sound (including AMSonline music degrees) and was a regular columnist for Acoustic Magazine featuring his guitar compositions and arrangements for acoustic guitar. Kevin was recently signed to Universal Music for his guitar, piano and orchestral library music compositions. As a local guitarist and co-organiser of the festival, Kevin performed during the opening lunchtime slot some of the tracks from his new album ‘Folklore’.