Laura Snowden (born 18 May 1989) is a British-French classical guitarist and composer. She is widely regarded as one of the leading classical guitarists of her generation since being handpicked by

Julian Bream Julian Alexander Bream (15 July 193314 August 2020) was an English classical guitarist and lutenist. Regarded as one of the most distinguished classical guitarists of the 20th century, he played a significant role in improving the public perc ...

to continue his legacy of performing new commissions by leading contemporary composers, including

Julian Anderson Julian Anderson (born 6 April 1967) is a British composer and teacher of composition. Biography Anderson was born in London. He studied at Westminster School, then with John Lambert at the Royal College of Music, with Alexander Goehr at Cambr ...

and

Olli Mustonen Olli Mustonen (born 7 June 1967) is a Finnish pianist, conductor, and composer. Biography Mustonen studied harpsichord and piano from the age of five with Ralf Gothóni and then Eero Heinonen. He studied composition with Einojuhani Rautavaar ...

Education

Snowden was educated at the

Yehudi Menuhin School The Yehudi Menuhin School is a specialist music school in Stoke d'Abernon, Surrey, England, founded in 1963 by violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin. The current director of music is the British classical pianist Ashley Wass. The school is one ...

where she studied guitar with Richard Wright, she was the first guitarist to graduate from the Menuhin School. Following this she studied at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with Wright and Gary Ryan.

Professional career

Snowden's 2015

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

debut was highly praised by critics; Graham Wade, writing in Classical Guitar Magazine stated - "Snowden is not only an excellent guitarist who is technically virtuosic, but also a true musician whose interpretative capabilities are profound and exciting." Erica Jeal, writing in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, noted how Snowden "held the Wigmore Hall rapt with a performance of unassuming poise and intensity" She made her US debut in 2019 at the 27th Long Island Guitar Festival and her Asian debut at the 2017 Altamira Hong Kong International Guitar Symposium and Competition. In 2019 she made her Irish debut at the

Farmleigh Farmleigh is the official Irish state guest house. It was formerly one of the Dublin residences of the Guinness family. It is situated on an elevated position above the River Liffey to the northwest of the Phoenix Park, in Castleknock. The est ...

Music and Arts Festival at the invitation of composer/guitarist Dave Flynn. In 2020 Tonebase released a performance video of Snowden's interpretation of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

Nocturnal Nocturnality is a ethology, behavior in some non-human animals characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal", versus diurnality, diurnal meaning the opposite. Nocturnal creatur ...

, recorded at Britten's former home, the Red House in

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the English county, county of Suffolk, England, north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the comp ...

. Snowden performs in the folk group Tir Eolas, who were invited by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (November 15, 2022)Classic Connection review, ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who w ...

to perform at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. Snowden is also an award-winning composer whose work has been commissioned and performed internationally and featured on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

Awards

A scholar of the Julian Bream Trust, Snowden's awards include; *

Guitar Prize *2012 Ligita International Guitar Duo Competition (with Tom Ellis) *2014

Ivor Mairants Ivor Mairants (18 July 1908 – 20 February 1998) was a Polish jazz and classical guitarist, teacher and composer. With his wife Lily Schneider in 1958 he created the Ivor Mairants Musicentre, a specialist guitar store in London. Early years ...

Guitar Award *2015 Alienor International Harpsichord Composition Competition Award *Volos International Guitar Composition Competition, First Prize

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snowden, Laura Living people Alumni of the Royal College of Music British classical guitarists Women classical guitarists British women guitarists 21st-century British guitarists 21st-century British women musicians 21st-century women guitarists 1989 births