AUSTRALIAN-born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the most exciting artists of his generation and will be performing a Spanish collection classical guitar recital at Rhosygilwen on Saturday, May 4 (8pm).

He studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of 13. He is the youngest instrumentalist to have received a Fellowship Award from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

One of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, his recordings for Virgin/EMI, Chandos, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony and Classic FM have received wide acclaim. Craig’s five Classic FM albums all shot straight to No.1 in the UK classical chart and he is one of Classic FM’s most played artists.

He has performed concertos with all the main UK orchestras plus many abroad. He regularly appears as soloist and chamber musician at major venues and collaborates with the UK’s top artists and ensembles.

Craig enjoys performing new works for guitar and gives the world premiere of a concerto written for him by Andy Scott with the Northern Chamber Orchestra in Manchester in November 2017. Composers David Knotts and Geoffrey Gordon are also writing concertos for Craig. He has presented programmes on BBC Radio 3, BBC Northern Ireland and ABC Classic FM (Australia).

He said: “I’m delighted to be returning to perform in beautiful Rhosygilwen. My programme has a Spanish leaning with works by Albeniz, Rodrigo, Granados and Sor.

“Scarlatti is an honorary Spaniard in my mind as he spent the bulk of his working life in Spain.

“Legendary Paraguayan composer Agustin Barrios Mangore is one of the most popular of all guitar composers while the music of Legnani and Coste represent a real heyday of the guitar from Vienna and Paris in the early 19th century. I hope there will be something here for everyone to enjoy.”

Tickets cost £15 and are available by calling 01239 84138 or by visiting the Rhosygilwen website.