Event Details

Sean Shibe is a boundary-pushing force in contemporary classical music and will play the Great Hall for the first time with a programme that traces the history of guitar music.

Placing music by contemporary composers Francisco Coll and Thomas Adès alongside works by Renaissance masters Alonso Mudarra and John Dowland, this striking programme reveals unexpected connections across five centuries ofmusic.

Sean is a Grammy-nominated guitarist, widely praised for his original programming. He is an ardent supporter of contemporary music, regularly collaborating with composers to experiment with and expand the guitar repertoire. Sean is a three-time Gramophone Award winner, former BBC New Generation Artist, recipient of the 2022 Leonard Bernstein Award, and a Professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. His latest solo album Profesión was awarded the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Award. Last year he played with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra at the 2025 BBC Proms.

Concert Programme

Alonso Mudarra

Fantasia VII and X

Joaquin Rodrigo

Trespiezasespañolas

Francisco Coll

Sefarad

John Dowland

Praeludium

Forlorn Hope

Fancy

Fantasia

Thomas Adès

Forgotten Dances, for guitar

“Shibe’s music-making is masterful, beautiful and convincing in every way”

The Times

“Sean Shibe defies expectations… a beguiling album where music of innocence and experience interlace. And where a masterful, mercurial artist compels us to question what a “classical guitarist’ should sound like”

NPR, All Things Considered, Tom Huizenga