Sean Shibe by Poulenc, Various, Couperin, Mompou, Falla, Aπό (2024/2024), LSO St Luke's, London, United Kingdom

Scottish guitarist Sean Shibe takes us on a journey through guitar and lute music across the centuries from Couperin to Adès. The journey is plotted with this interplay of France and Spain at its heart. Poulenc’s Sarabande deconstructs and reforms a traditional Spanish form, and Lady Margaret Wemyss’ lute pieces demonstrate the ‘Auld Alliance’ through pieces from Scotland as well as France and Spain. Mompou’s Suite Compostelana gently recalls the northern Spanish Celtic rain and distant Cathedral choirs, ending with the rhythmic drone of the Galician bagpipes. Our ECHO nominee for 2023–24, Shibe was the first guitarist ever to be selected for BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme, to be awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and, in 2018, to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Young Artists. His innovative approach to his instrument has enhanced his reputation for having ​’one of the most discriminating ears in the business’ (Gramophone).