National Youth
World Youth
Our team of inspiring tutors and mentors are at the heart of everything we do. Get to know them a little better and find out why NYGE is so special for each of them.
It is wonderful working with talented young people who are dedicated to making music together. There is a great sense of teamwork and fun, resulting in enthusiastic and uplifting performances.
I am proud to be associated with NYGE, to be their Camerata Orchestra Director and to have been involved in nurturing it from its beginnings to the professional youth ensemble it is today. I hope our performances will inspire more commissions from composers and will introduce audiences to the special beauty and vitality of the sound of young guitarists playing together.
Gerald Garcia composes music for guitar and live productions and conducts diverse ensembles. He has also produced CD recordings of various artists including those of guitarists Johannes Moller and Kuang Junhong for Naxos.
His music has been played and recorded worldwide by David Russell, Craig Ogden, the Eden-Stell Duo, Xue Fei Yang, The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet and John Williams among others.
Gerald’s teaching experience has included educational workshops with Kent Opera, English National Opera and the Academy of St.Martin-in-the- Fields, and he has devised music workshops for educational authorities including Highlands and Islands and Oxfordshire.
He is a regular at summer schools in Britain, Germany and China as a conductor, performer and teacher and is a visiting professor at Sichuan Conservatory which he visits annually. He is in demand as an adjudicator and has sat on juries in Britain, Europe and China.
He has recorded more than 12 CDs which have sold over 40,000 copies world-wide.
In October 1995 he toured China in a duo with guitarist John Williams playing to audiences of tens of thousands. This historic visit was the beginning of an explosion of classical guitar activity in China, which Gerald now visits regularly as a teacher and conductor.
He began as the Musical Director of the NYGE Orchestra, who produced their first CD “Festive Fizz” in 2008. He has conducted the Ensemble in landmark performances including Steve Reich’s Electric Counterpoint and works dedicated to NYGE by Stephen Dodgson, Alfonso Montes, Mark Houghton and others.
Directing NYGE London Camerata is one of my passions. For me the guitar ensemble is truly orchestral and I think that is what excites me in every rehearsal. I am constantly searching for colours and timbres to evoke the essence of the music we play and I relish the opportunity to work with these young guitarists to open up a new sound world for them. I am hugely ambitious for what we achieve in London Camerata and I like to get deep into the details of articulation, tone and expression. We work hard and rehearsals can be intense, but the results are so inspiring for us all.
Helen Sanderson epitomises life as a 21st-century guitarist; her diversity as a performer, educator, arranger, composer and creative entrepreneur is reflected in the broad spectrum of guitar studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she is Head of Guitar Performance.
Helen’s international performing career has centred on chamber music with highlight performances including the Southbank Centre, Kings Place and the Guitar Foundation of America and CD recordings with the Vida Guitar Quartet, James Bowman and Mark Wilde. Alongside her love of performing, her impetus to create opportunities for young guitarists led to her founding the music charity, Guitar Circus, home of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble and the World Youth Guitar Festival of which she is Artistic Director.
Helen’s work is regularly chosen for the ABRSM, Trinity College and London College of Music exam boards and she is Head of Plucked Strings for the European String Teachers Association. Her passion as an educator has continued since becoming a Winston Churchill Fellow with her research into guitar programmes in the USA and she is often invited to competition juries including BBC Young Musician of the Year, Guitar Foundation of America, London International Guitar Competition, Koblenz Guitar Competition and most memorably, the Sky Arts televised series “Guitar Star”.
Helen’s work within the music community includes her role as a mentor for the Guitar Foundation of America’s Mentorship program to support and develop talent among classical guitarists of colour and she is a Director for The F-List UK which actively supports career development for female and gender minority musicians. Helen is a D’Addario Classical Artist and plays Christopher Dean guitars.
I have been a tutor at NYGE since its conception. It’s a real pleasure each month to work with talented children from all over the Midlands that share a passion for the guitar. It can be a lonely existence as a guitarist in your local area, so to see them bond and make great music together gives me and hopefully them a great buzz.
Mark is an Internationally renowned performer and teacher. Originally from the Midlands Mark went on to study with Gordon Crosskey at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester. From there he studied with Michael Lewin at the Royal Academy of Music and then privately with David Russell in Spain. Early on in his performing career Mark became a laureate of several major national and international competitions including BBC Radio Two’s Young Musician, Julian Bream Prize, South East Arts Music Platform Award, Guitar Foundation of America, Scandinavian International Guitar Competition, and the Alessandria International Guitar Competition, Italy.
He has performed at many of the UK’s most prestigious music venues and has toured extensively throughout Europe and the US. Most recently along with the Vida Guitar Quartet he was delighted to make his debut in China. As a concerto soloist Mark has performed with many leading Orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, London Concertante and the Turin Symphony Orchestra.
Mark has recorded ten CD’s including a recording of Rodrigo’s ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’ with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Cleobury which led to a most successful tour around the UK. His latest CD is with the Vida Guitar Quartet entitled ‘Bachianas’, featuring saxophonist Amy Green and new works by Howard Skempton and Laura Snowden.
He was course director at the International Guitar Festival-Bath for six years and regularly gives masterclasses at International Festivals and leading Conservatoires of Music. He is currently head of guitar at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire of Music and in 2003 was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music for his achievements in the profession.
I am immensely proud to be the director of NYGE London and it has been such a fun and rewarding highlight of my work as a music educator/conductor since its inception in 2010. It occupies one of the most important roles in developing young musicians. Members are between Y7-Y13 and standards of Gr6-Gr8+, it is often through this period that young players can often be inspired to pursue music as a career.
It is a real privilege to work with students at this point in their musical lives and to expose them to a professional approach to rehearsing and performing. They experience a wide range of repertoire that they would not be able to attempt as guitarists without an ensembles as special and unique as those of NYGE.
Matthew graduated with his Masters in Performance with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD) in 2011. He was accepted as a fellow in 2015-16 to work on projects including a new chamber music series in Chelsea, London. His undergratuate degree is from Birmingham conservatoire, where he was awarded the Guitar Prize in 2006.
With the Mēla guitar quartet Matthew has recorded the Guitar Chamber Works of Stephen Dodgson for Naxos, released in 2017, and has recorded the complete quartets of Anthony Burgess. www.melagq.com. He performs regularly with virtuoso flamenco/jazz guitarist Eduardo Niebla in Duo and Trio (with Tabla or Violin) and frequently tours large concert halls and theatres throughout the UK and Europe.
Matthew also works as a soloist having been the Courtauld Institute’s musician in residence and performing the Rodney-Bennett Guitar Concerto at the Purcell Room, London, conducted by Ben Gernon. He is now head of classical guitar at the GSMD junior department and his students have been accepted to the Royal College of Music and GSMD.
“NYGE has been a part of my life since I was a member as a teenager. It’s fantastic to be part of such a passionate and dedicated group of musicians. Ensemble playing brings out the best in everyone and I look forward to every rehearsal.”
Matthew is a dedicated guitarist with a strong passion for teaching and sharing his experience with others. An active performer, he spends a lot of time arranging, researching and sourcing new music and ideas, all of which helps him to be an informed, responsive and communicative teacher. Matthew specialises in classical guitar and teaches all other types of guitar to a highly advanced level.
Growing up in Berkshire, some of Matthew’s most formative musical experiences were playing in ensembles. Whether this was with his local guitar orchestra, playing in bands as a teenager or the National Youth Guitar Ensemble (NYGE), they all contributed to his great passion for the guitar and the versatility he possesses with the instrument. Nowadays he tends to be on the other end of the baton and leads multiple ensembles including the very same NYGE he used to be a member of.
As a performer Matthew specialises in chamber music, with a particular focus on playing in a guitar duo. As a pair, The Abeto Guitar Duo have performed all over the U.K., recorded with Deux-Elles records and become artists in residence at the Dillington Guitar Festival. Matthew also works with guitar quartets and has performed in locations such as the Wigmore Hall, King’s Place and Royal Festival Hall, as well as multiple locations in Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Germany.
Matthew has a keen passion for arranging which led him to create his own publishing company. With the goal of expanding the limited repertoire the guitar has, Matthew often incorporates these arrangements into his own teaching. He also has experience as a music examiner.
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By email: Info@guitarcircus.org.uk
By Post: Guitar Circus, 7 The Maples, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 1TQ
