Yesterday Gerry Cooper showed us how to play blues guitar, today we have some guitar playing of a different order. When I was about 16 I began to learn to play the spanish guitar. I still have trhe guitar and yet still connot play it – such is life. Fear not – today we hear from someone who can play – Alexandra Whittingham. We begin with Asturias the quintessential spanish guitar piece (it was this that first inspired me to try to learn the confounded instrument).
After studying classical guitar, piano, jazz guitar and composition at the world-renowned Chetham’s School of Music for seven years, Alexandra Whittingham gained a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London. She recently graduated having been awarded first class honours and the Timothy Gilson Guitar Prize.
In the spring of 2013, Alexandra won the inaugural Edinburgh Guitar Competition. Following this, she travelled to Budapest to take part in the Carpathian International Youth Guitar Competition, where she gained second place. In early 2015 at the Gregynog Young Musicians’ Competition, Alexandra became Gregynog Young Guitarist of the year, and more recently was a finalist at the Aalborg International Guitar Competition in Denmark.
The guitar has the ability to bring to life music of many cultures, from the blues of the delta, to the swirling rhythms of the Spain and here to the eastern tonality of Japan
During her time at Chetham’s, Alexandra had many opportunities to play with various ensembles, such as string quartets, guitar duets and jazz groups, which resulted in her becoming a member of Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra. So here is something a little jazzier with violinist Esther Abrami. Libertango is a composition by Astor Piazzolla, first recorded and published in 1974 in Milan. The title is a merging of “Libertad” (Spanish for “liberty”) and “tango”, symbolizing Piazzolla’s break from classical tango to tango nuevo.
