Laura Lootens Guitar

Award Winning Virtuoso Classical Guitarist

After an outstanding performance in April 2023, Calstock Arts is delighted to welcome back classical guitarist Laura Lootens, winner of the coveted Andrés Segovia Prize, in 2022, and recently named as one of Classic FM’s ‘Rising Stars of 2024’.

Laura discovered her passion for playing the guitar when she was eight years old and made her orchestral debut, playing Rodrigo’s famous ‘Concierto de Aranjuez’, aged 15. A year later she was one of the youngest students to begin studying for the BMus at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Her concert career took off following an outstanding performance at the Gasteig, Munich, in the internationally acclaimed ‘Winners and Masters’ series. Since her last visit, Laura has released her debut CD “Albeniz” (Deutsche Grammaphon) to critical acclaim; the American Record Guide writing: “That she (Laura) loves this music is clear. If this recording doesn’t move you to feel the same about Spanish music on the guitar, nothing will.” In October 2023, she was awarded the Leonhard and Ida Wolf Prize for music from the city of Munich. In 2024 she has been in great demand, playing with some of Germany’s leading orchestras including the Luneburg, Heidelberg and Odessa Symphony Orchestras and Deutsche Radio Philharmonie and concert tours have taken her across Europe from Austria to Spain to Malta.

From the very way Laura holds her instrument, almost vertically, you can sense the special closeness she has with her guitar, the instrument and musician merging with her face almost touching the guitar neck and her left hand. Her playing is spellbinding and stunningly beautiful, fingers gliding over the strings as if by magic, effortlessly moving from forte to pianissimo, from restrained to expressive. If you missed this phenomenally gifted guitarist first time round, take the opportunity to see her on September 6th.