Craig Ogden
Classical Guitar
"A worthy successor to Julian Bream"
BBC Music Magazine
Australian born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the UK’s most recorded guitarists. His recordings have received wide acclaim and Craig’s chart-topping albums for Classic FM albums are regularly played on air.
Craig Ogden has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras. He regularly appears as soloist and chamber musician at major venues, collaborating with many of the UK’s top artists and ensembles. Read More
PRESS
Stylish, virtuoso playing and a 'something-for-everyone' programme
"With Australian Craig Ogden you don’t just get some of the finest guitar-playing on the planet. His chats to the audience between each piece let you into all sorts of secrets… Show MoreHis Wednesday night concert was as comprehensive and diverse a celebration of the guitar as you could squeeze into two hours, including solos, duos, chamber ensemble and works for guitar and orchestra... Whatever the style, be it popular or classical, each item in this thoughtfully devised programme was treated with as much artistry as the considerable talents of Craig Ogden and the sixteen string players of Manchester Camerata could muster."
William Ruff, @ReviewsGate
"Craig Ogden is a brilliant, persuasive advocate, not only in the Walton but in the Malcolm Arnold and Lennox Berkeley Guitar Concertos."
The Guardian
"Mr. Ogden…proved a polished soloist in colorful, technically demanding works"
New York Times
"Craig Ogden... has always chosen his recital programmes with wisdom, and, as a performer in the specialised realm of the classical guitar, he has opened our ears to the instrument's breadth of repertory and to its expressive potential."
Daily Telegraph
"All the works were inspired by Julian Bream, to whom Craig Ogden is a distinguished successor. Allied to his superb, agile technique, the range of tonal shading he brings to his playing is of rare richness and subtlety."
The Telegraph
"Ogden came on and entranced the crowd, mesmerising his listeners with his heart-stoppingly authentic rendition of George Harrison’s Here Comes the Sun….Ogden also delivered a clutch of iconic Spanish numbers with style and cool panache. A great reception." (Read full review)
Michael Tumelty, The Herald
"A worthy successor to Julian Bream"
BBC Music Magazine
"Between song sets, Ogden had the stage to himself for an Albeniz piece and three Greek dances, the zesty asymmetrical rhythms of which he dispatched with virtuosic flair."
Chicago Tribune
"Ogden’s playing here, (Berkeley) as in all of the works, is powerful, precise and thoroughly musical. I have been an admirer of Ogden’s playing for some time, but that admiration just ticked up a notch after hearing this daredevil playing."
American Record Guide
"My father enjoyed immensely your interpretation. It is indeed a very good recording and we are grateful that you recorded the Concierto Para Una Fiesta, which we love and has been a bit neglected next to its famous sisters, Concierto De Aranjuez and Fantasia Para Un Gentilhombre and also for the difficulty in performing it. Although we knew that you are very talented, this recording has confirmed your position among the greatest guitarists."
Cecilia Rodrigo
"Craig Ogden adopts softer colours and a smoother tone than some older players (Bream, Williams and Diaz, for example). The result is one of the most winning performances I have encountered."
Classic CD
"There are other guitar concertos than Rodrigo’s and Craig Ogden has been doing his best to convince people of the fact. The new arrangement of Walton’s Five Bagatelles, together with the Arnold concerto and Serenade, makes a very set of very rewarding pieces. Even Lennox Berkeley’s melodious atonality sounds marvellous in Ogden’s hands."
Manchester Evening News
"All the works were inspired by Julian Bream, to whom Craig Ogden is a distinguished successor. Allied to his superb, agile technique, the range of tonal shading he brings to his playing is of rare richness and subtlety."
The Telegraph
"The influence of Spanish flamenco could be felt in Sun Trap for guitar by Jonathan Cole, a short and exciting piece brilliantly played by Craig Ogden. In Britten’s Songs from the Chinese and in the finest of the Night Pieces - the hauntingly beautiful Nocturnal after John Dowland, Craig Ogden interpreted Britten’s writing for guitar magnificently."
East Anglian Daily Times
VIDEOS
BIOGRAPHY
Described by BBC Music Magazine as "A worthy successor to Julian Bream", Australian born guitarist Craig Ogden is one of the most exciting artists of his generation. He studied guitar from the age of seven and percussion from the age of thirteen. In 2004, he became the youngest instrumentalist to receive a Fellowship Award from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. One of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, he has accumulated an acclaimed discography for Chandos, Virgin/EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony and six chart-topping albums for Classic FM. His most recent recordings are a solo recital disc for Chandos, Craig Ogden in Concert and a new arrangement of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellist Tim Hugh for Nimbus Records.
Craig Ogden has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras in countries including Latvia, Russia, South Africa, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Australia. In recent seasons he has performed with the Hallé, BBC Concert Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (Spain), Darwin Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Spanish Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Dublin), London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. In 2015, Craig was invited to perform a series of concerts on tour with the Royal Northern Sinfonia at major UK concert halls and again in 2016 with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra, both tours receiving critical acclaim. In 2019, Craig presented his own programme of “The Celebration of the Guitar” with Manchester Camerata which showcased the guitar in various styles. This season Craig performs concertos with orchestras including the BBC Concert Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Oulu Symphony Orchestra (Finland) and Ulster Orchestra.
Numerous composers have written works specially for him and in 2017 he gave the world première of a concerto written for him by Andy Scott with the Northern Chamber Orchestra at Stoller Hall, Manchester, followed by the Australian première in Perth. He gave the world première of Il Filo, a double concerto for guitar and accordion by David Gordon with Miloš Milivojević in summer 2019 and gave the world première of a concerto written for him by David Knotts in March 2022 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London with the BBC Concert Orchestra which was recorded for BBC Radio 3, filmed for BBC4 TV and currently available on BBC iPlayer. In July 2022, Craig gave the world première of Isolation Songs (Without Words) a new guitar concerto written for him by William Lovelady with the English Chamber Orchestra for Music in Country Churches with HM The King in attendance. The work received its London première in November 2022 at Cadogan Hall. In January 2023, Craig gave the world première of a guitar concerto by Greg Caffrey with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast, recorded for BBC Radio 3.
Craig Ogden is the most sought-after guitarist for chamber music in the UK performing with artists including the Carducci Quartet, Miloš Milivojević (accordion), Paul Edmund-Davies (flute) and the London Tango Quintet, of which he is a regular member. Craig also performs a new arrangement written for him of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellist Tim Hugh. He has been invited to perform with John Williams at venues including London’s Globe Theatre, where he returned for a music and poetry performance with actress Meera Syal and in 2022 he again performed with John Williams at the Royal College of Music for a concert celebrating the life of the late Julian Bream. Craig has performed at many of the major UK festivals as well as large outdoor festivals including Jamie Oliver and Alex James’ Big Feastival and the Wilderness Festival. Craig gave a recital with tenor James Gilchrist at the Edinburgh Festival which was broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and performed in the concert series devoted to Sir Michael Tippett at the Wigmore Hall, returning there with the Nash Ensemble.
Craig gave concerts and masterclasses in Hong Kong and Shanghai as part of the Hong Kong Guitar Symposium and he has performed several concerts at the Australian Chamber Music Festival at the invitation of Piers Lane. He was invited to be Visiting Musician at Oriel College, University of Oxford for two years. Craig frequently records for film and was featured on the British hit, Notting Hill. He has presented programmes on radio including The Segovia Legacy on BBC Radio 3 (co-presented with Louis de Bernières), Ten Pound Pom Mum for BBC Northern Ireland (a programme about his Mother’s upbringing in Northern Ireland) and a series of four interviews with artists including John Williams for ABC Classic FM (Australia). Craig presented three short videos as part of an advertising campaign on Classic FM for Emirates Airline and was invited by Sky Arts to be a mentor for the Guitar Star television series.
Craig Ogden is Director of Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, Adjunct Fellow of the University of Western Australia, Associate Artist at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester and Director of the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival. Craig Ogden plays a 2011 Greg Smallman guitar and strings made by D’Addario.