Manchester Guitar Festival takes over The Stoller Hall this weekend

Spanning three full days and open to all ages, the Manchester Guitar Festival arrives at The Stoller Hall to celebrate music’s most versatile instrument.

With talks, workshops, pop-up performances and headline concerts featuring everything from jazz to electric, noodling to shredding and, yes, the occasional errant ukelele, guitarists and string enthusiasts of all abilities are invited for a weekend alongside professional musicians from several genres. 

Tickets are available from just a fiver—while under-18s and full-time students can enjoy the festival for free—and grant access to a dazzling array of guitar history, education and self-development workshops alongside accomplished fretboard wizards.

Complete novices, session musicians, serene jammers and decorated professionals alike can appreciate displays featuring some of history’s most unmistakeable models, before gathering each evening to watch a world-renowned headliner perform. Sean Shibe, the first-ever pure guitarist to be selected for BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme, fills the Fri 20 May slot with an expansive and magisterial ride through classical and electric styles.

On Sat 21 May, the Daniel Martinez Flamenco Company will play across the full vista of traditional Spanish guitar, from the trademark percussive joy of Alegria to the deep, mournful intensity of Seguiriyato.

The best of local talent round off the weekend on Sun 22 May, with Chetham’s students and the Northern Chamber Orchestra joining Austrialian guitarist Craig Ogden for a journey through the classical form, including pieces by Ralph Vaughn Williams and Malcolm Arnold.

All tickets are available to purchase now. Festival weekend tickets include all pop-up performances, talks and workshops on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, meaning audiences can catch the likes of The Ukulele Uff Trio, Gwenifer Raymond, Ben Bruant and Will Cashel, Alexandra Whittingham, Whitford Rees, Becky Langan and many more—pre-booking is required for some of these activities.

Tickets for the three headline concerts—Sean Shibe, Daniel Martinez Flamenco & Northern Chamber Orchestra with Craig Ogden—will need to be booked separately.