Hailing from Girona, Josep Manzano is one of the most foremost Catalan guitarists. In this concert he presents his new album entitled from Catalonia to America. For Spanish people ‘America’ usually refers to Latin America and that is indeed the case here. The concert begins with Spanish music by Catalan composers such as Tárrega, Llobet, Ferrer and Costa and ends with Latin American composers including an arrangement of a piece by the famous Mexican rock/jazz guitarist Carlos Santana.

Manzano has performed numerous concerts all over the world, both as a soloist and as part of a number of diverse formations. He has recorded albums with the flamenco guitarist Xavier Ballesteros and with the English guitarist Carlos Garcia-Benitez, in addition to participating in several compilation albums. His tours have taken him to America and Asia, most recently to Mexico, Peru, Argentina and Kuwait as well as to European countries including Switzerland, Serbia, Germany, Italy, France and Bulgaria.

His discography as a soloist consists of five CDs: Tárrega and his legacy, Tárrega: The 35 preludes and studies, Melancolía – Girona guitarist composers of the 19th century, Intimate Recital and Americana.

He is a guitar teacher at the Gironès Music School and the Artistic Director of the Girona-Costa Brava Guitar Festival.

Formed in 2021, Regency Duo comprises violinist Eliza Nagle and guitarist Declan Hickey. While owing its name to the cultural heritage of Niccolò Paganini, musical salons, and the riches of the early-nineteenth-century repertoire, the duo is as much devoted to contemporary music as to the established canon. Current programmes include works by Poul Ruders and Stephen Goss, with whom the duo has worked closely, alongside their own transcriptions of Schubert sonatas and Hot Club of France Quintet standards.

Eliza and Declan have between them studied at the University of Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music, and the Royal College of Music, where they have won a number of prizes and scholarships as soloists. In 2023, Regency Duo was awarded a place on the Young Artist Platform of the International Guitar Foundation, and will perform at IGF festivals in the 2023–24 season. Other forthcoming performances destinations include the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester, St Mark’s Church, Purley, and Downing College, Cambridge.