{"id":18325,"date":"2020-02-17T12:21:26","date_gmt":"2020-02-17T11:21:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=18325"},"modified":"2020-02-17T12:21:26","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T11:21:26","slug":"strum-on-down-to-newtownards-ards-international-guitar-festival-2020-programme-announced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2020\/02\/strum-on-down-to-newtownards-ards-international-guitar-festival-2020-programme-announced\/","title":{"rendered":"Strum on Down to Newtownards! Ards International Guitar Festival 2020 Programme Announced."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ards and North Down Borough Council is pleased to launch the 2020 Ards International Guitar Festival programme. The Festival will take place from 1 \u2013 5 April at various venues around Newtownards.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Mayor of Ards and North Down Alderman Bill Keery with musicians Richard Nelson, Ronnie Greer and Anthony Toner at the launch of the Ards International Guitar Festival 2020 programme. The Festival runs from 1 \u2013 5 April at various venues around Newtownards.<\/a>

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Now in its 23rd<\/sup>\nyear, the Festival is a celebration of the world\u2019s most popular instrument,\nbringing together some of the best guitarists from around Ireland, the UK and\nthe world, with artists crossing a range of genres, showcasing their musical\nskills, talent and creativity. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year\u2019s\njam-packed line-up features over 40 musicians including home-grown talent as\nwell as performers from the USA, Germany and The Netherlands all brought\ntogether with the help of guest programmer Anthony Toner. The popular Guitar\nClinics are also back, giving amateur guitarists the opportunity to hone their\nskills with the help of professionals, as well as a stunning photography\nexhibition by Stuart Bailie. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the\nhighlights of this year\u2019s programme is The Aquarelle Guitar Quartet <\/em>who\nwill open the Festival on Wednesday 1 April at The Queen\u2019s Hall. As one of the\nworld\u2019s leading guitar quartets, The AGQ is known for its extraordinary\nperformances and expansive repertoire. Formed at the Royal Northern College of\nMusic in 1999, the quartet studied with renowned guitarists S\u00e9rgio Assad, Oscar\nGhiglia and Scott Tennant and has performed in major concert halls throughout\nthe UK and Europe. The foursome will be supported by The Diony\u2019s Ensemble<\/em>\nand The Classical Guitar Society of Northern Ireland. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blues maestro Ronnie\nGreer<\/em> returns to the Festival on the crest of a wave for what looks like\nbeing one of the high points of the programme. Ronnie will be launching his\nbrand-new album with his new band All-Star Blues Revue<\/em>. With\ncontributions from an all-star glittering line-up including; long-time musical\npartner Anthony Toner on guitars, Nick Scott on bass and Peter McKinney on\ndrums \u2013 joined by guitarists\/vocalists Ken Haddock and Grainne Duffy, Kyron Bourke\non keyboards and vocals, and blues and jazz luminaries Linley Hamilton on\ntrumpet and Dave Howell on sax. An evening not to be missed at The Queen\u2019s Hall\non Friday 3 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Festival\nis also pleased to welcome back to Ards Irish folk sensation S\u00edomha<\/em> who\nwas one of the undoubted hits of last year\u2019s Festival. S\u00edomha will be supported\nat her Queen\u2019s Hall gig on Saturday 4 April by virtuoso fingerstyle guitarist Shane\nHennessy <\/em>from Carlow (back by popular demand!) and German-born S\u00f6nke\nMeinen<\/em> who has acquired an outstanding reputation on the international\nguitar scene. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other highlights of this year\u2019s programme include; The\nRichard Nelson Jazz Quartet<\/em>, Rodney Branigan, Jane Willow<\/em> and\nmore!  There will also be a screening of the silent film The Cabinet of\nDr Caligari<\/em> (1920) accompanied by guitarist Paul McMordie<\/em> in the\natmospheric surroundings of Kiltonga Hall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thin Lizzy fans are in for a treat with the Classic Band\nBrunch Wild Eyed Boys \u2013 The Thin Lizzy Story<\/em> presented by Ralph McLean<\/em>.\nTake a fascinating stroll through the history of one of the most celebrated\nbands of all time, featuring seldom-seen clips, some rarities and Ralph\u2019s usual\nmix of musical insight and backstage gossip. Ards Arts Centre, Sunday 5 April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking about the festival, Alderman Bill Keery, The Mayor of Ards and\nNorth Down said: \u201cWe are delighted to once again host Ards International\nGuitar Festival which welcomes musicians from far and wide to Newtownards. The\nFestival is now 23 years old and is going from strength to strength. This\nyear\u2019s programme is fantastic, and we would encourage everyone to support the\nvarious events.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ards Guitar Festival Director,\nEmily Crawford commented: \u201cThis year\u2019s Festival is shaping up to be an eclectic\nfive days of guitar-based music with something to appeal to everyone from\nclassical to jazz, blues to Americana and of course our signature acoustic\npercussive performances. There\u2019s plenty of opportunity for a hands-on\nopportunity to learn from the experts with our Guitar Clinics and free lunchtime\nperformances to get you into the festival spirit\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ards International Guitar Festival runs from 1 \u2013 5\nApril. For ticket details or to view the full programme please visit the\nwebsite www.ardsguitarfestival.co.uk<\/a>  or call Ards Arts Centre\non 028 9181 0803<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ards and North Down Borough Council is pleased to launch the 2020 Ards International Guitar Festival programme. The Festival will take place from 1 \u2013 5 April at various venues around Newtownards. Now in its 23rd year, the Festival is a celebration of the world\u2019s most popular instrument, bringing together some of the best guitarists … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18325"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18325"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18325\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18327,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18325\/revisions\/18327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}