Craig Ogden

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

Described by BBC Music Magazine as “a worthy successor to Julian Bream” and as "a natural heir to John Williams” by distinguished music critic Michael White, Grammy-nominated guitarist Craig Ogden is recognised as one of the world’s foremost classical guitarists. Renowned for his virtuosity, artistry, and stylistic versatility, he has appeared as soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including all of the major UK orchestras, and is one of the most sought-after chamber musicians of his generation.

Craig’s remarkable discography—spanning more than thirty recordings for labels including Chandos, Virgin/EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion, Sony, and five chart-topping albums for Classic FM—has earned widespread critical acclaim. His recordings have repeatedly topped the UK classical charts, with BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM regularly featuring his performances. He has contributed to numerous film and television soundtracks and presented programmes for BBC Radio 3, BBC Northern Ireland, and ABC Classic FM in Australia.

Born in Perth, Australia, Craig began studying the guitar at the age of seven and percussion at thirteen. Following undergraduate studies at the University of Western Australia, he moved to the UK and completed two postgraduate years at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester, where he was immediately appointed to the teaching staff upon graduation. In 2004, he became the youngest instrumentalist ever to receive a Fellowship Award from the RNCM.

As one of the UK’s most recorded guitarists, Craig continues to expand the instrument’s repertoire and reach. Recent releases include Craig Ogden in Concert (Chandos), a solo recital disc; a critically acclaimed arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations with violinist David Juritz and cellist Tim Hugh (Nimbus), which has surpassed three million streams on Spotify; Environments II, a guitar concerto by Greg Caffrey with the Ulster Orchestra; and Dancing with Piazzolla with the London Tango Quintet, selected as BBC Radio 3’s Album of the Week in February 2024. In October 2025 Craig released his first album as a regular member of the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, Latin Connections, a vibrant exploration of South American music.

Craig has inspired and premiered numerous new works written especially for him. Recent highlights include concertos by Greg Caffrey (Ulster Orchestra, BBC Radio 3), William Lovelady (English Chamber Orchestra, Music in Country Churches in the presence of HM The King, and London première at Cadogan Hall), David Knotts (BBC Concert Orchestra, Queen Elizabeth Hall, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and filmed for BBC Four), David Gordon (double concerto with accordionist Miloš Milivojević) and Andy Scott (Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall Manchester and Australian première in Perth.

Craig Ogden has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras in countries including Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Latvia, Russia, South Africa and Spain. In recent seasons he has performed with the Hallé, BBC Concert Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra (Spain), Darwin Symphony Orchestra (Australia), Spanish Symphony Orchestra, RTÉ Concert Orchestra (Dublin), English Chamber Orchestra, Oulu Symphony Orchestra (Finland), London Philharmonic, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Following critically acclaimed concert tours with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and English Chamber Orchestra, Craig presented his own programme with Manchester Camerata of  “The Celebration of the Guitar” in major UK concert halls showcasing the guitar in various styles.

Craig Ogden is in demand as a chamber musician, performing with artists including the Carducci Quartet, Miloš Milivojević (accordion), Paul Edmund-Davies (flute), the London Tango Quintet and the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet, both of which he is a regular member. He performs a new arrangement written for him of the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach with violinist David Juritz and cellist Adrian Bradbury and 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.

Dedicated to the development of the next generation of musicians, Craig regularly gives masterclasses and workshops in the UK and internationally, and directs an annual residential guitar course at Hawkwood College in the Cotswolds. In January 2025, he was invited to give recitals and masterclasses at the Nelson Guitar Festival in New Zealand.

Craig Ogden is Director of Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music, Adjunct Fellow of the University of Western Australia and Director of the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival. He performs on a 2011 Greg Smallman guitar and uses D’Addario strings.

www.craigogden.com