Craig Ogden
Classical Guitar
"A worthy successor to Julian Bream"
BBC Music Magazine
"A natural heir to John Williams”
Michael White, Music Critic
Grammy-nominated guitarist Craig Ogden is acclaimed as one of the world’s foremost classical guitarists. Renowned for his virtuosic artistry and engaging musicality, he has performed concertos with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including all the major UK orchestras, and is a highly sought-after chamber musician.
Craig’s extensive discography includes more than thirty recordings for Chandos, Virgin/EMI, Nimbus, Hyperion, and Sony, as well as five chart-topping albums for Classic FM. Numerous composers have written works specially for him, and his performances are regularly broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and internationally.
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” 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), and David Knotts (BBC Concert Orchestra, Queen Elizabeth Hall, broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and filmed for BBC Four).
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.
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