ALEKSANDRA SAPOK (Pol)

IN CONCERT!​​

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Fri 25 July

HELSTON

St Michael's Church

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Sat 26 July

PENZANCE

Queens Hotel

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​Polish classical guitarist ALEKSANDRA SAPOK is a dynamic young concert artist who has already become known across Europe for her exciting performances.

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A graduate of the highly respected Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina (Fryderyk Chopin Music University) in Warsaw, Poland, she has twice been her country's Young Guitarist of the Year, won over 20 international competitions and given a number of critically acclaimed concert performances across the Continent.

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Aleksandra Sapok has worked with many of the world's leading guitar virtuosi and also studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Musica Manuel Castillo in Sevilla, Spain, where she was invited to perform at the prestigious Real Alcazar Palace.

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She has been awarded numerous scholarships, including by the Polish Ministry of Culture, the President of Rybnik, the Marshal of the Silesian Voivodeship and the Alex L. Johnson Educational Trust (USA). Away from performing concerts, Aleksandra Sapok is a highly regarded guitar teacher who has a thriving online practice.

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Aleksandra Sapok is endorsed by Hannabach Strings GOLDIN 1869 ANNIVERSARY EDITION.

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BENOLA DUO (UK/Pol)

IN CONCERT!​​

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Wed 13 August

ST AGNES

Miners & Mechanics

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Sat 30 August

STITHIANS

The Centre

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BENOLA DUO was formed in July 2024. Comprising veteran lutenist BEN SALFIELD and the young, dynamic classical guitarist ALEKSANDRA SAPOK, the duo performs concerts of the highest calibre to audiences worldwide.

 

The pair has already performed sell-out concerts in the UK and Poland, and in summer 2025 they will tour in numerous European countries before embarking on their United States project.

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Their programme includes music from the 16th to 20th centuries including lute duets, piano transcriptions... and an entire Vivaldi concerto transcribed for 10-course and classical guitars!

Definitely a concert NOT to be missed! 

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BEN SALFIELD (UK)

IN CONCERT!​

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"40 Years" Anniversary Series​

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Thu 9 October

PENZANCE

Queens Hotel

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Fri 10 October

CONNOR DOWNS

WI Hall

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Hailed in the international media as “one of the world's greatest solo performers of renaissance lute music”, English lutenist Ben Salfield was born in Staffordshire in 1971, and has lived in Cornwall since childhood.

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After a few months of lessons with Ian Thomson at Truro Guitar Studios in 1984-5, Salfield's teacher moved away and so he began developing teaching techniques that he still uses today in masterclasses and lessons.

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​In December 1988, he made his concert debut in St Ives, Cornwall, and two months later received a standing ovation for his performance at a Lute Society meeting in Queen's Square, London. His international debut was in Cologne, Germany, at the end of a 1993 tour that earned him sensational media reviews. In 1996, after a number of one-off international appearances, he took part in his first foreign tour, in the Czech Republic. Since then, he has regularly appeared as a soloist and in various ensembles across Europe. Known for his on-the-edge, charismatic style of performance, Ben Salfield has performed to some of the largest audiences ever recorded for lute music, and given concerts in most Continental capital cities.

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Scores of music festivals, both nationally and internationally, have hosted Salfield's performances, including those at Bratislava, Brno, Cheltenham, Dolný Kubín, Graz, Gyöngyös, Hay, Hof, Nuremberg, Katowice, Malmö, Milan, Modra, Newbury, Nordhorn, Parma, Plymouth, Prague, Prostejov, Roseland, St. Austell, St. Ives, Swaledale, Warsaw, Zlín and Zory.

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​Apart from solo concerts, Salfield has appeared with many ensembles, from duos to string quartets. He is a founder member of the latin jazz rock group "Horsemen of the Apocalypse", which features his brother Jon on Flamenco guitar, plus Rowan Nightingale on bass and Simon Stanton on percussion. The group has appeared across the UK and Europe for up to thirteen-plus thousand people in football stadia, has been seen on BBC World TV by an estimated 12 million people worldwide, and recorded its debut album, "Revelation", in December 2016.

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As a promoter, Salfield has founded and directed dozens of concert series and festivals since 1992. Ben Salfield was most recently Musical Director of the Helly International Guitar, which ran from 2016-2023 and was based in Helston, the UK's most southerly town. Currently, he heads up the KC Artists International Guitar Series, which will promote no fewer than 27 concerts in 2025.

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​Ben Salfield's two solo discs, "10 Years of Luting..." and "Fantasie" are his most notable recordings. In his 40th anniversary year he is set to release an album with BenOla Duo, though the format has yet to be announced.

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​Following the publication of Salfield's 2010 guitar suite "5-4-10", written for Andrea Dieci, by Polish publishers Modran in December 2012, he was signed up by Peacock Press to produce books of lute music. After twelve editions and four years, Salfield left Peacock Press and announced that he had signed a deal with Danish publishers Bergmann Edition to produce lute music editions with guitar transcriptions.

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Since 2013 Ben Salfield has performed exclusively on a Kif Wood built 10-course guitar, an instrument that replaced his now retired Philip Brown 10-course lute after it was rebuilt three times following transit incidents with careless airlines. The design of the instrument owes more to cutting-edge technology than to tradition, but it looks like a multi-stringed guitar and sounds "like a loud lute". It is both aesthetically beautiful and sturdy in construction, yet lightweight to carry and transport, and does not use traditional animal glues.

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​In June 2019, Ben Salfield announced his retirement from international solo tours with immediate effect, though he still performs occasional concerts in the UK and on the Continent. Instead, he concentrates on duo concerts with his fiancée, the Polish classical guitarist Aleksandra Sapok.

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​Ben Salfield is endorsed by: Hannabach Strings GOLDIN 1869 ANNIVERSARY EDITION & SILVER SPECIALS; Onen Emporium TATTOOIST.

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SANDOR PAPP (Hun)

IN CONCERT!​

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Wed 26 November

ST AGNES

Miners & Mechanics

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Thu 27 November

PENZANCE

Queens Hotel

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Fri 28 November

CONNOR DOWNS

WI Hall

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Sat 29 November

STITHIANS

The Centre

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Known worldwide for his sensitive interpretations and understated charisma, Sándor Papp (b. 1965) graduated at Bratislava Music Academy (Slovakia) as a student of the great Jozef Zsapka and afterwards took part in numerous master-courses in Greece, Spain, Bohemia, under such renowned masters as Roberto Aussel, Wolfgang Lendle, David Russel, Gianfranco Volpato and Alirio Diaz.

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In 1990 he was a finalist in the International Guitar Contest in Paris - one of the most hotly contested guitar competitions worldwide.

 

Dr. Papp has completed many concert tours in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Danemark, Croatia, Mexico and Australia. The world premiere of the Chilean composer Lletelier's Guitar Concerto was dedicated to him along with a wealth of other new music, including Richard Charlton's Mosaic for guitar, strings and percussion and István Szigeti's Nuovo Capriccio for guitar and strings. He has also performed many of the great guitar orchestral works, including the most famous guitar concerto of all, Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez.

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Sandor Papp is the founder of the Debrecen Guitar Quartet, and Artistic director of Gyöngyös International Guitar Festival.  

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He has recorded 4 CDs (1997, 2002, 2005, 2008). Currently, Dr. Papp is dean and lecturer at Béla Bartók Music Faculty of Miskolc University.

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STITHIANS LUTE MUSIC GROUP'S

CHRISTMAS CONCERT!​

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Fri 19 December

CONNOR DOWNS

WI Hall

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The Stithians Lute Music Group is an amateur group that began in late 2024 with lessons in renaissance music and classical guitar technique under the watchful eye of international lutenist Ben Salfield and leading Polish classical guitar maestro Aleksandra Sapok.

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The group plays entirely for fun, and this is their second-ever recital - in which you will hear renaissance lute classics, Christmas music and much more. Featuring Ben Salfield, Aleksandra Sapok and the SLMG.

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This is a FREE concert (donations happily accepted towards promotional expenses).