Manchester Evening News article 6 May 2016 (full version)

HIS albums have topped the classical charts three times over, he’s an associate artist of the Bridgewater Hall, a Fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music and its head of guitar.

He’s Craig Ogden, and his solo guitar playing is in demand. This summer he visits the Hong Kong Guitar Symposium for concerts and masterclasses, and later come Madrid, Portugal and Australia – but on May 14 you can hear him in Macclesfield, in a return visit to the Northern Chamber Orchestra’s concert series at the Heritage Centre.

He’s playing the guitar concerto by Castelnuovo-Tedesco, in a programme that ranges from Bach to Puccini. It’s the final concert of the NCO’s Macclesfield series and comes as general manager Jonathan Thackeray, who has guided the orchestra’s rising fortunes since 1998, begins his farewells.

I caught Craig Ogden on his way to Bristol for a concert, but his thoughts were of the summer, including Hong Kong and Australia. The last will be a home-coming, as Oz is his native land.

“I’m busier than ever before – my career seems to have a nice steady climb to it,” he says. “Previously, the bulk of my work has been in this country. My kids have been relatively young (Gabriel is now 13, and Gracie 8), and I’ve done a lot of teaching at the RNCM. The UK’s been good to me.”

Future plans he has with the NCO include a new concerto commissioned from Sandbach-based composer (and ace saxophonist) Andy Scott, and American composer Andy Gordon is also writing a concerto for him.

“I’m up to my eyeballs in new music and new repertoire at the moment,” he says cheerily. “But I get to play a lovely mix of music.

“Teaching has always been a valuable and important part of what I do, and while the other stuff does go up and down, teaching helps to pay the bills.”

The Castelnuovo-Tedesco guitar concerto was written for the great Spanish guitarist, Segovia. “My favourite bit is the slow movement – it’s so poignant and evocative,” says Craig.

“A chamber orchestra is good to play it with, and, as always, my sound will be discreetly amplified.”