About Us

What is the 'World Youth Guitar Festival' and who is running this event?

Below is a brief outline of our aims and proposals for the festival.

WYGF has evolved from the Winchester Guitar Festival (WGF) which was founded in 2004.

The Artistic Directors, Mark Eden and Christopher Stell felt that there was a real need to provide a festival purely for young classical guitarists, who by virtue of their choice of instrument, miss out on many of the social aspects of music making that other young instrumentalists benefit from through involvement in orchestras, wind bands and other chamber ensembles.

They believe that sight-reading, ensemble playing, general fingerboard knowledge, and instinctive musicality all go hand in hand and need to be encouraged at the earliest stages and hope that the festival will act as a catalyst for many young players, giving them an opportunity to improve all areas of their musicianship.

WYGF will be launched in July 2007 and will then continue bi-annually, alternating with the Winchester Guitar Festival.

The WYGF is part of The Arts Circus , Registered Charity Number 1116396 The Arts Circus exists to provide the opportunity for everyone to experience the thrill of live music and the joy of self-expression through music and the arts by:

• Encouraging musical and artistic awareness by bringing live music into the community;
• Promoting educational courses and workshops ranging from one-day events to projects lasting several weeks;
• Enabling children and young people to discover their own ‘creative voices’, and often giving them their first experience of live music;
• Giving non-specialist and amateur musicians access to the highest possible levels of tuition from artists of international repute;
• Bringing together people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to enjoy music making together.
• Organising outreach programmes with highly trained and experienced musicians to venues such as schools for children with special needs and centres for adults with physical and learning disabilities