Hubert Käppel ©Thérèse Wassily Saba

It is many years since the outstanding German classical guitarist, Hubert Käppel, has performed in London, but we have the luxury of hearing him both in concert and masterclass during the IGF Guitar Summit 2016 starting Thursday 21 July 2016 at Kings Place, central London.

At Kings Place, Hubert Käppel will not only be performing works that have been so closely associated with him, such as Canticum (1968) by Leo Brouwer and Oliver Hunt’s Garuda – Ballade for Guitar, but will also be giving masterclasses for four days, Thursday 21 July–Sunday 24 July 2016. These are open for auditors as well as players.

 In 2011, Hubert Käppel published his long-awaited Die Technik der modernen Konzertgitarre: Detailliertes Kompendium zu den Grundlagen und Spieltechniken der Gitarre im 21. Jahrhundert mit unfassendem Übungsteil (AMA Musikverlag) – 246 pages of technical exercises and discussions on how to build a thoroughly reliable technique on the classical guitar. Fortunately, it has now been translated and published in English.

As a young player, Hubert Käppel was one of the first guitarists to successfully transcribe and perform whole keyboard sonatas onto the guitar. Some of these historic recordings have now been re-released on KSGEXAUDIO, offering the opportunity to hear his superior musicality and virtuosic technique, which shook the very roots of the classical guitar world when it was released in 1984.

Hubert Käppel teaches at the Hochschule in Köln and at the Koblenz International Guitar Academy in Germany. The Koblenz International Guitar Festival’s annual guitar competition carries his name, Koblenz International Guitar Competition ‘Hubert Käppel’, as a mark of honour for the great contribution that Hubert Käppel has made and continues to make to the classical guitar.

The IGF Guitar Summit 2016 at Kings Place also features Ana Vidovic, VIDA Guitar Quartet, Jim Mullen and Dario Cortese, and Antonio Forcione with Jim McNicol.

© 2016 Thérèse Wassily Saba