GuitarCoop – Paul Galbraith
Paul Galbraith is internationally renowned as one of the foremost guitarists of our time. His revolutionary approach to guitar, allied to the searching depth of his interpretations, have made him an instantly recognizable figure in the world of Classical Music.
Paul plays a unique 8-string guitar, which he developed in 1993 together with legendary luthier, David Rubio. Rubio’s design departed from the established shape, through borrowing an asymmetrical stringing system from the orpharion, a renaissance instrument of the cittern family. It was named the “Brahms Guitar”, due to its richness of sound and wide range, in reference to a Galbraith’s transcription of “Variations on an Original Them, op. 21A”, by Brahms
On this instrument, Paul has recorded a series of highly acclaimed albums, starting with the album “Recital Paul Galbraith: Introducing the Brahms Guitar” where he recorded the quoted piece of Brahms, plus Dowland, Bach, Henze and Grieg. He continued this new path with a CD of Haydn’s Sonatas; then “French Impressions”, with music by Debussy & Ravel; a double album with Bach’s complete Solo-violin Sonatas & Partitas, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998; and, recently, a DVD recital, with Britten’s famous Nocturnal, op. 70, as the centrepiece, in celebrating the 100th birthday of the British composer.
Paulʼs individual approach to guitar technique stems from an idea he had in 1984 to free the right arm from holding, or resting on the instrument. The resulting freedom enables an unencumbered flow between movement and sound. Paul continued to develop and refine his new-found playing position until, by 1987, it had evolved into the cellist’s posture he is associated with today. It was a suggestion made by Sérgio Abreu, the great Brazilian guitarist and guitar maker.
Paul began the concertist career in his late teens, having come to public attention in Great Britain through a series of televised competition successes. Asked by a member of the press after the 1981 Leeds Castle Segovia competition what he thought of Paul, who was awarded silver medal, ‘Segovia raised his hand, and exclaimed: “Paul is magnificent. He will be a great artist.” ‘
Since the early nineties, Paul has toured the USA annually, and performed throughout the UK and the European Union, as well as in China, South America, Russia, Norway, Australia, Canada, India, etc. He also has appeared with several of the major orchestras and ensembles in Britain and Europe, such as: the BBC Orchestras, the Royal Philharmonic, the St Petersburg Quartet, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Halle, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the European Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber Orchestra, and the Shanghai Quartet.
