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Andrew Maginley

Lutes, guitars, portraits

Andrew Maginley is a concert soloist and accompanist, his international career has spanned more than twenty-five years. He specialises in lutes and early guitars and is a champion of the 18th-century baroque lute.

Andrew’s special insterests are Baroque art and music in 17th and 18th-century Europe and the Americas;  He is also an accomplished portrait artist.

“quite beautiful… Maginley prefers a relaxed flow, enhanced by an attractive tone and sure sense of architecture.” – Gramophone.

Recital, Opera and Concert

Andrew is a world-reknowned soloist on the baroque lute, and a popular, in-demand continuo player for opera and concert. To hear him play click here, or to speak to him about your concert series or playing with your group click here.

Lessons and Masterclasses

Andrew is a dedicated teacher with more than 25 years experience. He is currently guest teacher and lecturer at California State University as well as teaching from his studio in Esher, UK and online worldwide. To find out about studying with Andrew click here.

Portraits by (c) Andrew Maginley 07726772900

Portraits & Art

Before embarking on his career as a solo lute player, Andrew got his BA in Fine Arts. Figurative art has remained a passion and his latest collection is a series of portraits in charcoal and chalk. Commissions welcome.

About Andrew

Andrew Maginley is a concert soloist and accompanist, his international career has spanned more than twenty-five years. He specialises in lutes and early guitars and is a champion of the 18th-century baroque lute.

 Andrew’s playing has been described as “beautiful” (Gramophone), “of the first rank” (International Records Review) and “mesmerizing” (Lute Society of America).

He has played with the world’s great opera houses and period music ensembles, and had the privilege of accompanying many leading singers in opera including Dame Sarah Connolly, Philippe Jaroussky,  Paula Murrihy, Andreas Scholl, Anthony Roth Costanzo, and  Susan Graham. 

As well as his work in baroque music, Andrew has featured in several productions of Mozart’s operas including Idomeneo at Salzburg Festival with Teodur Currentizs, and onstage in Don Giovani as ‘Django’, a constant companion of the Don (Oper Krefeld), and as a recitative strumming hippie in Cosi fan tutte (Nederlands Opera with Danielle De Niese).

Recent projects include onstage guitarist for Glyndebourne’s 2022 Don Pasquale production, Chineke! Voices 2022 Music of Lusitano recording and tour conducted by Joe McHardy, Ensemble Resonanz 2022 with Tristan Braun and Rüdiger Kurz, baroque mandolino soloist with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphonic Orchestra 2021 Lully: Suite from Le Bourgeois gentilhomme Louis Langrée, conductor and Handel Uncaged: Cantatas for Alto with Lawrence Zazzo, Countertenor on Resonus Classics, 2020.  Andrew’s collaboration as a Chineke! artist began in 2020 with a project with actors Helena Bohnam Carter, Tobias Menzies and Jamael Westman.

Whilst Andrew has appeared on many recordings, these are his favourites: Andrew Maginley, The Baroque Lute: J.S. Bach, S.L. Weiss and A. Falckenhagen and Falckenhagen Lute Sonatas; the award-winning Calliope – Volume the First, English Songbooks of the 1700s, ‘baroque pop’ with Emma Curtis and Andrew’s ensemble The Frolick, plus opera recordings including Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea (Glyndbourne Opera/OAE/Haïm), Handel’s Aggripina (Le Grand Ecurie/Malgoire), Gluck’s Alceste (Oper Stuttgart/Carydis) and Mozart’s Idomeneo (Salzburg Mozartfestspiele/Freiburger Barock/Currentizs).

A fluent German-speaker Andrew’s translation of Bach and the Lute by Ingo Negwer will be published in 2022 by the English Lute Society. Andrew has a degree in fine arts and is a portraitist working with renaissance and baroque techniques, and the education officer to the Federation of British Artists for Hesketh-Hubbard Art Society. A guest artist for the 2020/21 academic year at California State University, Stanislaus, Andrew has continued to give recitals online during the coronavirus pandemic and teach lute and guitar online. His special interests include: Black musicians in Early Music; Baroque art and music in 18th-century Europe and the Americas; the multi-ethnic heritage of lute/guitar techniques. He is open to new ideas and projects, whether online or ‘in real life’.

If you would like to know more about Andrew’s art, click here.

“impeccable and subtly nuanced playing from Andrew Maginley” – Catherine Bott, BBC Radio 3

“a powerful technique and a musical sense that allows him much freedom of expression…mesmerizing” – Lute Society of America

“deeply meditative realizations of the first rank…” – International Record Review

“High praise…excellent sound”– Fanfare Magazine