Felixstowe Classical Guitar Festival opens its first edition with concerts, masterclasses and lutherie and composition competitions
The new two-day UK festival puts classical guitar performance, teaching, composition and instrument making under one roof, with Alexandra Whittingham and Laura Snowden among the headliners.
Sep 14, 2026
Credit: felixstoweclassicalguitarfestival.co.uk
The inaugural Felixstowe Classical Guitar Festival opened at Harvest House on September 12 for a two-day program that treats classical guitar as more than a concert format. Saturday combines performances by Matthew McAllister, the Miyabi Duo and Alexandra Whittingham with a luthiery lecture, a guitar-building competition and Whittingham's masterclass.
Sunday shifts toward composition and performance. Founder Mark Harris, Rosie Bennet and Zoe Barnett appear before Laura Snowden headlines the evening, while Steve Goss leads a composition session tied to the festival's composers competition. The event also gives luthiers space to display instruments and lets ticket holders take part in a Sunday performance showcase.
That mix makes the first edition notable beyond its artist roster: performers, makers, students and composers are being treated as parts of the same classical-guitar ecosystem rather than separate audiences.
Credit: YouTube
Why it matters
A new dedicated classical-guitar festival with serious performance, education, composition and lutherie components is exactly the kind of regional development a mainstream guitar-news sweep can miss, while still being useful to players internationally.
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