Amanda Cook marks 40 years of playing the guitar at the Festival of Chichester

This year Amanda is celebrating 40 years since she started playing the guitar.

“It is quite sentimental for me. I have chosen a selection of pieces that have really meant a lot to me over the years, pieces that I absolutely love and feel a connection with, pieces like the piece I did as my audition for the Royal College which was obviously a big moment. So it is partly a trip down memory lane for me and then alongside that I am playing some of the newer pieces in my repertoire. I've always liked when I'm programming – unless I'm being asked for a specific style or theme – to have a wide variety. There is some lovely early classical music and arrangements of beautiful jazz songs and also a Latin set at the end.

“I started the guitar pretty much through family because my father had a guitar at home and I showed some interest. So he started to show me a few tunes and then suggested would I like to have some proper lessons. There was a boy in my class who was having lessons with Sasha Levtov and so I started with him, and I just feel so fortunate that he was my first teacher. I just had such a strong start being taught by him. Sasha is such a passionate player of music, particularly guitar, and most definitely his priority was always looking for the musical essence of the music, bringing out the character. For him music wasn't just a technical exercise of rhythm and notes. Very early on he taught me to find the emotion of the piece, to bring it to life, that the reason for playing it is that emotion. He made it fun but it really made me think about how you bring out the story of the music and the emotion. That was just so much his priority, and it is something I'm now encouraging in my own students.”

The concert is offered through Amanda’s Amici Concerts which she runs with Meg Hamilton. Between them they have contributed to a number of Festivals of Chichester: “With us growing up in the area it's lovely to be playing here now and to have that connection with the festival. Now that we are professional performers we feel like we are almost giving back because Chichester gave so much to us but also Amici Concerts is a wonderful opportunity to bring friends down to Chichester, people that maybe audiences here would not have the chance to hear otherwise. And the lovely thing is also that we do quite a mix of styles and genres with soloists and chamber groups.”

Also coming up through Amici Concerts is Bowjangles at Halnaker Park Cottage Gardens, Sunday, July 2 at 3pm, again for the Festival of Chichester. Bowjangles is an award-winning group of multi-talented genre-spinners, bringing music, storytelling, cabaret, theatre, choreography and comedy together in a way you’ve never seen before.