NEW WAVE MUSIC: A Classical Guitar Voyage - Eva Victoria Schockmel

Currently a Bloomsbury resident, Eva Victoria Schockmel is a classical guitarist from Luxembourg. Her programme of solo classical guitar music spans three centuries and celebrates traditions, as well as their continuous reimagining through new creations.

The creation and reinvention element of this year’s Bloomsbury Festival edition is reflected in the four arrangements featured: Two were made by David Russell (Skye Boat Song and Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond, two Scottish folksongs); and the other two are Eva’s, namely Rêverie Op. 13 and Romance Op. 27 by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. Most significantly, the festival’s creation theme is embodied in her own composition Le château de ma grand-mère, which she wrote during her current stay at Goodenough College in Bloomsbury. The piece pays homage to her grandmother while celebrating the sanctuary of immaterial treasures: the transmission of memories and traditions, those intangible bonds that shape who we are.

The remaining three pieces speak to the theme of celebration. Barrios’ La Catedral, one of the most cherished works in the classical guitar repertoire, evokes the immensity of a cathedral. The Millipede is Walking by the English composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad playfully celebrates the ever-renewing cycle of the natural world. The final piece of the programme, Johann Kaspar Mertz’s Fantaisie Hongroise, concludes with a virtuosic czárdás.