Sean Shibe: Forgotten Dances – Lute & Guitars

Each of the three miniature recitals which comprise this concert are made up of music that has been, in a sense, lost or forgotten.

Scottish lute manuscripts, held in various aristocratic houses before the union of crowns, refer to a time when the border between folk and classical music was much more porous than it is these days; this music has only come to light relatively recently.

Bach’s Cello Suites were, similarly, neglected until the 1900s; Frank Martin’s sole contribution to the classical guitar literature was ignored by its dedicatee, Andrés Segovia; and Thomas Adès’ unprecedented solo guitar work, Forgotten Dances, includes various kinds of dances Courantes and Berceuses for the guitar, or perhaps ‘remembers’ them.

The recital culminates in a newly commissioned piece which again questions what a ‘forgotten dance’ could be, this time on an undeniably contemporary instrument.

Young Artist Award 2018 winner and recipient of the 2022 Leonard Bernstein Award, Sean Shibe continues to prove himself a truly original mind at the frontier of contemporary classical music.

Shibe is a Southbank Centre Resident Artist for Classical Music: Autumn/Winter 2025/26.