Since being a prize winner in the prestigious London International Guitar Competition, Swedish Johan Löfving has established himself as one of the most exciting musicians of a new generation.
His
solo recitals have taken him to some of the finest halls in Britain
such as Kings Place and The Sage Gateshead, followed by celebrated
chamber music performances in major halls and festivals such as
Spitalfields, King's Lynn, Stratford-on-Avon, Brighton Early Music
Festival, Carinthischer Sommer, Styriarte Festival and Konzertsaal der
Wiener Sängerknaben MuTh in Vienna.
He
graduated with First Class Honours from the Royal College of Music in
London where he studied guitar with Gary Ryan, theorbo with Jakob
Lindberg and conducting with Natalia Luis-Bassa. At
RCM he was awarded both the Guitar Prize and the Hilda Anderson Dean
Prize. Later, he completed his studies with Prof. Robert Wolff at the
Mozarteum in Salzburg.
Additionally, in 2011 Johan was awarded the First Prize in the Young Talent Concert at the Uppsala Guitar Festival in Sweden the performance was recorded and broadcasted later by the Swedish Radio P2.
The
following year he was honored to receive the Jörgen Rörby Prize from the Swedish
Guitar and Lute Society as well as their audience prize.
Since 2009, Johan has been performing regularly with his wife, flautist Yu-Wei Hu as Flauguissimo Duo. They
have specialized in the early 19th century repertoire and its exciting
blend of spontaneous musical conversations and sublime beauty. The
musical experience is heightened by their use of period instruments and
Johan is particularly fond of his beautifully ornamented french guitar
dating back to 1850.
Apart
from his long term work with Flauguissimo Duo, he has worked with some
of the finest musicians, such as baritone Thomas Guthrie, tenor Rob
Murray and pianist David Owen Norris who invited him to take part in the 'Playlist Series' on BBC Radio 4. His
passion for new music has resulted in several world premieres of both
solo and chamber works, notably by the highly acclaimed British composer
and guitarist Sam Cave.
Johan is keen to emphasize the great inspiration he received from his teachers since the very beginning. He
started to play at the age of nine at the Music School in Årjäng with
Lars Eriksson. From there, he went on to study privately with
the distinguished Norwegian Guitar Professor Sven Lundestad and later
with Bo Hansson in Stockholm. Later he had the honour to study with legendary Eliot Fisk in Salzburg as part of the Erasmus Exchange Programme.
Johan plays on a guitar made by the Norwegian Luthier Yngvar Thomassen, a theorbo by German Wolfgang Emmerich and a French Tribout guitar from 1850.
Programme
On original romantic guitar:
Sor: Mozart variations op 9
Giuliani: Sonata op. 15 (three movements)
Mertz: Lied Ohne Worte and Tarantelle
Interval
On modern classical guitar:
Kubizek: Sonata op 13a
( varied four movement piece by quite unknown Austrian composer from last century)
Refracted Meditations I & II
( two short pieces by young British guitarist and composer Sam Cave)
Ponce: Sonatina Meridional (three movements)
