Aquarelle Guitar Quartet feat. Sara Dowling
Biographie Aquarelle Guitar Quartet feat. Sara Dowling
Aquarelle Guitar Quartet
Recognised as one of the world’s leading guitar quartets, the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet is a dynamic and innovative group known for its extraordinary ensemble in performance, expansive repertoire and ground-breaking work in developing the guitar quartet medium. Originally formed at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1999 under the guidance of Craig Ogden and Gordon Crosskey, the quartet continued their studies with guitarists including Sérgio Assad, Oscar Ghiglia and Scott Tennant. Their early successes included winning awards from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, Tillett Trust and Tunnell Trust.
In 2016 the Aquarelle Guitar Quartet was invited to perform at Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. The concert, which also featured Maxim Vengerov, Debbie Wiseman, Laura Wright and Wayne Marshall, was recorded for subsequent broadcast. The Aquarelle Guitar Quartet has performed in many other major concert halls in the UK, including Perth Concert Hall, Wigmore Hall, St. Martin-in-the-Fields and Bridgewater Hall. Their engagements have taken them throughout Europe, including Germany, Spain, Denmark, Greece, Estonia, Poland and Ireland. The ensemble made its debut in Asia in 2014 with a series of concerts in Seoul and since then they have regularly returned, most recently with a tour of South Korea in 2022.
The AGQ is dedicated to presenting music from around the globe, spanning the period from the renaissance right through to the present day. Alongside their own arrangements of music from various genres, including works by Gismonti, Mussorgsky, Rossini, and film music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, the quartet has been invited to perform the work of many established international composers, including Carlos Rafael Rivera (U.S.A), Phillip Houghton (Australia), Stephen Dodgson (U.K) and Nikita Koshkin (Russia). In 2009 the group commissioned Brazilian composer Clarice Assad to write a piece for their debut CD, and her work ‘Danças Nativas’ was nominated for a Latin Grammy® award for best classical composition.
The Aquarelle Guitar Quartet has been signed exclusively to Chandos Records since 2009, during which time they have recorded 5 critically acclaimed albums: ‘Spirit of Brazil’ (March 2009), ‘Dances’ (June 2010), ‘Final Cut’ (June 2012), ‘Cuatro’ (Nov 2013) and ‘Aspects’ (Nov 2016). BBC Music Magazine awarded ‘Spirit of Brazil’ five stars for both performance and recording and subsequent releases have received excellent reviews from the press ranging from International Record Guide, American Record Guide, Classical Guitar Magazine through to CD of the Week on Classic FM and Editor’s Choice in Gramophone Magazine.
Recognising the responsibility artists have to impart some of their knowledge and experience to future generations, AGQ embraces every opportunity to be involved in education work. As former members of Yehudi Menuhin’s outreach scheme ‘Live Music Now’ they are equipped with experience and expertise in providing educational recitals to a wide range of audiences. They all enjoy teaching posts in the north-west of England and the quartet regularly gives masterclasses to guitarists and chamber musicians, ranging from enthusiastic young players to aspiring professionals, including students at the RNCM and Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
In 2023, Craig Ogden joined the group to replace Rory Russell who had decided to step back from the quartet after 17 years. As well as being a world-renowned soloist, Craig is an exceptional chamber musician and the quartet is looking forward to new projects including an exciting recording collaboration of music from Latin America and a supporting tour.
Sara Dowling
Sara Dowling, a Palestinian-Irish jazz vocalist, was voted Best Vocalist in the 2019 British Jazz Awards and is recognized as one of Europe’s leading jazz singers.
Due to Sara’s mixed parentage her first contact with music was the voice of Fairuz and Umm Kalthoum whom her mother dearly loved and, in complete contrast, the piano of Errol Garner, her father’s favourite. Originally trained as a classical cellist at Chetham’s and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, she performed with the Hallé Orchestra and for Yo-Yo Ma at the age of 18. All her musical experiences eventually led her to discover her voice and her passion for extemporisation, thus emerging as a powerful and expressive jazz vocalist and composer. Her most important influences are Betty Carter and Sarah Vaughan.
Now a resident of Spain after an extended career on the London jazz scene, Sara is currently playing on many European stages. El País International recently published a feature on Sara where journalist Ferran Bono said, “Sara Dowling, the jazz singer with Palestinian roots, shines in Valencia […] showcasing her powerful vocal range and commanding stage presence in Spain.”
Testament to Sara’s exceptional artistic evolution as a performer, composer and bandleader, she has headlined jazz festivals in France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Hungary and shared the stage with many top artists like Michael Kanan, Bruce Barth, Albert Sanz, Andrea Pozza, Terrell Stafford, Jason Rebello, Steve Brown, Ross Stanley and Mátyás Gayer. The move to Europe started a new chapter for Sara and within her first year of residing in Valencia she headlined at two of the most prestigious festivals in Spain, San Javier 2022 and the San Sebastian Festival Jazzaldía 2023.
She has also performed in festivals and concert series such as The British Jazz Festival in France, Jazz Tardor 2022, Valladolid Jazz 2022, International Jazz Day Auditorio de Tenerife 2023, Jazz at UPV Valencia 2023, Santander Centro Botín 2023, Cangas Jazz 2024, Fundacion Juan March 2024.
As an in-demand educator, Sara has taught at jazz seminars throughout Spain, including Berklee Valencia, Leon International Seminario de Jazz, SedaJazz Workshop, Tenerife Jazz Camp, Jorge Rossy’s Jazz Camp Begues 2025, Jazz Alhaurrín Malaga 2023 and Seminario Internacional de Jazz Fuengirola 2025.
Sara’s recent work includes collaborations on albums with Bruce Barth “At Sundown Time”, Ignasi Terraza “Star Gazers”, she featured on Perico Sambeat’s album “Roneando”, and Albert Sanz Big Band “Algú Que Em Vullgar Cuidar”. In 2024, she launched the duo project Samā with Albert Sanz, releasing a live recording of their concert at Fundación Juan March in Madrid, “The music of Tom Jobim”. Summer 2025 will see the release of “Bons Amigos” for the prestigious label Chandos Records, a collaboration with the U.K. based Aquarela Guitar Quartet where Sara appears as vocalist, cellist, pianist and composer.
