Carlos Bonell
Carlos Bonell has enjoyed an immensely varied career. His activities include TV, Film and CD recordings, international tours, concertos with the major orchestras and concerts with his own ensemble. Carlos’ guitar playing can be heard on the recent Hollywood films ‘City of Angels’ and ‘The Honest Courtesan’ and on the TV films ‘Inspector Morse’ and ‘The Politician’s Wife’.
Carlos Bonell was born in London of Spanish parents and studied at the Royal College of Music with John Williams. He was appointed the youngest ever professor there in 1972. Since that time he has played in many parts of the world including most European capitals as well as in the United States, Israel, Australia and the Far East. He has appeared regularly with all the major British orchestras and at many international Festivals including The City of London, Aldeburgh, Helsinki, Israel, Tanglewood, Sydney, Istanbul, Hong Kong and New York’s Mostly Mozart Festival.He gained prominence in 1981 through his recording for Decca of Rodrigo’s Concierto de Aranjuez with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Charles Dutoit. It was hailed as a “magnificent triumph” by Classical Music Magazine, UK, and awarded a coveted rosette by the Penguin CD guide. Since that time it has been repeatedly singled out as the finest version available.
In addition to his Decca recordings Carlos Bonell has recorded for EMI, ASV, CBS and Upbeat Classics. At the beginning of his recording career his 1976 CBS recording with John Williams and Friends received a Grammy nomination, while his latest solo album release (‘The Private Collection’ Upbeat Classics 1998) was described as “a masterclass in magic” by the BBC Music Magazine. His 1997 album ‘The Sea in Spring’ was chosen as Pick of the Week by Classic FM. The 2000 album ‘Kinkachoo, I love you. Millennium Guitar, the first 1000 years’ is a unique musical journey through 1000 years of musical history, containing various first recordings.
He has appeared in concert with a wide variety of musicians including guitarist John Williams, flamenco guitarists Paco Pena and Juan Martin, jazz guitarist Martin Taylor, violinists Salvatore Accardo, Pinchas Zukerman and Levon Chilingirian, and singers Patricia Rozario, Teresa Berganza, Cleo Laine and Philip Langridge.
Carlos Bonell has just released a fully interactive DVD, were he performs 1 hour of the most recognised and loved pieces from the classical guitar repertoire. Interactive menus allow you to view the performance by choosing to watch right hand or left hand in addition to the main footage, which allows a close-up perspective of the techniques employed.
