2010 is the year of GUITAR CIRCUS.

After some really fantastic auditions in November for our London and Birmingham branches of GUITAR CIRCUS, we are preparing for the launch of both these ensembles on 17 January 2010.

We had a wonderful response for our London auditions and Gary Ryan (GUITAR CIRCUS Musical Director) and myself were bowled over by the enthusiasm and talent of all the young guitarists who came to spend the day with us. It was tough to whittle everyone down to the final selection, so much so that we are going to run a GUITAR CIRCUS training scheme that will meet throughout the year to help some of our most promising young guitarists develop some of the skills we are looking for in the GUITAR CIRCUS ensemble. Details of the 2010 training scheme dates will be released as soon as they are available.

GUITAR CIRCUS Birmingham has also had a very promising start and we are looking to expand this ensemble during the Spring. We will be running an rolling audition scheme throughout the coming months so if you are interested in applying please contact the GUITAR CIRCUS office either by completing our on-line audition form, or by giving us a call. Our London GUITAR CIRCUS ensemble is currently full and our next round of auditions for this branch will be held in Autumn 2010.

If you would like to apply then we are looking for players aged 12-18 who have reached Grade 5 standard or higher. We would like to emphasise that our GUITAR CIRCUS ensembles have a broad mix of ages and abilities, and we would especially encourage younger players to apply. Our GUITAR CIRCUS London ensemble has an average age of 15 years and an average Grade standard of 6.5 which just goes to show that you don’t have to be an 18 year old Grade 8 student to audition for us!

GUITAR CIRCUS will be giving all these young players a unique opportunity to have regular coaching with some of the UK’s most inspirational guitarists. Our monthly term-time rehearsals will be intensive, running from 10.30 – 4.30, and the sessions will feature ensemble coaching, technical development, warm-ups and performance practice too. Our Musical Directors (Gary Ryan : London,  Mark Ashford : Birmingham,  Craig Ogden : Manchester) are all highly sought-after tutors and internationally acclaimed performers.

We hope to be able to launch a GUITAR CIRCUS Manchester branch later this year, so if you would like to register your interest in this then please contact us.