| His early studies
took place in Manchester and London with Duarte and then later at
Toronto University, Canada with Alirio Diaz and Leo Brouwer. On his
return to the UK, he made his Wigmore debut.
He followed
this with tours and Proms Concerts with some of our finest orchestras and
conductors including the CBSO under Sir Simon Rattle, the SNO under Sir
Alexander Gibson and the London Philharmonic
Orchestra.
In 1982, he took part in a Royal Gala weekend at the new Barbican
Hall in London, becoming the first guitarist to play Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez
in this great hall.
His first LP record
Classical Guitar was featured Pick of the Month in two national magazines
and two of his BBC Radio 3 broadcasts were featured as special repeats and
his broadcast with John Turner on Recorder received the unusual accolade
of two repeats.
He has recorded for the
Guitar Masters label and Devil Records, XLCR, Apoyo, Forsyths and the HLM
(Holland) labels and has been a featured artist on radio in Europe and the
USA. More recently in 2011 his management team Unizarre International & their in-house distribution arm 'The Spanglish Store' acquired a major distribution deal for Neil with international award-winning distributors 'Proper Music', one of the largest Music Distributors in the UK.
He has examined for the
University of Wales, the Royal Northern College of Music and is a Fellow
of The London College of Music. He has given masterclasses in the USA,
Russia, Greece, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Italy and the Netherlands
and has been a member of several international music juries. Neil has also
taught for the world-famous Chetham's School in Manchester.
His recent successes
include a special appearance at Glamis Castle in August 2000 for the 100th
birthday of Her Majesty The Queen Mother for an audience of 5,800. Not
only has he played in such distinguished venues; he has also played for
His Highness Sheikh Maktoum in Arabia and for His Excellency the Spanish
Ambassador, H.E. the Colombian Ambassador and H.E. the Israeli Ambassador
in addition to the film-star Elizabeth Taylor in Rome and a special
recital for a Soviet tank division at the castle of Attila the Hun. |
