Biography
Described by Gendai Guitar Magazine as a “poet and a painter, colouring sounds out of the guitar as if his imagination and the guitar were one”, Jack Hancher is a rising star of the classical guitar. In 2022, he won the prestigious Gold Medal of the Royal Overseas League Competition at London's Wigmore Hall, becoming just the third guitarist to win the award. This was preceded in 2021 by a tour of several European Guitar Festivals as a EuroStrings Artist.
In 2020, Jack won a string of awards at various guitar competitions, including First Prize at both the Zagreb Guitar Festival Competition and the Plovdiv GuitArt Festival Competition and in 2021, he was awarded Second Prize at the Altamira International Guitar Competition. In 2018, Jack performed at Wigmore Hall, London, playing his arrangements of Albeniz’s piano music. In 2017, he was accepted onto the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) Young Artists Platform and performed at the IGF London Guitar Festival at Kings Place, London in October that year.
Jack has performed across Europe including with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Christian Karlsen, in venues such as the Großer Ehrbar Saal, Vienna, St David’s Hall, Cardiff and has performed live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.
In 2024, Jack will be releasing his debut album with the record label Deux-Elles. The album will consist of music by English composers including Benjamin Britten, Malcolm Arnold and John Dowland and will also feature two new commissions by Dani Howard and Laura Snowden. 2024 also sees Jack’s first performances and masterclasses in America.
Jack has given Masterclasses at Conservatoires around Europe, including at the Royal College of Music, London and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff.
Jack is an Augustine Strings Artist.
