Biography
Described by Gramophone Magazine as a guitarist with “youthful intensity tempered by sophisticated musical intelligence” and 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 2024, Jack released his debut album “The Memory Garden” on the Deux-Elles label to critical acclaim. It was described by BBC Record Review as “clean, clear, well focused and compelling playing” and was selected by MusicWeb International amongst their “Best Recordings of 2024”. The album consists of music by English composers and features two new commissions by Dani Howard and Laura Snowden.
Jack has 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 and in 2017, he was accepted onto the International Guitar Foundation Young Artists Platform, performing 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, and has performed live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune. 2025 sees Jack’s first concerts 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.
