The guitar was the one of the most popular instruments in Britain during the 16th, 17th and 18th century.
Queen Mary of Scots and Queen Elizabeth must have sung with thesmall 4 course “Renaissance” guitar, Charles II and Samuel Pepys played the 5 course “Baroque” guitar, and Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Gainsborough enjoyed the sound of metal strung English guittar. In this concert an Early music specialist Taro Takeuchi will talk about and play early guitars including rare originals.

Taro Takeuchi studied at the St. Paul’s University, Tokyo and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. He has been in great demand as a soloist and ensemble player, and worked with The Royal Opera House, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Berlin Philharmonic, as well as Sir Simon Rattle and Nigel Kennedy. His recordings Folias!, Affectuoso, Lovely Nancy and
The Blue Bells of Scotland were received with critical acclaim.

Taro is a member of The Consortium for Guitar Research at the University of Cambridge, and The Lute Society.
His academic paper ‘Rediscovering the Regency lute’ has been published by Oxford University Press, 2018.