Guitar Festival Sunday Concert – From Penny Lane to Andalucía – Including Music from the Norwegian Fjords

Tutor information

Debra and Carlos have had a connection going back many years. Aged 14 Debra attended a guitar weekend run by Carlos at West Dean College, and shortly after became his private student whilst still at school.   In 1987-1988 Debra studied with Carlos, although it was another few years before their paths met at Cannington in 1991.

Debra Adamson-Brattland has been a course tutor at the yearly Dillington Classical Guitar Summer School since 2017. She has appeared as both soloist and chamber musician at Festivals in the UK, including the Guitar Festival of Great Britain, the Cannington International Festival, and the Dillington Festival, among others. In Norway she presented a concert for King Harald, played on TV with her late husband, Arne Brattland, and toured extensively with him throughout Norway and the UK.   In June this year Debra recorded an album with the renowned sound engineer John Taylor. It includes previously unrecorded music. Other recordings include Arctic Suite with Arne Brattland. As well as with Arne Brattland, Debra has performed with Carlos Bonell and Raymond Burley. With Carlos she pioneered a Benefit Concert in 2022 for the Ukraine as part of the Portsmouth Festivities, playing solos and duets. In addition to her performing and recording activities Debra is also Music Editor for The Carlos Bonell Edition, and co-hosts Zoomed Guitars Live with Carlos, a popular world-wide gathering of guitarists and music lovers on social media.
Debra is greatly in demand as an Associated Board Music Examiner and an approved learning partner and assessor of A level and GCSE Music for two private examination centres in the UK. Her GCSE, A Level and Music Theory Courses attract some of the UK’s most talented young musicians, many of whom attend the Junior Departments at the Royal College, Royal Academy of Music, London and Trinity Guildhall, London. Her work has been graded “outstanding” by OFSTED and is testament to the rewarding learning experience she provides.www.debra-adamson-bratland.com

Carlos Bonell has been described by the Classical Guitar Magazine, UK as “one of the great communicators of the guitar world”. Carlos was born in London of Spanish parents learning to play Spanish folk music from the age of 5 with his father who was a keen amateur guitarist. He completed his studies at the Royal College of Music with John Williams, where he was appointed the youngest ever professor at the age of 22.
After Carlos’ New York début in 1978, the New York Times described him as an artist of “superb poetic gifts”. Appearances followed at many international Festivals followed including The City of London, Aldeburgh, Helsinki, Israel, Tanglewood, Sydney, Istanbul, and Hong Kong.
For the past few years, Carlos has been helping Sir Paul McCartney, in composing a concerto for guitar and orchestra. The work was featured in a cover article by The New Yorker magazine. Carlos’ recordings include the BBC TV Inspector Morse theme for the original series, as well as the more recent UK TV series Endeavour (the young Inspector Morse). His Queen Guitar Rhapsodies CD is a concerto-style arrangement of music by the group Queen for solo guitar and symphony orchestra. It was widely praised, including by Queen’s Brian May himself. The album of Beatles arrangements Magical Mystery Guitar Tour went to number one on the UK classical iTunes charts and reached the top ten in the overall UK iTunes charts. In 2020, during the pandemic, he initiated the Zoomed Guitars Live on social media, a popular worldwide gathering of guitar players and music lovers. At the time of writing in 2023 this is still active.
www.carlosbonell.com