Tony McManus & Julia Toaspern

Tony McManus has come to be recognized throughout the world as the leading guitarist in Celtic music and has been named among Guitar Player Magazine’s 50 Best Acoustic Guitarists ​​of all time. From early childhood his twin obsessions of traditional music and acoustic guitar have worked together to produce a startlingly original approach to this ancient art. In Tony’s hands the complex ornamentation normally associated with fiddles and pipes are accurately transferred to guitar in a way that preserves the integrity and emotional impact of the music.

Joining him is Julia Toaspern, a multi-talented musician from Berlin who combines classical training on violin and voice with a wide interest in genres such as jazz, baroque and traditional music. Their twin guitar treatment of traditional music is unique and each supports the other in exploring the harmonic possibilities of these old, and not so old, tunes. Each of the pair both flatpicks and fingerpicks at the highest level but always at the service of the tune rather than a display of technique. Her violin can effortlessly morph into a fiddle as she weaves from Italian madrigal to Scottish reel. As a singer, Julia’s songs go to the heart of love and loss, hope and survival and are inflected with musical influences from an eclectic experience of musical life.