Surrey academic secures placement on three high-profile classic recordings

Professor Goss has reworked several iconic 19th-century virtuoso violin works for Nicola Benedetti’s upcoming album Violin Café, which will be released on 21 November. Nicola is currently performing music from the album at 14 major venues across the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. The tour continues in the new year in the US and Canada. For this project, Stephen arranged pieces by Paganini, Sarasate and Wieniawski for a small ensemble of violin, accordion, guitar and cello, giving the music a fresh and distinctive sound. 

He also contributed four arrangements to Letters from Paris by rising British guitarist Alexandra Whittingham. Released on 3 October by Decca Classics, the album is a personal tribute to French music and culture, featuring songs and instrumental pieces inspired by Paris. The album went straight to number 2 in the Classical Album Charts the week it was released. Alexandra’s playing moves between the delicate and the dramatic, with Stephen’s arrangements helping to highlight the warmth and colour of French melody. His work includes new versions of Paul Durand’s Mademoiselle de Paris, and pieces by Reynaldo Hahn arranged for guitar, duet and ensemble.  

The third album, Eternal Fantasy, features arrangements of music from video games. This album was recorded by Japanese guitarist Kaori Muraji and her brother Soichi. Stephen has arranged music from Stardew Valley and Skyrim. The album was released on 17th October. At the time of writing, both Alexandra's and Kaori’s albums are in the top 10 classical album charts for streaming on Apple Music.  

Professor Stephen Goss leads the International Guitar Research Centre (IGRC) at Surrey. Launched in 2014 to create a global hub for research focused on the guitar across all styles of music, the centre works closely with partners including the International Guitar Foundation, the Guitar Foundation of America, the International Guitar Research Archive at California State University, Northridge, the Altamira Foundation in China, and 21st Century Guitar in Canada. Together they have co-hosted conferences and festivals in the USA, Hong Kong, China, Canada, Portugal, Germany, the UK and Australia. The centre is run by Professor Goss alongside Dr Milton Mermikides and Dr John McGrath, with legendary guitarist John Williams as Honorary President.