Paul Galbraith

Internationally renowned as a brilliant innovator of the classical guitar, Paul Galbraith was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in March 1964. His parents aren’t musicians, but the family name has been associated since the 12th century in Scotland with generations of harpists and lutenists. “We always heard a lot of classical music at home. At three or four years of age, I was already addicted to some of their records”, Galbraith recalls, who started piano lessons when he was 7 years old, in London, where… Show more his family settled after returning from 3 years spent living in Malawi, East Africa, between 1967 and 1970. Encouraged by the head teacher at his primary school, Galbraith began group guitar lessons at age 8. Some months later, this teacher recommended that he study with Graham Wade – who later came to publish a biography on Segovia.

After spending eight months in Cornwall, where he had guitar lessons with Iain Jackson, Paul Galbraith returned with his family to Edinburgh, in August 1975. As a student at St. Mary’s Music School, he had guitar tuition with Barry Shaw and piano lessons with Francesca Uhlenbruek. “Barry would take me about once a month or so to a recording studio at Murray House where he taught, and filmed my repertoire of pieces for that period. Then we’d watch it, and he’d let me be my own teacher; he allowed me to draw my own conclusions”, remembers Galbraith, who gave his first public concert in May 1976.

The following year, he was presented to the guitarist Alirio Diaz, who recommended that he continue his guitar studies with Gordon Crosskey, and so, to this end, Galbraith moved to Chetham’s Music School in Manchester, England. Besides regularly appearing at school concerts, he gave his first concerto performance with orchestra in February 1980.

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