Description
Chris Dumigan was born in 1951, in Urmston, Manchester, music has always been a part of his life from a very early age. Chris began playing guitar at 11 in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Hank Marvin of the Shadows but also learned classical guitar at the same time. He has always composed music, firstly pseudo-Shadows instrumentals, and then singer-songwriter material from his early 20s. During 1970-1983 he managed to write 139 songs, and two fully blown rock musicals, during his capacity as Musical Director for Genesis Theatre, a group who revelled in performing rock musicals. After 1983 Chris decided to write exclusively for the classical guitar, which previously he had always done in between his other musical activities. It was at this time that he transcribed the recorded works of Barrios, the famous Paraguayan guitar performer-composer, which took Chris three years and which eventually saw the light of day as The Barrios Anniversary Edition, the first edition to publish the complete transcriptions of Barrios. He has carried on composing a large number of works for classical guitar, which all remained unplayed in a professional capacity until 1996 when Paul Gregory asked Chris for a set of pieces that quoted folk-songs as their basis. The end result was A Garland of Grainger which Paul Gregory gave the premiere of the following spring at the Brighton Festival, and which continues to be in his repertoire today. Paul being a lover of chamber works involving the guitar has asked Chris each time for works of different combinations of instruments with the guitar and to date almost a dozen such works have resulted. Since then other players, including Craig Ogden, Shuko Shibata, Galina Vale and Scott Bradley have played his original works, and Karin Schaupp, Neil Smith and Philippe Lemaigre have played his Barrios transcriptions. When not composing or teaching, he reviews for the Classical Guitar magazine, and plays in an acoustic instrumental cross - over group called Acoustic Moods. www.chrisdumigan.co.uk
