Biography

Hope Cramsie is a classical guitarist based in the UK and Belgium. Originally from Herefordshire, she is currently studying a Masters degree with Professor Antigoni Goni at the Koninklijk Conservatorium Brussels.

She is a versatile performer whose programmes showcase a diverse repertoire ranging from renditions of Renaissance music to the premiering of brand new works. During her first year at KCB she was among a few students selected to perform in a recital shared with her professor as part of the Brussels Guitar Laboratory annual festival, which this year was dedicated to composer Augustin Barrios and which hosted the Paraguayan Ambassador to Belgium as a special guest. She also recently became a Young Artist of the Musicians’ Company, after winning the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award.

Hope graduated with First Class Honours in 2021 from the Royal College of Music where she studied as an undergraduate with Professors Gary Ryan and Chris Stell. During her time at the RCM she appeared frequently in the college’s various concert series, including their annual Super Strings Festival. She was selected to attend the RCS Big Guitar Weekend and the International Guitar Foundation’s weekend course as a representative of the RCM. Her degree also included a semester studying at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with Jesper Sivebæk as part of the Erasmus Exchange Programme.

During her final year she was awarded First Prize at Leister Music Festival’s Advanced Guitar Competition, and was selected for the International Guitar Foundation’s Young Artist Scheme resulting in a recital at Kings Place during the London Guitar Festival.

Since then Hope has featured regularly in the IGF’s Young Artist concert series and in their La Leona concert series which celebrates women in the guitar work that resulted in a new commission by Electra Perivolaris. Other venues and festivals she has performed at include Concerts for Craswall, the National Portrait Gallery and How the Light Gets in Literary and Arts Festival.

Her Masters studies have been kindly supported by the Concerts for Craswall Trust and the Elmley Foundation.

Award: Ivor Mairants Guitar Award 2023

Page updated: 30 January 2024

Photo credit: Cedric Honings