home | biography | reviews | writing | links | discography

Jonathan Leathwood is a genius.
—Therese Wassily Saba, Classical Guitar [UK]

Stunning and magical…at no moment in the program could one mistake the uniquely personal vision of this performer, one in which music is honed to the fundamentals of sound, attack and shape…and where there is the complete absence – denial even – of superficiality and flash. There is nobody I know better able to persuade that these things deserve to be at the centre of our attention.
—Stephen Kenyon, Classical Guitar

Leathwood made light of their technical difficulties…remarkable talent, singular artistry.
—Antony Bye, Musical Times [London, UK]

Jonathan Leathwood’s extraordinary musicianship and skills are taking the instrument to artistic realms considered unreachable by the guitar world. Among the concert guitarists it has been my privilege to know and admire, he is the only one I feel confident to call a genius.
—Ricardo Iznaola, guitarist [Denver, USA]

Leathwood has a flair for the live act that is hard to capture without the visual aspect…[he has] to be seen to be believed…his repertoire and sound world are unique; there are very few people (if any) who can negotiate the intellectual demands of composers such as Maxwell Davies, Carter, Ohana or Vir, not to mention Bach and Renaissance composers, the way he does.
—Fabio Zanon, Violão Intercambio [Brazil]

…Jonathan Leathwood was an even more remarkable performer. Record and video producers will no doubt leap at his looks: a Caravaggio player come to life…responding as if the music were making love to him. Looking away, one heard from his mind and fingers the same subtle, ecstatic responses.
—Andrew Porter, The Observer [UK]

A compelling and richly rewarding musical experience…few guitarists would undertake a whole programme of Bach, let alone the three solo violin partitas, yet it soon became apparent that this was a player with a profound understanding of the music…the B minor Partita particularly revealed his exceptional sense of rhythm…for me, this was the rare experience of listening to a guitar recital where the communication of the music transcended the mechanics of playing the instrument itself.
—Peter Batchelar, Classical Guitar

The Adagio in particular spoke of a search for every proper emotional nuance…his immense talent should ensure him a career of magnitude and duration.
—John Duarte, Guitar International [UK]

Di lui ci ha colpito la padronanza di trattare sullo strumento come nella teoria la musica di Bach, facendoci ricordare, con debita riverenza, l’energia di Glenn Gould.

[We were struck by his masterful ability to negotiate Bach’s music both in theory and practice, reminding us, with all due respect, of the energy of Glenn Gould.]
—Luigi Attademo, GuitArt [Italy]

To have early mastered the utmost technical demands of so difficult an instrument as the guitar is rare. To possess not only an infallible memory for its repertoire, but a depth of understanding at once intuitive and analytical, is rarer still. And to be able to communicate such understanding with an intensity that has audiences hanging upon every note is rarest of all. Speaking at once as a composer, critic and listener, I would say that Jonathan Leathwood has it all.
—Bayan Northcott, composer and critic [UK]

Jonathan Leathwood is a musician of outstanding ability and sensitivity…an artist of rare expressivity and depth.
—Param Vir, composer [UK]

A few months ago I went to see a concert by one of the greatest performers I’ve ever seen – as well as a great friend of mine – the British guitarist Jonathan Leathwood. In the second half of the concert he played only one long piece, Si le jour paraît by Maurice Ohana on the ten-string guitar – which is definitely a brave choice, if you consider that he was playing in a little town in southern Italy and that Ohana’s music requires a very strong concentration from the audience. Usually after five to ten minutes you begin to see people straining every nerve to keep still on their chair, people coughing, people nervously examining the printed programme, people asking each other in a low voice, ‘Out of seven, what movement is this?’ Nothing similar happened at that concert: his interpretation was so thoughtful, so consistent, so touching and so persuasive that for thirty minutes one could have heard a pin drop. A memorable musical experience, and the evidence that if you know what you want to say, whether you are playing Henze’s Royal Winter Music or Roland Dyens, everybody is willing to get involved.
—Lorenzo Micheli, interview in Classical Guitar, December 2002

…il numeroso pubblico…non ha potuto far altro che spellarsi le mani…In tutto quasi due ore di concerto durante le quali il pubblico si è lasciato trasportare dai virtuosismi del chitarrista inglese.

[…the many people in the audience…could only wear out their hands with clapping…All told, a concert of nearly two hours during which the audience allowed itself to be transported by the virtuosity of the English guitarist.]
—La Gazetta del Mezzogiorno [Italy]

A unique talent among the younger generation of guitarists. Playing of remarkable textural clarity and intellectual conviction.
—Michael Lewin, Head of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music, London [UK]

He has an innate musical intelligence and an extraordinary analytical mind. These two qualities, together with his very fine technique, allow him to play with a depth of musical perception and a marvellous sense of interpretation that are rarely heard in the world of the guitar.
—Gordon Crosskey, Head of Guitar at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester [UK]

Jonathan Leathwood brings to his interpretations deep insights and a vast breadth of knowledge, and he is blessed with prodigious technical gifts which enable him to scale heights of virtuosity.
—Gilbert Biberian, composer and guitarist [UK]