Guitar Legends at Calstock Arts: Eight Unmissable Guitar Shows This Spring & Summer
Love the guitar? Then you’re in for a treat at Calstock Arts this spring and summer. From April through to June, we are hosting a remarkable run of guitar-led performances spanning folk, gypsy jazz, Cuban world music and beyond. Whether you’re a devoted six-string enthusiast or simply someone who appreciates extraordinary live music in an intimate setting, this season has something to set your pulse racing.
Here’s your guide to every guitar-focused show coming up at the Old Chapel.
The Guitar Lineup: Spring & Summer 2026 at Calstock Arts
11 April – Remi Harris Hot Club Trio: Gypsy Jazz, Blues and Virtuoso Guitar
The guitar season kicks off to a dazzling start with the Remi Harris Hot Club Trio – an evening of gypsy jazz and blues performed by one of the most exciting guitarists in the UK today. Remi Harris has been devoted to the guitar since the age of seven, and his journey has taken him from busking in his local towns all the way to Buckingham Palace, the Montreal Jazz Festival and the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Jamie Cullum. Inspired by the likes of Django Reinhardt, Peter Green, Wes Montgomery, Jimi Hendrix and Joe Pass, his playing carries the full breadth of that lineage with effortless, warm authority.
Joining him are double bassist Tom Moore (a long-standing musical partner of over a decade) and rhythm guitarist Chris Nesbitt, a South West-based jazz and blues guitarist who now lectures at Bath Spa University. Together, the trio bring a chemistry and cohesion that only comes from genuine musical kinship. Remi has also been building a formidable reputation as an author, with his book 100 Gypsy Jazz Guitar Licks reaching the Amazon Top 10, and Dr Martin Taylor MBE recently praising him as a true master of both gypsy jazz and blues. An unmissable opening to Calstock Arts’ guitar season.
- Date: Saturday 11 April | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £15 in advance / £18 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends of Calstock Arts
- Book tickets here
18 April – The Latin Bridge: Cuban Rhythms in the Heart of Cornwall
Next up in our guitar season is one of the most vibrant acts to visit the Old Chapel in recent memory. The Latin Bridge is a Cuban and Latin American ensemble founded by the highly experienced guitarist and vocalist Sergio Marciano Pereda, who was born in Santiago de Cuba and has spent decades performing across more than 25 countries. Joining him are Cristiano Rocha Assis on trumpet, Adolfredo Pulido on bass, and Yosmany González García on percussion – together they create an irresistible blend of traditional Cuban folk, salsa, bossa nova, rumba and passionate bolero ballads.
This is also the second concert in Calstock Arts’ brand new ‘Our Music Planet’ world music series — four concerts celebrating music from across the globe. If you’re keen to experience all four, a special discounted ticket bundle is available.
Expect a Saturday evening full of warmth, rhythm and the kind of guitar playing that makes you want to move.
- Date: Saturday 18 April | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £17 in advance / £20 on the door / £2 discount for Friends of Calstock Arts
- Book tickets here
24 April – Clive Carroll: World-Class Fingerstyle Guitar
Just a week later, award-winning guitarist Clive Carroll brings his extraordinary fingerstyle technique to the Old Chapel. Widely regarded as one of the most accomplished fingerstylists working today, Carroll holds a First Class Honours Degree in Composition and Guitar from Trinity College of Music in London, and has collaborated with guitar greats including John Williams, Tommy Emmanuel and Ralph Towner. He was famously mentored and toured with folk-baroque pioneer John Renbourn – and most recently performed Pete Seeger banjo parts on the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.
His 2026 solo programme draws on his Irish musical heritage, with newly composed pieces that balance wildness and intimacy. This is acoustic guitar at its absolute finest, played by someone who has spent a lifetime earning their place at the very top of the form.
- Date: Friday 24 April | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £15 in advance / £17 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends
- Book tickets here
15 May – Nick Harper: A Living Legacy of British Guitar (7:30pm Start)
Nick Harper is one of British music’s most dazzling and criminally underrated guitarists. The son of folk legend Roy Harper, Nick grew up surrounded by the musicians who shaped a generation – Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, John Renbourn, Paul Simon and Sandy Denny were among those who passed through his childhood home. Twenty-plus years of crafting songs and touring have produced a performer who is entirely, unmistakably his own.
For this show, he’s touring his live album 58 Fordwych Rd., a recording made during a residency at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (where the show won an EdFringe Award for best music) that revisits the songs he first heard as a toddler in that Kilburn flat. It’s a deeply personal and musically remarkable project, and a rare chance to witness a true UK guitar great in one of Cornwall’s most characterful performance spaces. Please note this show starts at the earlier time of 7:30pm.
- Date: Friday 15 May | Doors & Bar 6:45pm | Performance 7:30pm
- Tickets: £17 in advance / £19 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends
- Book tickets here
30 May – Robin Nolan: For the Love of George (Gypsy Jazz)
If there is one show this season that sits at the intersection of gypsy jazz brilliance and Beatles legend, it’s this one. Robin Nolan is considered one of the most respected guitarists in the gypsy jazz world since Django Reinhardt himself – a musician who has headlined major Django festivals worldwide, performed at the Royal Albert Hall, Montreux and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and counted George Harrison and Bill Wyman among his most devoted fans.
His critically acclaimed 2025 album For the Love of George (released on Harrison’s own Dark Horse label via BMG) reimagines George Harrison and Beatles songs through the prism of Nolan’s unique gypsy jazz style – recorded using some of Harrison’s most iconic guitars at the legendary Friar Park studio. The live show is a celebration of music, legacy and guitar craft in equal measure. Whether you’re a Beatles devotee, a gypsy jazz aficionado or simply someone who appreciates extraordinary playing, this is an evening not to be missed.
- Date: Saturday 30 May | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £18 in advance / £21 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends
- Book tickets here
5 June – Connolly Hayes: Blues, Rock and Soul at Full Throttle
The penultimate show in the guitar season brings something a little different – and a lot louder. Connolly Hayes are a five-piece blues, rock and soul band who were nominated for both UK Band of the Year and Album of the Year at the UK Blues Awards 2025, and they are very much a band on the rise. Featuring Jess Hayes, Frankie Connolly, Beau Barnard, Joe Mac and Andy Wilder, this is a group built on genuine friendship, tight musicianship and a collective passion for groove-driven, guitar-led music that gets under your skin.
Their 2024 debut album, Remember Me, earned Pick of the Month recognition from the Independent Blues Broadcasters Association, and a live EP recorded at Echo Zoo Studios followed shortly after, showcasing just how formidable they are in a live setting. With a second studio album expected in 2026, this show arrives at exactly the right moment — the chance to catch a band building real momentum before the wider world catches up. With virtuoso guitar at the heart of the sound and two powerhouse vocalists out front, a Connolly Hayes show is the kind of live music experience you talk about long after the last note fades.
- Date: Friday 5 June | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £20 in advance / £23 on the door / £2 discount for Friends of Calstock Arts
- Book tickets here
6 June – Holly Clarke: Folk Voice and Guitar in Full Flight
Rounding off the guitar season at Calstock Arts is Holly Clarke, a folk singer and accomplished guitarist who has been turning heads on the UK folk circuit with her powerful voice and deep connection to traditional ballads. Drawing on songs of folklore, the supernatural, love and loss, Holly brings a rare combination of raw emotional intensity and technical skill to her performances.
She has shared stages with folk luminaries including Nancy Kerr and James Fagan, and performed at major venues and festivals across the country. Her tune compositions have been performed by Norwegian Hardanger fiddle legend Annbjørg Lien, and she was Artist in Residence at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. With a voice that, in the words of Martin Carthy, is simply something else, this is a show that speaks to everything Calstock Arts does best – intimate, authentic, and utterly memorable.
- Date: Saturday 6 June | Doors & Bar 7pm | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £15 in advance / £17 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends
- Book tickets here
4 July – B.D. Lenz Trio: Funky Jazz From Across the Atlantic
Rounding off the guitar season in style is American jazz guitarist B.D. Lenz – a musician whose music you may well know even if his name is new to you. His compositions have been featured on hundreds of television programmes around the world, and across thirteen recordings, he has carved out a distinctive niche with his brand of funky, groove-driven jazz that pairs virtuoso guitar playing with sharp, purposeful songwriting. Joining him at the Old Chapel are James Rosocha on bass and Joe Falcey on drums – a tight-knit trio capable of moving between jazz standards, original compositions and pop classics with real ease and flair.
It’s a fitting finale to a remarkable run of guitar-led concerts at Calstock Arts: something a little looser, a little transatlantic, and guaranteed to send the season out on a high. At £12 in advance, it’s also one of the most accessible shows of the year.
- Date: Saturday 4 July | Performance 8pm
- Tickets: £12 in advance / £15 on the door / £2 reduction for Friends of Calstock Arts
- Book tickets here
Plan Your Guitar Season at the Old Chapel
Eight shows. Eight genres. One beautiful riverside venue in south east Cornwall. Whether you make it to one or all of them, the guitar performances at Calstock Arts this spring and summer offer something genuinely rare – world-class musicianship in an intimate space where the artist and audience are never more than a few feet apart.
The Old Chapel is located on Sand Lane, Calstock, PL18 9QX. Most events run from 8pm (check individual listings for exceptions), with doors and bar opening from 7pm.
If you’re planning to attend three or more shows, don’t forget to get in touch at mail@calstockarts.org to ask about a group discount. Friends of Calstock Arts also receive £2 off every ticket.
