Stoke Newington Guitar Festival welcomes back Billy Watman who played so beautifully in 2016, this time for a full lunchtime concert on Saturday 17th November! This time Billy will be playing classical works by Bach, Brouwer & Rodrigo alongside his own compositions and arrangements.
Billy is an award winning 17 year old Anglo-Brazilian classical / fingerstyle guitarist, inspired by the likes of Rodrigo y Gabriela, Tommy Emmanuel, Mike Oldfield and Paco De Lucia.
In 2016, he appeared on Guitar Star - a guitar based talent show open to all ages and genres for Sky Arts TV, which was broadcast in Europe, Australia and South America.
Billy stunned audiences with some extraordinary performances - for judges and mentors including jazz legend George Benson, classical virtuoso Milos Karadagli, Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi, and David Bowie's producer Tony Visconti - who described him as a little genius.
Billys audition for the show, performing Bohemian Rhapsody was an internet sensation, and altogether his online videos have been watched by over 60 million people.
Playing complex arrangements of pieces by artists including Queen, Led Zeppelin, Astor Piazzolla, Iron Maiden, Stevie Wonder and The Eagles - despite tough competition he successfully reached the final 3 of the competition.
Along the way he had the opportunity to perform at iconic UK music venues, including the legendary Abbey Road Studio number 2 of Beatles fame, The Royal Festival Hall and The Latitude Festival, which hosted the grand final.
In 2016 he recorded, and independently released Escape From Reality a 5 track EP followed in early 2017 by his second EP Cryptic containing a mix of original material and covers.
In 2016 he graced the main stage of Towersey Festival along with Midge Ure and Billy Bragg and was musical guest of comedian Rory Bremner, performing live on BBC Radio Scotland and at two sold out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.
In 2017 he supported virtuoso acoustic guitarist Jon Gomm at Londons Bush Hall, performed at numerous UK and European festivals, including Musikmesse (Frankfurt), The Acoustic Festival of Britain, the iconic Ullapool Guitar Festival (Scotland) and The Henley Festival - on the same bill as The Pet Shop Boys and Chaka Khan.
Comfortable on both steel and nylon strings, his live show presents a mesmerizing genre defying approach, with repertoire spanning classical, flamenco and pop, through to electronic trance and classic rock all on 1 guitar.
Billy is officially endorsed by several major brands and regularly performs at music shows and exhibitions. He is also available for private bookings and festival performances and continues to study classical guitar with Francesco Mariani at the prestigious Purcell School for Young Musicians in London.