About Gwenyth

Gwenyth Aggeler is a classical guitarist whose performances have been described by the Cultural Voice of North Carolina as “full of energy” and “striking.” She has received several accolades including first prize in the Alhambra Junior International Guitar Competition, the Peter Segal First Prize in the Philadelphia Classical Guitar Competition, first prize in the Chicago Guitar Competition, first prize in the GuitarFest West Guitar Competition, the National Federation of Music Clubs Classical Guitar Award, and first prize in the Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Guitar Competition. She has also received prizes in the Tino Andersen Guitar Competition and the Koblenz International Hubert Kappel Guitar Competition. In 2023, Gwenyth was chosen to perform in the inaugural edition of the Ex-Aequo Emerging Artists Initiative during which she premiered and recorded a piece for six guitars by Sergio Assad. She also recorded a movement of Assad’s Preludios Chopinianos as part of a collaboration between the composer and Knobloch Strings in which each movement of the work was recorded by a different woman guitarist across the globe. She performed on NPR’s radio program From the Top in 2019 and was later featured in their livestream series.

Gwenyth is passionate about collaborating with composers to premiere new works for her instrument and has performed in two world premieres of works commissioned by the Baltimore Classical Guitar Society. She is currently working on a project with fellow guitarist David Manzanares involving the commissioning and recording of works for guitar duo by composers from diverse backgrounds.

Gwenyth began playing guitar through an extracurricular program at her elementary school. At the age of seventeen she received the CAPE Foundation Endowed Scholarship to study with Manuel Barrueco at the Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University where she completed a Bachelor’s Degree and a Graduate Performance Diploma. She is currently pursuing graduate studies with Tristan Manoukian at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris as a recipient of the Frank Huntington Beebe Fund Fellowship. She is an alumna of the Aspen Music Festival and School, Celedonio Romero Guitar Institute, and the Domaine Forget de Charlevoix Academy.

Videos

JULY 2022

Quatre Pièces Brèves

Gwenyth Aggeler plays Quatre Pièces Brèves by Frank Martin.

APRIL 2023

Complete program of works by Brouwer, Sor, Bach, Ponce, and Rodrigo

Peabody Conservatory Gwenyth Aggeler plays Canticum by Leo Brouwer (0:00) Malbroug Variations by Fernando Sor (8:03) Chaconne, BWV 1004 by J.S. Bach, trans. Manuel Barrueco (17:09) Theme, Variations, and Finale by Manuel Maria Ponce (33:33) Sonata Giocosa by Joaquin Rodrigo (42:48)

JANUARY 2024

Peabody Scholars and Ex-Aequo Artists

Playing a piece they composed, Cape Foundation Endowed Scholar Gwenyth Aggeler and Deering Endowed Scholar Bowen Zheng share how their scholarships and being named Ex-Aequo Emerging Artists have influenced them as artists, as well as the impact they hope to have for audiences and the community.

SEPTEMBER 2018

Rodrigo, Sonata Giocosa

Gwenyth Aggeler plays the third movement of Rodrigo’s Sonata Giocosa in the Guitar Foundation of America International Youth Competition final round.

AUGUST 2023

"Fuoco" from Libra Sonatine by Roland Dyens

Recorded as part of the Ex-Aequo Artist Residency 2023