Portraits for Guitar
A groundbreaking collaboration between Dominique Le Gendre & Ahmed Dickinson blending classical guitar, Caribbean identity, and contemporary sound.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE REVIEW
Album Launch
Join Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas at Stone Nest, London, on Friday 23 October 2026 for the launch of Portraits for Guitar, his new album featured on BBC Magazine, which celebrates the rich and diverse voices of contemporary guitar music.
Featuring works by Dominique Le Gendre, Flores Chaviano, Walfrido Domínguez and Steve Goss, the album brings together music shaped by Cuban heritage, jazz, classical traditions and contemporary sounds.
Friday 23 October 2026 · Stone Nest, London
Album launch concert
Portraits for Guitar, released by Convivium Records, is the result of several years of collaboration with remarkable composers and friends, bringing together music that celebrates the rich connections between Cuban, Caribbean and British musical traditions.
Featuring works by Stephen Goss, Flores Chaviano, Walfrido Domínguez and Dominique Le Gendre, the album explores themes of place, memory, rhythm and identity through the expressive voice of the guitar.
The recording includes the first complete recording of Stephen Goss’s Sonatina, alongside the world premiere recording of Dominique Le Gendre’s Six Sketches for Solo Guitar, written especially for me with the support of the Hollick Family Foundation. The album also features Tongoy Triptych for two guitars, performed with the wonderful Helen Sanderson.
Recorded at Holy Trinity, Hitchin, and produced by James Unwin with engineer Adaq Khan, Portraits for Guitar is a deeply personal project reflecting my lifelong commitment to championing contemporary guitar music and building musical bridges across cultures.
I’m delighted to finally share this recording with you. Thank you, as always, for your encouragement and support — it truly makes projects like this possible.
“The selection and curation of the repertoire deserve special recognition for their originality. The works of the Spanish-Cuban composers Flores Chaviano and Walfrido Domínguez, together with those of the Trinidadian composer Dominique Le Gendre and the Welsh composer Stephen Goss, construct a mosaic of identities and perspectives which, after a little over an hour of listening, confirms the guitar — Spanish in origin — as the instrument of the powerful and universal voice that it is today”.
“Without a doubt, Portraits for Guitar is one of the most interesting works dedicated to the guitar within today’s musical landscape, and another successful demonstration of the artistic talent of maestro Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas”.
Martín Pedreira
Madrid, 6 September 2026
CRITICAL RESPONSE
Martín Pedreira
Cuban guitarist, composer, educator and writer; an established commentator on the guitar and Cuban musical culture.F
ORIGINAL SPANISH
Portraits for Guitar (Convivium Records Ltd., 2026), reciente trabajo discográfico del guitarrista cubano radicado en Inglaterra Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas, propone [el registro de] una particular travesía por geografías sonoras que traducen una interesante serie de emociones y estados de ánimo, el tránsito por territorios diversos, con sus contrastes de luz y sombra y los riesgos propios de la exploración de paisajes fértiles pero desconocidos. La música que aquí escuchamos resulta fresca y estimulante. En las 22 pistas del proyecto predomina la luminosidad de un discurso perfectamente articulado y un fraseo claro y expresivo, sostenidos por una pulsación que sabe contenerse y, cuando el discurso dramático lo exige, desplegar toda su energía. Dickinson Cárdenas demuestra así una notable sensibilidad para recorrer lenguajes y atmósferas diversas, sin extraviar la personalidad de su dicción guitarrística. La selección y curaduría del repertorio merecen un especial reconocimiento por su originalidad. Las obras de los hispano-cubanos Flores Chaviano y Walfrido Domínguez, junto a las de la compositora trinitense Dominique Le Gendre y el galés Stephen Goss, construyen un mosaico de identidades y perspectivas que, transcurrida poco más de una hora de audición, nos confirma a la guitarra –de cuna española– como el instrumento de poderosa y universal voz que es hoy. Cabe destacar la especial participación de la experimentada Helen Sanderson en la obra para dúo de guitarras Tongoy Triptych , de Le Gendre. Sin duda, Portraits for Guitar es uno de los trabajos más interesantes entre los dedicados a la guitarra dentro del panorama actual, y otra acertada muestra del talento artístico del maestro Ahmed Dickinson Cárdenas. Martín Pedreira Madrid, 6/09/2026