INTRO IGF BATH, 2023
Alongside his career as a renowned performing and recording classical guitarist, Tom Kerstens is also the founder of the International Guitar Foundation (IGF) which offers tuition courses and celebrated concerts in the UK. Jason Sidwell spoke to him about IGF and its history.
JS: How did IGF start and how long has it been going?
TK: It started in 1993 with the idea of organising a guitar festival and summer school and we started planning our first one in 1994, the same year we set up as a registered charity and non-profit company. My friend and co-founder Philip Castang, now CEO at Music For Youth - which is one of the major charities for music education in the UK - and myself both lived in London, but our first festival was at Bath Spa University. The first Festival and Summer School was only classical but the next year we introduced other styles. In the early noughties we opened further events in London, the northeast (Newcastle and Gateshead) and St Andrews in Scotland. We do four annual festivals, a concert series in London, run a Record Label called BGS and most importantly, the IGF Summer School in Bath.
JS: Discuss your role with IGF.
TK: My job title is CEO and Artistic Director. Phil Castang and I were a great team for almost 20 years and did all the jobs between us, mostly learning on the job as there is really no school you can go to for this kind of enterprise. Nowadays we have a great team, mostly freelancers and part-timers, looking after all the aspects of the organisation such as fundraising, marketing and PR, event management, education and programming. It’s a big job and I am fortunate to have excellent co-workers and advisors.
JS: How do you balance your work at IGF with performing and recording?
TK: With difficulty! Since Covid many people are working from home, at least some of the time, and that certainly works for me. As a classical guitarist I have to put in several hours of practice every day, so I spend my day between that and the computer communicating with our team, artists, funding bodies and venues. On a good day, this works very well. But often there are deadlines or unforeseen problems, and then the balance goes out the window and a spot of firefighting is needed! Recording is usually much calmer because I can plan the sessions at quiet times for IGF. I actually perform mostly abroad, continental Europe especially, and I usually do short trips of two or three concerts, so I can keep in touch with IGF work on the go.
JS: Discuss the classical guitar side of IGF from tuition to world class performers.
TK: We present the best international classical artists in the UK at high-profile venues such as Kings Place, Southbank Centre, Wi
