Catz DPhil Student Makes Debut with the Chilean National Symphony Orchestra

Emmanuel Sowicz, a second-year DPhil student at the Faculty of Music, recently made his debut with the Chilean National Symphony Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in the country, under the baton of Andrew Gourlay, a regular guest conductor at the BBC Proms.

Performing on 26 and 27 September 2025, Sowicz became the first guitarist to appear with the orchestra in its newly opened concert hall in Santiago during its inaugural season. A review in Las Últimas Noticias (Chile) praised his performance for its “luminous assurance that swept the Symphony Hall by storm.”

A winner of the London International Guitar Competition and an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM), Emmanuel is supervised by Professor Laura Tunbridge and Dr Oliver Chandler. His doctoral research, supported by the Allen Senior Music Scholarship here at St Catherine’s College, investigates the foundational role of musical arrangements in shaping the classical guitar tradition.