Behind the Frets - Q&A with Declan Hickey

To kick off our magical 2025 Secret Concert season, we have London based guitarist Declan Hickey making his debut with us on the 24th January!

---

Welcome Declan!

We haven’t had a solo guitarist join us for quite a while - so we are super excited for your performance! How did you first discover your passion for classical guitar?

 When I started playing the guitar at the age of 9, I don’t think the term ‘classical guitar’ meant much to me. I wanted to learn the guitar, and didn’t know about the different schools and traditions of guitar playing. I was very lucky that my parents bought me a nylon-string guitar, and arranged for me to have lessons with a brilliant classical teacher, because I took to the instrument very quickly. In the early days it was the physical side of playing the guitar which excited me most: holding, almost embracing, the instrument; creating the sound by plucking the strings; feeling the vibrations against my body. Plucking a string to make a sound is a very simple mechanism, but the close connection of body, instrument and music was tremendously exciting.
My interest in the repertoire and history of the guitar came much later.

Who were your early musical influences, and how have they shaped your playing style today?

Like pretty much every other classical guitarist, I was in awe of Julian Bream from quite an early age. His expressive palette was second to none, and the breadth of his repertoire was astonishing. Today I’m most impressed by the scale of what Bream achieved; he probably doubled the size of the guitar’s concert repertoire with commissions and arrangements, and did so much more besides. In my teens I idolised David Russell for the cleanliness of his playing and the warmth of his sound.
My interests and playing style have changed over the years, but I learned a lot from my attempts to imitate these players. I also owe a huge amount to my old teacher Martin Fogel, whose approach to the guitar has stuck with me in so many ways.

Was there a particular moment or performance that solidified your decision to pursue music professionally? 

I didn’t set out to be a professional musician, but hated the idea of giving up. I remember reading a ‘day in the life’ account of an undergraduate music student, which made me realise that was the subject I wanted to study at university. Deciding to apply to conservatoire for my postgrad was a turning point, but even then I wasn’t thinking much about my career. When I began forming chamber partnerships with other postgrads at the Royal Academy of Music, I began to realise this was something I could never give up – I was having too much fun!

Do you have any pre-performance rituals or routines that help you get in the zone?

I try to chat to friends, audience members, and venue staff before playing. I find that humanises the whole performance process. Ultimately, concerts are social events; seeing friends and family before and afterwards is just as important as what happens in between.

If you weren’t a guitarist, what do you think you’d be doing instead? 

I would probably be involved in the arts somehow – maybe working for a magazine or an arts organisation. I would need some connection to the creative process, even if I weren’t the one performing.

Do you have any exciting projects or performances coming up that we should know about?

A few days after the DEBUT concert on the 24th, I’m playing at the launch of a new book about the 19th-century guitarist Ferdinand Pelzer by Sarah Clarke.
In recent years I have begun to specialise in the nineteenth-century guitar, and will be playing on a stunning instrument from the 1840s. Sarah’s book is a major contribution and I can’t wait to introduce it to the world!  

---