Junior and Senior Guitar Ensembles

The CF Music Senior guitar ensemble was first formed, along with the Junior Guitar Ensemble in 2002. It has been active ever since, playing a diverse range of music, from Classical to popular music arrangements.

Chris Ackland, the current Musical Director, was the Director for 8 of the first 9 years and returned to lead the ensemble in 2023.

In the recent past, the ensemble members have played concerts in The All Nations Centre, Barry Memorial Hall and were delighted to be guest artists at the Barry Male Voice Choirs annual Showcase.

Several players are members of the National Youth Guitar Ensemble with one member touring Germany with their Camerata Ensemble. Several members also won Gold and Silver medals at this years Urdd Eisteddfod for both Solo and Ensemble playing.

The ensemble is open to all Classical Guitar players of Secondary School age, who have reached grade 3 level. We normally perform 3 or 4 concerts per year.

The Junior Guitar Ensemble has been run by its current conductor, Daniel Whitting, since 2023 after having directed the Senior Ensemble since 2016. The Junior Ensemble is aimed at pupils from school years 3 to 8. Many players go on to join the Senior Ensemble, with past members having gone on to study guitar at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Birmingham Conservatoire.

See below for the guitar ensembles’ timetable for 2024 to 2025.

Both guitar ensembles rehearse upstairs in Chapter Arts Centre, CF5 1QE.

There are 31 rehearsals and 4 concerts between the groups.

Junior Guitars welcomes members from Year 3 to Year 8 who can play and read an octave of notes (the end of The Guitarist’s Way Book 1). The ensemble uses notation so is unfortunately unable to accommodate pupils who read guitar TAB. Ideally pupils should be playing a nylon string guitar.

Chris Ackland

Chris Ackland graduated from the Royal Academy of Music. He then went on to teach at both Reading and Swansea University alongside teaching in several private schools in the 1980s and early 90s. He then opened his own Guitar school in the mid 1990s and also examined for the Welsh College of Music and Drama, as well as being secretary for the South Wales Guitar Society.

In the late 1990s, he started working for CCVG Music Service (now CF Music Education) and, apart from a brief spell with Glamorgan Music School, has been there ever since.

Daniel Whitting

Daniel began learning guitar at the age of 8. During his early teens, he developed a wide range of both electric and classical guitar styles under the tutelage of Steve Nicholls, and later with Alex Hutchings (Steven Wilson, Roland EU). 

Daniel began teaching in 2008 and teaches both electric and classical guitar, as well as ukulele and bass guitar. In 2014, he was involved in the introduction of a new set of Ukulele grades for the Registry of Guitar Tutors exam board. He got his teaching diploma in 2011, and in 2021 achieved his postgraduate certificate in plucked string tuition under Helen Sanderson and Professor Laura Ritchie at the University of Chichester. He has also conducted many ensembles at venues including St David’s Hall and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. 

He has a wealth of playing experience and regularly plays in pits for musical theatre productions, as well as with Skite Ceilidh band for functions and weddings. He is also a member of fiddle player David Grubb’s band, playing both on his albums and live shows.