Jonatan Bougt (theorbo, baroque guitar)

Swedish guitarist and theorbo player Jonatan Bougt is a recent graduate from the Master of Historical Performance at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London where he studied with Jakob Lindberg as an RCM Scholar supported by the Musician’s Company Lambert Studentship. He also holds a First Class Bachelor of Music (Honours) from the RCM having studied for Carlos Bonell and Chris Stell. Jonatan is the first prize winner of the RCM Guitar Prize 2017 and the RCM Historical Performance Competition 2019, having received The Century Fund Prize and The Richard III Prize. In the past year, Jonatan has been selected to the young artist schemes Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the BREMF Live! 2018/19 and Handel House Talent 2019/20. Other noteworthy awards include the 1st Prize in the Jörgen Rörby Competition (2014) of the Swedish Guitar & Lute Society and the 1st Prize in the Young Talents Competition of Uppsala International Guitar Festival (2013).

Jonatan has performed in venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Queen’s Gallery, Amaryllis Flemming Concert Hall, Britten Theatre, Kings Place, Snape Maltings Concert Hall (UK), Stockholm Concert Hall and Uppsala Konsert&Kongress Concert Hall (Sweden), Große Universitätsaula Salzburg (Austria) and Centro Cultural Justicia Federal, (Brazil). In 2016, Jonatan performed the UK premiere of Chaya Czernowin’s ‘White Wind Waiting’ with the RCM Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Johannes Harneit.

In 2012, he was awarded a scholarship by the City of Stockholm and the Music Conservatoire of Espirito Santo (FAMES) to give recitals with Bougt & Bergek Duo during the XIX Winter Music Festival of Domingos Martins and in Centro Cultural Justicia Federal, Rio de Janeiro. It also led to live performances on Brazilian TVGazeta. Jonatan regularly works as a chamber musician and in 2016, his guitar and piano duo with Irena Radić won 2nd Prize in the Chamber Music Competition at the Twents Guitar Festival, Netherlands and the group Dramma Per Musica are looking forward to performing in major festivals and venues around the UK including the Brighton Early Music Festival, Barnes Music Festival and St John’s Smith Square in London.

Prior to coming to London, Jonatan studied with Bo Hansson at Södra Latin Gymnasium’s Professional Musician Programme. His studies there were supported by the Royal Academy of Music in Sweden, the Swedish Guitar & Lute Society and the Grisslehamn’s Guitar Prize.

Jonatan plays on guitars by Johannes Kitselis and Lars Jönsson. His theorbo, also made by Lars Jönsson, is generously sponsored by the Helge Ax:son Johnson Foundation.