“A young woman on her way to becoming the star in the guitar world.”
BR Klassik
With a sound that commands attention from the first note, Laura Lootens has emerged as one of the most exciting voices of the classical guitar. Her performances fuse fearless virtuosity with an impressive stage presence that is poised and dramatic, yet intensely communicative, drawing audiences into the instrument’s kaleidoscopic colours and limitless expressive possibilities.
Every gesture carries emotional weight and a sense of theatre. At the heart of her artistry lies a fascination with contrast: for Lootens, tension and release are the lifeblood of music, the forces that create depth and keep listeners on edge.
The 2025/26 season brings major milestones, including her debut at the prestigious Concertgebouw Amsterdam as well as the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, three U.S. tours, and an Australia tour. She also appears as a soloist with the Hessian State Orchestra Wiesbaden, the Heidelberger Sinfoniker, and performs Ponce’s Concierto del Sur in three concerts with the Mittelsächsische Philharmonie. Last seasons featured celebrated appearances at the Heidelberger Frühling and a show-stopping Concierto de Aranjuez for 5,000 listeners together with the German Radio Philharmonic.
Her second album Diabolico (Naïve, 2025) follows her acclaimed Albéniz debut and was selected by Apple Music as one of its Albums of the Month, spending weeks in Apple Music Classical’s top charts. The Gramophone praises her exceptional command of the instrument and her refined sense for colour, contrast, and her capacity for pure theatre and drama across all the works, calling the album “a compelling and darkly fascinating recital.”The magazine highlights in particular her layered, mature interpretation of Rochberg’s Caprice Variations, revealing “the Lisztian tension between the facile and the profound.” Lootens’ debut recording Albéniz (CAVI/Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, 2023) was hailed by the American Record Guide as “one of the finest interpretations of the composer ever captured.”
Among her honors are the First Prize and the Special Prize at the 2022 Andrés Segovia International Competition, one of the most important guitar competitions in the world. She also received a scholarship and the Special Prize from the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben at the German Music Competition, and was awarded the Bavarian Award for the Advancement of the Arts.
Laura began her studies with Professor Franz Halász at the age of fourteen. Only one year later, she started her bachelor’s degree as one of the youngest students ever at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich. After earning her master’s degree with distinction, she joined the university’s faculty at just twenty-two.
Laura Lootens continues to captivate audiences with a musical imagination that is as daring as it is refined.
