“… by turns emphatic, fragile, bold, tender and wild…” – Gramophone Magazine.

Christina Sandsengen is a classical guitar artist and composer. She was born in a small town in the middle of Norway in 1987. She started to play the piano at the age of 7 and gave her
first public performance in the following year. When she was 15, she started to play the guitar, and fell in love with it. From that moment onwards, she decided to devote herself solely to
the guitar. At college, she studied classical guitar with Martin Haug, and at 16 also had lessons with Geir Otto Nilsson in a talent program for young musicians at the Norwegian Academy of Music.

After college, Christina Sandsengen began her studies at the Norwegian Academy of Music with Erik Stenstadvold. During her bachelor’s degree, she spent a period of time studying at
the Conservatorio Superior de Música ‘Manuell Castillo’ in  Sevilla, Spain. Upon finishing her studies in Norway, she travelled to France to take further lessons with Gérard Abiton. She has also participated in masterclasses with many internationally acclaimed guitarists such as Eliot Fisk, Fabio Zanon and Aniello Desiderio.

Christina Sandsengen has played solo concerts in leading venues and festivals in Britain, USA, Turkey, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, France, Mexico, Bolivia, Peru, Chile, Venezuela, Italy, Spain, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, China, and Japan, receiving outstanding reviews. She has performed as a soloist with the Oslo Gitarensemble, as a support artist to Al Di Meola and has been featured on many international radio and TV shows. Her music has been featured on the BBC radio, and in Turkey, Christina Sandsengen was invited to perform Koyunbaba by Carlo Domeniconi on CNN Türk, and was praised for her recording of the same work on her debut album, Shades & Contrasts, on Odradek Records. Gramophone Magazine hailed her “terrific account of Domeniconi’s Koyunbaba”, concluding that: “It’s no mean feat to force you to reappraise such a well-known work. Sandsengen pulls it off.”

Christina Sandsengen plays a wide range of repertoire with particular focus on Romantic music, as well as her own compositions. Her immense passion for the classical guitar got her to establish the Oslo Gitarskole that was Norway’s leading school for classical guitar where she hosted masterclasses with international guitarists such as Xuefei Yang, Carlo Domeniconi and Anders Clemens Øien. She was also a board member of the Classical Guitar Association of Norway, and regularly gives concerts and masterclasses across the globe. Christina Sandsengen was also a board member of the Norwegian Guitar Festival. Her musical contributions are recognised by The Recording Academy where she is a voting member of the Grammy Awards®.

In the fall of 2014, she released her debut album, Shades & Contrasts, on Odradek Records, and the album has received widespread critical acclaim. The Independent described this “…debut collection showcasing skill and no small virtuosity”, and Gramophone Magazine praised her “masterly sense of tonal and rhythmic hierarchy”. The Arts Desk declared that: “Norwegian guitarist Christina Sandsengen’s technique is flawless, and hearing her left hand nimbly skate up and down the fingerboard serves only to increase one’s admiration”. The GB Times wrote of “Sandsengen’s debut album showcasing a rare virtuosity and astoundingly multi-faceted talent” and Crescendo reported that Christina Sandsengen “…demonstrates brilliantly and with crystal clarity where things are headed for her: to enthuse a young and broader audience with the ‘most popular instrument in the world’…”.

The album won award for best ambient/instrumental album by The Akademia. In the wake of the release of Shades & Contrasts, Christina Sandsengen made a music video performing one of the works on the CD, ‘Preludio Saudade’ from La Catedral by Agustín Barrios Mangoré. She recorded ‘Clair de Lune’ by Claude Debussy in legendary EastWest Studios in Los Angeles, and released the music video ‘Clair de Lune’ in March 2018. Later the same year she released the single ‘Clair de Lune’ on RMN Classical.

Christina is featured on the techincal death metal band Allegaeon’s album Apoptosis where she duets with guitarist Greg Burgess on ‘Colors of the Currents’ and their extra track ‘Concerto in Dm (BWV 1052)’ by J.S Bach. The music video ‘Colors of the Currents’ was released in 2019.
Marius Noss Gundersen dedicated the suite Seasons to Christina, and she recorded it for his album ‘Solo Guitar Works’ which was released in 2020. The album also features 4 more of Norway’s leading classical guitarists playing Gundersen’s music.

She released a music video of Dee by Randy Rhoads as a tribute to him and the classical guitar.

She recently released her album Solace on NXN Recordings / Naxos Records. The album that marks her debut as a composer, and has received great reviews. 

Christina Sandsengen plays a portrait guitar by Connor Guitars. She has received awards for her outstanding creativity, artistry and professional achievements in the field of music, and she is an ambassador for the GramArt organization.