about

Tom Lumen is a Hungarian solo acoustic fingerstyle guitarist living in Budapest.

As a child, he was a daydreamer. Finding music was finding a home for him. A safe place where he could express himself. His first meeting with the world of guitar happened through Jimi Hendrix and that moment defined his later life. As a teenager, he mainly played the electric guitar with his own trio. They played progressive music with elements of jazz. Later he was exploring the fields of jazz, blues, rock, and even indie music. A good example from that era is the album Diamond Rite by the band Tius Norma where he was experimenting with simple but creative guitar ideas with all kinds of effects. His musical journey led him to the solo acoustic guitar. Playing an acoustic instrument all alone without a band is a pure musical situation that became his main territory in the last fifteen years.

Tom’s passion and enthusiasm grab the audience’s full attention, and his performances are characterized by intimacy and interaction, as well as virtuosity and cheerfulness. He is a great entertainer and connects with his fans exceptionally. His single instrument sometimes evokes the sound of an entire band and he also goes to the opposite direction with intimate, quiet musical thoughts. His fingerstyle playing technique allows him to perform several musical elements simultaneously that would normally be played by several band members: bass, harmonic accompaniment, melody, rhythm and drum beats. In his diverse program energetic and appealing songs are interwoven with romantic harmonies.

Tom is an internationally touring artist. He toured in the USA, Finland, Austria,  Germany, Mexico, China, Vietnam, UK, Ireland,  Estonia, Slovakia and Hungary. He played at the following events among many others:

– Tampere Guitar Festival (with Stanley Jordan, Ricardo Gallen, etc.) (Finland)

– Vienna Fingerstyle Festival (Austria)

– Tallin Guitar Festival (Estonia)

– International Fingerstyle Festival (China)

– Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival (Mexico)

– South Florida Folk Festival (USA)

– Dublin Guitar Night (Ireland)

– London Guitar Night (England)

– International Fingerstyle Festival (Vietnam)

He is very proud of having shared a stage on two occasions with Tommy Emmanuel while the world famous guitarist was on tour in Hungary in March 2014.

He enjoys teaching masterclasses on guitar festivals, music schools and also enjoying teaching one on one video lessons.

Tom is the host artist of the Budapest Fingerstyle Nights, where he invites international artists to perform from all over the world (so far from Chile, Japan, Taiwan, UK, Austria, Australia, Slovakia).

Tom is the art director of the concert series ‘Nemzetközi Gitárestek a Füvészkertben’ and the ‘Görcsöny Guitar Festival’.

Favourite quotes:

”He’s one of the most energetic and fascinating guitarists I’ve ever seen and he has the ability to capture EVERYONE in the audience!”

– Markus Schlesinger, Festival Director of Vienna Fingerstyle Festival

”With lots of energy and a unique fingerstyle, Tom Lumen manages to grab the whole audience’s attention until the very end. ”

– Heidi Nygard, Festival Director of Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival

”Tom Lumen is a jovial performer bringing joy and happiness to the audience. ”

– Tomi Tolvanen, Festival Director of Tampere Guitar Festival

”Tom is very uncomplicated and incredibly nice – an extremely pleasant fellow. his guitar playing is technically extremely sophisticated, very beautiful original compositions and interesting “lumenized” arrangements. was very fun. thanks to his funny and friendly moderation, it was a very entertaining concert.

I’m very happy to have presented him in our concert series. ”

– Tommi Neubauer, Organiser of Darstädter Gitarren-Konzerte