LONDON CELLO SOCIETY Registered Charity No 1098381

A Tribute to William PleethRoyal College of Music Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall

Sunday 20th November 2016

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‘Whenever we make a stroke with our bow, when we place a finger on a string, we cause a sensation of sound and feeling; and the gesture of the bow and of the finger which brought that sound into existence must breathe with the life of the emotion that gave birth to it.’

William Pleeth

‘Wiliam Pleeth’s enthusiasm is absolutely boundless and anyone who comes into contact with him and his teaching will be able to feed from his love for music.’

Jacqueline du Pré

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Participating Artists

The London Cello Society extends its warmest thanks and appreciation to the Royal College of Music and J & A Beare for their gracious support of this event.

To the Pleeth family and to all the artists who are taking part today, we are deeply grateful to you for making this celebration possible, a testimony to the high esteem in which William Pleeth is held by the cello community in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Afternoon Events

2.00 PM RCM Cello Ensemble

P. CASALS (1876-1973) ‘Les Rois Mages’ from El Pessebre, for six celli H. VILLA-LOBOS (1887-1959) Bachianas Brasileiras no. 1, for eight celli I. Introduction (Embolada) II. Preludio (Modinha) III. Fugue (Conversa)

RCM Cello Ensemble: Casals:

Villa-Lobos:

2.30 PM William Pleeth – The Early Years with Anthony Pleeth and Tatty Theo 3.00 PM William Pleeth on Recording and Film 4.15 PM Tea break 4.45 PM Cellist Forum – Remembering William Pleeth 5.45PM Break7.00 PM Evening Concert

Anthony Pleeth and Tatty Theo Adrian Brendel, Natasha Brofsky, Colin Carr, Thomas Carroll, Robert Cohen, Rebecca Gilliver, John Heley, Frans Helmerson, Seppo Kimanen, Joely Koos, Stephen Orton, Melissa Phelps, Hannah Roberts, Sophie Rolland, Christopher Vanderspar, Kristin von der Goltz, Jamie Walton

Alasdair Beatson, piano Lana Bode, pianoNicholas Parle, harpsichordSacconi Quartet, Quartet in Association at the Royal College of MusicCatherine Bott, presenter

RCM Cello Ensemble with Richard Lester

Cello 1: Richard LesterCello 2: Melody LinCello 3: Lydia Dobson

Cello 4: Nina KivaCello 5: Yaroslava TrofymchukCello 6: Carola Krebs

Cello 1: Richard LesterCello 2: Melody LinCello 3: Lydia DobsonCello 4: Nina Kiva

Cello 5: Jo Dee YeohCello 6: Zara Hudson KuzdojCello 7: Yaroslava TrofymchukCello 8: Carola Krebs

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Evening Concert

WELCOME with Catherine Bott

PART I - BAROQUE CELLO

G. B. CERVETTO (1682-1783) Trio Sonata Op.1, No.1 in A minor Adagio; Allegro; Minuetto Primo Comodo; Minuetto Secondo Kristin von der Goltz, baroque cello Tatty Theo, baroque cello Anthony Pleeth, baroque cello Nicholas Parle, harpsichord

PART II - PIANO/CELLO

L. van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) 12 Variations on a Theme from Handel’s Judas Maccabeus, ‘See the Conqu’ring Hero Comes’, WoO 45 Adrian Brendel, cello Alasdair Beatson, piano

J. S. BACH (1685-1750) Sarabande from the Solo Suite in D Major BWV 1012 A. PIATTI (1822-1901) Caprice No 7 in C Major Colin Carr, cello

E. RUBBRA (1901-1986) Soliloquy, Op 57 (1947) Robert Cohen, cello Lana Bode, piano

J. KLENGEL (1859-1933) Kleine Suite for Three Cellos, Op 56 I. Andante II. Gavotte IV. Scherzino: Vivace Natasha Brofsky, cello I Hannah Roberts, cello II Rebecca Gilliver, cello III

Interval (20 minutes)

PART III- CHAMBER MUSIC

L. van BEETHOVEN (1770-1827) ‘Cavatina’ from String Quartet in B-flat major, Op 130 Sacconi Quartet

W. FITZENHAGEN (1848-1890) Concert Waltzes, Op 31 Thomas Carroll, cello I Frans Helmerson, cello II Jamie Walton, cello III Seppo Kimanen, cello IV J. KLENGEL (1859-1933) Hymnus, Op 57 Orlando Jopling, conductor

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I first met William Pleeth in 1975 when I was researching my book, The Great Cellists, and found him to be one of the most interesting and articulate musicians I have ever met.

Pleeth was born in London in 1916 into a musical family of Polish-Jewish origin, many of whom were members of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra spanning several generations. However, he admitted to me that he did not necessarily follow the family traditions, but at one time had ambitions of being either an actor, a barrister or a cook. But when he was seven he heard a cellist named Waldstahl playing in a café, liked the sound of the instrument and took a few lessons with him. The boy’s progress was so phenomenal that Waldstahl begged his parents to buy him a small cello and send him to the London Academy where William’s mother, a pianist, had also studied. At ten William entered the London Cello School and at 13 was awarded a scholarship to study with the great Julius Klengel in Leipzig, the youngest ever to be accepted.

The young Pleeth’s progress was phenomenal. In December 1931 at 15 he made his début at the Leipzig Conservatory playing the Haydn D Major Concerto and received rave reviews. His first appearance at the Gewandhaus under Bruno Walter soon followed and again the press was enthusiastic. Shortly after this he was invited to perform a piece for four cellos by Klengel with his second in command, Feuermann—a fellow student—and himself. In the first two years, he managed to learn a vast repertoire. He told me: ‘There were innumerable studies, 32 cello concertos, all the Bach Suites and Piatti Caprices; I knew about 23 of those from memory.’

Klengel made a deep and lasting impression on Pleeth: ‘What I loved so much about the old boy was that he was himself a very simple man. He had no whims. No sophistication. He was always honest and I loved him for it. What I am today, for better or worse, is me. I haven’t been tainted by anybody. Klengel never encouraged us to copy. After all, Feuermann and Piatigorsky were both his pupils and we’re all different. We never copied. Any dramatic or lyrical qualities you developed were you. It was Klengel’s honesty that allowed this to happen.’ Pleeth’s studies ended when he was 16. ‘I was his last pupil in May 1932. He died the following year and that was my final lesson and I’ve never had one since.’ Despite his Leipzig successes, when Pleeth returned to London he found it difficult to get work. Music was at a low ebb at the time and only foreign artists seemed to have any real status. Pleeth told me: ‘An English

name was taboo because at the time there was this terrible inverted snobbery. You had to have a “ski” or a “vitch” on the end of your name. It was tough for English artists. Since my family were originally Polish, I could easily have impressed them, but my parents were naturalized and had anglicized their name, so I refused to trade on my origins.’

His first break came in 1933 with a BBC audition when Pleeth was 17, which resulted in a couple of broadcasts, but no concert engagements were forthcoming. Pleeth’s parents, who by now were running short of funds, scraped up enough money to give him his début recital at the old Grotrian Hall which was opposite the more famous ‘Wigmore.’ Despite the rave reviews, no offers came along until several months later when he was invited to play the Dvorak Concerto with the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Leslie Heward for the handsome fee of two guineas! After a few engagements with other provincial orchestras, Pleeth made his first concerto broadcast with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sir Adrian Boult. Pleeth always recalled that day with affection. ‘I was so lucky to start with dear Sir Adrian. It was a lovely experience to start with such a marvellous man. He was so kind and helpful.’ From this time, Pleeth’s career began to take an upward turn, and besides his solo engagements he was the cellist in the Blech Quartet from 1936-1941. In 1941, two years after the outbreak of war, Pleeth was called up and served in the army for five years. One good outcome was that he met up with the composer Edmund Rubbra which resulted in a lasting friendship and many dedications. Rubbra’s Cello Sonata was written for Pleeth and his wife, the pianist Margaret Good, and the Soliloquy for Cello, also dedicated to him, dates from those war years. Later many other composers wrote works for Pleeth, and for him and his wife, including Franz Reizenstein, Gordon Jacob, Matyas Seiber and Benjamin Frankel.

Although for many years Pleeth followed a highly successful solo career, appearing with leading orchestras and giving recitals with his pianist wife, Margaret Good, whom he married in 1944, he became disenchanted with the endless travelling and the artistic isolation which attends the soloist when confronted with a large orchestra. He was very articulate when it came to his views on ‘eminent‘ conductors. ‘There aren’t so many great conductors anyway! You sit at home and work out your concerto, Elgar, Schumann, whatever, in the same way that a conductor works it all out. You formulate this great work of art in your mind and you are ready to

William Pleethby Margaret Campbell

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give your interpretation of what you want it to be. What happens? You arrive, you play with a so-called “great” conductor—who may be miscast in his role anyway—and all you have is a bash-through!’ He then related to me a recent experience with a well-known orchestra and an equally well-known conductor. When it was over he asked himself why he had taken it on when he could have spent three hours on the first page! He hastened to assure me that not all conductors fall into that category. Boult, Barbirolli and the French Albert Wolff were high on his list of greats, as was ‘dear old Pierre Monteux’, with whom he played many times.

Chamber music always had a high priority in Pleeth’s musical activities and in 1953, he formed the Allegri Quartet with Eli Goren and James Barton on violins and Patrick Ireland on viola, which went on to achieve international stature. Pleeth left in 1968 when it re-formed with an entire change of personnel. Pleeth said: ‘In chamber music you have something which is quite different from the solo orchestral performances. It is such a high form of musical art that you are part of something which is so much bigger than yourself. You are making music and I was lucky enough to find a handful of people who thought as I did.’ For many years after the Allegri, Pleeth would join his colleagues for the sheer pleasure of making music, and was greatly in demand when an extra cellist was needed for Schubert Quintet—a work he played many times with the Amadeus.

William Pleeth was—as everyone knows—also a dedicated teacher, and judging by the number of students who flocked to him from all over the world it was not surprising. He was a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1948, and apart from his private

pupils and masterclasses world-wide, he also taught for many years at the Menuhin School. He explained that apart from Jackie du Pré, his son Anthony and Robert Cohen, he had never taken on children as such, but: ‘Menuhin has them picked for their sparkle, their personality—not just their personal ability. He looks for liveliness of mind and imagination.’ Pleeth’s students were fortunate in being able to reap the benefit of his sound philosophy which was the long-term legacy from Klengel. He said: ‘I like to leave a lot of leeway for them to develop along the lines of their own personality. I don’t want them to be reproductions of me. They are harnessed to me in a way, but they are attached not bound! I can’t bear the sort of attitude which says: “Here is my fingering, darling–go and practise it. You can copy it from Charlie or Mary.” That isn’t my way at all. There are so many ways of being expressive. We discuss the drama and the lyrical quality together, but somehow the individual personality must come through.’ Pleeth was insistent that it was his job to get that particular personality to bloom: ‘This whole study business is for me person per temperament per human being, nervous, relaxed whatever. One has to be a psychologist to understand one’s students.’ It is easy to understand why so many of his pupils found him so inspiring.

As a player, Pleeth had an exuberant, extrovert style and coaxed a luscious, mellow tone from his beautiful Stradivarius dated 1732. But above all it was his passionate conviction to the music itself that made his performances come alive and linger long afterwards in the memory.

Variety and balance were the main influences in Pleeth’s daily life. A happy home, a watchful eye on his son Anthony as his career progressed, and an obsession with his children and grand-children formed the background. (One of his grand-daughters, Tatty Theo, will be playing alongside his son at tonight’s concert). He was an inveterate theatregoer, loved beautiful furniture, visiting art galleries, reading Russian novels when he had time, and Agatha Christie when he was tired. In his younger days, he played tennis and thought nothing of walking 200 miles in a week. He also loved reading about famous lawsuits—a passion since the age of about ten. And then the most surprising hobby of all–cooking! I well remember our conversation all those years ago: ‘I love cooking and eating the results. I can put myself to sleep at night concocting a new dish.’

It would seem also that Pleeth’s recipe for life might have been a model for many people whether they be musicians or not. And as such he will be remembered by all of us who were fortunate to come within the orbit of this very remarkable man.

Reprinted (with slight amendments) by kind permission of ESTA News & Views Autumn 1999.

William Pleeth & Margaret Good

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William Pleeth talks to cellist Selma Gokcen about his experiences as a young boy in Julius Klengel’s renowned cello class at the Landeskonservatorium, Leipzig. The year was 1930 and he was all of fourteen years of age.

SG Where had you studied before arriving in Leipzig?

WP I was at the London Cello School, a pupil of Herbert Walenn. My mother decided it was time for a change and the idea came through a friend’s son, who was studying with Klengel in Leipzig.

SG What happened at your audition with Professor Klengel?

WP I prepared the Klengel Concertino in C, which ended my period of work at the London Cello School. Klengel invited Max Pauer, Head of the Konservatorium and a well-known pianist himself, to hear me and he gave me a scholarship on the spot. That first year I started with a Goltermann concerto and did several concerti in all, ending with the famous Grützmacher

(which opens with the passage in octaves). I was like a horse let off the reins—a concerto every three weeks or so and the twelve Piatti Caprices.

I had never heard my previous teacher play, but Klengel not only played the cello, he accompanied his pupils seated at the piano, with legs crossed over the pedals and cigar ash falling over his suit.

The first year I was kept out of orchestra, but when I turned fifteen, I was asked to play the solo part of the Brahms B-flat Piano Concerto, seated in front of boys who were far older than I.

During my time in his class, I did thirty-two concertos in all, among them Lindner, d’Albert, Molique—pieces that were considered part of the standard cello repertoire and not just ‘study concertos’.

SG Who were your classmates, and how many were you in all?

WP We were six in all: Zimbler, Greulich, Hoelscher (who later became the first cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic), myself, and two others whose names I cannot recall.

SG Was Klengel an autocratic teacher in his approach?

WP Klengel was a simple man to start with. Although he could run around the instrument very fluently, even in his old age, he had no gimmicks and no sophistication. He had the driest tone I can remember. There was no forcing his thumbprint upon a pupil, no creating a model of himself. He allowed people to develop their personality. The fact that he did not force his influence was something I appreciated very much later in life. We all know those teachers who end up creating lots of students in their own image. The pupils of Klengel were each different from one another.

SG How did he conduct his classes?

WP Each of us had a half-hour lesson twice a week, and they always took place in a group. Occasionally I would have lessons at his house. Klengel adopted me unofficially as his son. I can recall once returning to class after the Christmas holidays, and his words to me, in a

Class with Julius KlengelWilliam Pleeth remembers his teacher

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sorrowful tone of voice, were, ‘Where were you, my son? You never came with me for a walk.’

The most touching story I remember concerns the Molique Concerto. I was always a lazy boy, and once, during the last lesson of the day, when we were alone, I played this concerto for him. There were a few passages which did not go well. Klengel was at the piano, and suddenly he flung the music over his head and stormed out. I packed my things quietly, knowing it was time to leave. As I walked out, I saw him standing in the hall, cheeks inflamed and the tears streaming from his eyes. He said to me, ‘Like Feuermann, you are lazy. He also did only four hours a day. My son, go and sit on your backside and practise.’

SG What was his attitude toward the technical exercises and études of his well-known predecessors— namely Duport, Dotzauer, Franchomme, Grützmacher?

WP He gave us some of those, and Duport and Popper, but mostly the Piatti Caprices. We did the two concertos by Klengel and, of course, the thirty-two concertos, which I learned as his pupil helped to further my development.

SG Was he willing to listen to exercises and studies or did he leave this to the pupil?

WP Yes, he listened, but there was no intensive redirecting of anything. He was such a simple person, a walking angel. He occasionally heard me do scales but did not impose or insist on set fingerings. That’s how I arrived at the attitude of flexibility in scales, that one should and ought to be able to do many fingerings rather than getting stuck in set patterns.

SG Would you say that Klengel was part of the Teutonic tradition of training—methodical, disciplined, founded on repetition?

WP Never anything of the sort. It’s hard to imagine, even as a younger man, that he would have been different. Now Hugo Becker in Berlin was another story. He was a fierce disciplinarian and once broke a bow over my first teacher’s head.

SG Did Klengel have the patience to analyse a problem and work with a pupil toward a solution? Did he teach by demonstration or example?

WP Up to a point. The students in the class were much older than I and could already play everything quite well; I don’t know what they would have been given before I arrived.

Klengel demonstrated by example, by playing, and the high standard in the class was evident. But you never saw the hard work.

I recall Zimbler and I shared ‘digs’ for six months. He used to practise to the minute from 10-12.00 and 4-6.00, and he sent me off to do the same. Four hours a day for those six months—for me that was hard work. That’s when I did most of my learning. I never found anything difficult. My eye saw and my fingers did it, and I don’t believe that I was aware of this piece or that being difficult or demanding.

There were public concerts at the school; the public paid to attend, and Klengel would say ‘you will do this and that.’ Even then, he would play the piano parts for most of his pupils, sitting cross-legged in the same manner. Of course the standard repertoire was much larger, and pieces like the d’Albert concerto were played in public.

SG Did he expect pieces to be memorised?

WP Yes, he did, but with me, memory came so quickly that he wasted no time trying to teach me to memorise. He didn’t have to specify how.

SG Did you ever hear Klengel perform in public?

WP Yes, I heard him play twice. Once, in an out-of-town hall, in a recital, I heard him do the Boccherini A major Sonata. Something went wrong, he mumbled to the pianist, and they started again. He was very agile on the instrument, even in his old age. I recall the day he went off to make a gramophone recording of either the Popper or Piatti Tarantella, right after one of my lessons. He said to me, ‘Look at these dry, old hands.’

He came to the Crystal Palace in London before the First World War. The audience was so staggered that they demanded encore after encore, and even crowded onto the platform to watch him more closely.

SG How did your work with Klengel influence your own teaching, if at all?

WP Since he didn’t force me into any moulds, he left me free to shape myself. And since I didn’t have to undo anything later on, I was left to be me. My own teaching was free to evolve out of teaching people as they came along.

London, 27 October 1997

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Dates of Study with William Pleeth

1947-1949ANITA LASKER-WALLFISCHAnita was William’s first pupil in London.

1962-1970JOHN HELEYSaturday morning Junior Exhibition Scheme, April 1962-1966.Guildhall School of Music & Drama AGSM course 1966-1970. Cello and quartet coaching for the Orsini String Quartet.

1964-1971CHRISTOPHER VANDERSPARI studied with Bill for 7 years from when I was 11, privately, and then at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

1966-1969STEPHEN ORTONI studied with William Pleeth at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

1968-1973FRANS HELMERSONI studied privately with William for about 10 months in 1968, 1971 and 1973 on recommendation from Jacqueline du Pré.

1969-1978ROBERT COHENI studied with William Pleeth in London, at Aldeburgh, at the Guildhall and the Royal College of Music.

1971-1972SEPPO KIMANENI studied with William Pleeth privately in London.

1974 -1976COLIN CARRMy years of study were not very precise, but safe to say infrequent lessons at his home in North London.

1976-1980MELISSA PHELPSThere were occasional lessons with William, both solo and quartet.

1977-1986HANNAH ROBERTSI was his pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School between the years 1977-1986. I also attended nearly every masterclass he gave at Aldeburgh during the summer of each of these same years.

1981-1988REBECCA GILLIVERI studied with Pleeth from 1981 at the Yehudi Menuhin School. I left in 1988—I think he was there until then.

1982-1983 and 1991-1993JOELY KOOS1982-83. When I was at Chethams School of Music, I would travel to Holly Park for my lessons every 2 weeks.1991-93. We had monthly coaching with the Archaeus Quartet as well as the odd solo cello lesson at his home.

1984-1989SOPHIE ROLLANDI studied privately with William in London.

1984-1994THOMAS CARROLLI studied with Pleeth at the Menuhin School where I was a pupil. He used to visit regularly.

1986 and 1987-1989NATASHA BROFSKYI first met and played for William Pleeth at the master classes in Aldeburgh in 1986, and then studied with him on a Fulbright in London from September 1987-Spring 1989. 1986-1990KRISTIN VON DER GOLTZI had lessons the first two years regularly once or twice a week, then irregularly, always privately at his home in Finchley.

1989-1990ORLANDO JOPLINGI studied with Bill at his house.

1989-1994ADRIAN BRENDELI started studying with Bill in 1989 and went to his house once a week privately until 1994.

1996-1999JAMIE WALTONI worked with William Pleeth in London, at Aldeburgh, the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, the Royal College of Music, and at his private home in Finchley, North London.

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Artists Biographies

CellistsANTHONY PLEETH, son of cellist William Pleeth and pianist Margaret Good, was born in London in 1948 and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he won the gold medal in 1966. After completing his studies there he became increasingly interested in the Baroque cello and his first record,

released in 1976, established him as England’s foremost exponent of the instrument, on which he continued to record and perform, both as soloist and as Principal Cello of the English Concert and the Academy of Ancient Music. However, his musical interests were diverse and in 1987 the Pleeth Cello Octet celebrated the centenary of Villa-Lobos with a highly acclaimed recording of his cello ensemble music. This was followed by recordings of Vivaldi’s cello sonatas, Beethoven’s complete works for cello and piano, and various recordings of chamber music by Mozart, Schubert and Mendelssohn.

During the late 1980s Anthony Pleeth became increasingly in demand as principal cello on film and television soundtracks working for many important British, European and Hollywood composers. He retired from commercial recording in April 2013 and now devotes his time to charitable ventures, chamber music concerts and to his family.

TATTY THEO comes from a family of cellists going back 3 generations, and her interest in baroque repertoire in particular became apparent at a very young age. Tatty’s earliest experiences of the cello were playing duets with her grandfather William Pleeth, and listening to her uncle Anthony perform Geminiani cello

sonatas on the baroque cello. After reading music at The Queen’s College, Oxford, Tatty continued her studies at postgraduate level at the Royal College of Music where she won many of the Early Music prizes. She has performed as a soloist at Festivals throughout Britain and Europe, with live broadcasts for BBC and various European radio stations. A lifelong passion for Handel and a love of performing chamber music are two of Tatty’s driving forces and this was instrumental in her founding the award-winning period instrument group The Brook Street Band. As well as performing, Tatty writes for various publications about Handel and eighteenth century music in general. Tatty is currently working on the first two chapters of a book about William Pleeth, having been awarded a Finzi scholarship to research William’s musical life in London pre 1930 and his studies in Leipzig from 1930-32. She is also researching material for an eventual book examining Handel’s use of the cello.

‘…a riveting performance, which varied between affecting simplicity and visceral excitement…all the playing was high quality, but particular praise must go to the cellist Tatty Theo, the group’s founder, for her beautifully subtle underpinning and shading of the melodic lines above.’ The Strad

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One of the most versatile and original cellists of his generation, ADRIAN BRENDEL has travelled the world as soloist, collaborator and teacher.

Adrian first studied the cello with William Pleeth, with whom he developed a deep attachment to chamber music. He then went

on to study with Alexander Baillie and Frans Helmerson in London and Cologne, also frequently attending the masterclasses of Gyorgy Kurtag, Ferenc Rados, members of the Alban Berg quartet and his father Alfred Brendel.

Adrian is artistic director of the Plush festival, held every summer in Plush, Dorset since 1995. The programme is devoted to classical and contemporary chamber music, Lieder recitals, modern jazz, folk and world music concerts, featuring over 100 contemporary works and 200 musicians from around the world.

Fortunately for an itinerant musician, travel is a passion for Adrian. He has participated in musical outreach projects as far afield as Bolivia, Argentina, Ukraine, Romania and east Africa in recent years, for example to present Baaba Maal’s Senegalese music festival from Podor for BBC Radio 4 in December 2012. He broadcasts regularly for radio stations around the world, most recently recording an album with Nils Wogram’s modern jazz group Root70 for Deutschlandfunk in October. Attempts to broaden his and the cello’s musical horizons have fostered projects with a range of different artists, more recently including Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Stian Carstensen, Patti Smith and Argentinian Bandoneonist Marcelo Nisinman. Outside of his performing life, Adrian divides his time between south London, Berlin and Plush.

Cellist NATASHA BROFSKY has enjoyed a career in both the United States and Europe. In addition to her work as cellist with the Naumburg award winning Peabody Trio, Ms Brofsky has performed as guest with numerous ensembles, including the Takács, Prazak, Norwegian, Borromeo, Jupiter, Parker and Ying Quartets.

She recently became artistic director of Music for Food’s New York chapter, a musician-led initiative for local hunger relief. During nearly a decade in Europe, Ms Brofsky won the Muriel Taylor cello prize and held principal positions in the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra under Iona Brown. In addition, she was a member of the Serapion Ensemble, performing with

them in Germany and Austria, and the string trio, Opus 3, which performed throughout Norway. She recorded Olav Anton Thommessen’s concerto for cello and winds for Aurora Records and was a regular participant at Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, England.

A sought after teacher, Ms Brofsky serves on the cello faculties of the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory. Since 2001, she has been on the faculty at the Yellow Barn Festival in Vermont. She was previously on the faculty of the Barratt-Due Musikk Institutt in Oslo. Ms Brofsky has given master classes at many colleges and conservatories in the US and abroad, including for El Sistema in Venezuela as well as at the Oberlin Conservatory, The Eastman School of Music and Mannes College.

COLIN CARR appears throughout the world as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, and teacher. He has played with major orchestras worldwide, including the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, the orchestras of Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia,

Montréal and all the major orchestras of Australia and New Zealand. Conductors with whom he has worked include Rattle, Gergiev, Dutoit, Elder, Skrowasczewski and Marriner. He has been a regular guest at the BBC Proms and has toured Australia and New Zealand frequently.

As a member of the Golub-Kaplan-Carr Trio, he recorded and toured extensively for 20 years. Chamber music plays an important role in his musical life. He is a frequent visitor to international chamber music festivals and has appeared often as a guest with the Guarneri and Emerson string quartets and with New York’s Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

Colin is the winner of many prestigious international awards, including First Prize in the Naumburg Competition, the Gregor Piatigorsky Memorial Award, Second Prize in the Rostropovich International Cello Competition and also winner of the Young Concert Artists competition.

Colin studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School with Maurice Gendron and later in London with William Pleeth. He has held teaching positions at the New England Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Music. St John’s College, Oxford created the post of “Musician in Residence” for him. Since 2002 he has been a professor at Stony Brook University in New York. He plays a Matteo Gofriller cello made in 1730.

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Born in Swansea, THOMAS CARROLL studied with Melissa Phelps at the Yehudi Menuhin School and with Heinrich Schiff in Austria. An exceptionally gifted cellist, he is one of only two artists who auditioned successfully for both Young Concert Artists Trust in London and Young Concert Artists, Inc.

in New York. He has since gone on to give critically acclaimed debut recitals at Wigmore Hall (London), Alice Tully Hall (NY) and in Boston, California, Florida and Washington DC.

As a concerto soloist Thomas has appeared with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, London Mozart Players, ViVA, Orchestra of the East Midlands, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra (conducted by Heinrich Schiff), English Chamber Orchestra, Prague Philharmonic, Sofia Philharmonic, and Bayerischer Rundfunk Orchestra. Much in demand as a chamber musician, Thomas has worked with the Belcea Quartet, Chilingirian Quartet, Endellion Quartet, Yehudi Menuhin, Ivry Gitlis, Gidon Kremer, Steven Isserlis, Mischa Maisky, Michael Collins, Julian Rachlin at Wigmore Hall, the Edinburgh and Cheltenham International Festivals, among many others. His recordings include Michael Berkeley’s String Quintet with the Chilingirian Quartet for Chandos.

Thomas is currently a professor at the Royal College of Music in London and the Yehudi Menuhin School.

ROBERT COHEN made his concerto debut at the age of twelve at the Royal Festival Hall London and throughout the following forty years of his distinguished international career, has been hailed as one of the foremost cellists of our time. ‘It is easy to hear what the fuss is about, he plays like a God’ (New

York Stereo Review).

Invited to perform concertos world-wide by conductors Claudio Abbado, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, and Sir Simon Rattle, Robert Cohen has also collaborated in chamber music with many renowned soloists and ensembles such as Yehudi Menuhin and the Amadeus String Quartet (including their CD of Schubert Quintet on DGG).

Robert Cohen made his recording debut at age 19 with the Elgar Cello Concerto and London Philharmonic (EMI), which earned a silver disc for sales of more than 1/4 million, since when he has recorded extensively for BIS, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony and under long term contract to Decca. Cohen studied with William Pleeth, Jacqueline du Pré and Mistislav Rostropovich. Cohen became an inspirational teacher and has given masterclasses and lectures world-wide. He is a professor at the Royal Academy of Music, London and Accademia Perosi, Biella, Italy.

In addition to Cohen’s solo career, he directed the Charleston Manor Festival 1989-2012, has been cellist of the legendary Fine Arts Quartet since 2012, has a monthly radio show in the US on WUWM entitled ‘On That Note’, is curator of Highbrow. TV and runs celloclinic.com.www.robertcohen.info

REBECCA GILLIVER is principal cellist of the London Symphony Orchestra. Originally joining the LSO in 2001 as co-principal, she won the principal job in 2009 and has also played as guest principal with orchestras all over the world, including the Australian Chamber Orchestra, New Sinfonietta Amsterdam and

the World Orchestra for Peace. A student of Melissa Phelps, William Pleeth and Ralph Kirshbaum, early success in national and international competitions led to critically acclaimed debut recitals at the Wigmore Hall in London and Carnegie Hall, New York. Rebecca has performed in major music festivals such as Bath, Bergen, and the Manchester International Cello Festival and as soloist with the Halle and the London Mozart Players.

A keen chamber musician, she has collaborated with international artists including Nikolai Znaider, Sarah Chang and Roger Vignoles with whom she recorded for BBC Radio 3. She is a regular participant at IMS Prussia Cove and a guest with the Nash Ensemble, featuring on their latest CD. Rebecca is committed to teaching and has recently become a professor at the Guildhall. She teaches masterclasses at the Royal Academy, the Royal Northern College of Music and Birmingham Conservatoire; coaches on the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme and acts as a mentor for Future Talent, a charity encouraging young musicians from low income backgrounds.

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JOHN HELEY studied with William from 1962-1966 at the GSM Junior Exhibition Scheme and the AGSM course from1966-1970, including quartet coaching with Orsini String Quartet. On completion of his studies he gained the post of Sub Principal of the RPO. During his ten-year tenure he became Principal Cello of the

Orchestra of St. John’s Smith Square a post he still holds and is very involved in that group’s Music for Autism work.

In 1986 John was appointed Associate Principal of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, a post he held for 29 years, leaving in 2014. He has appeared as Guest principal with the Northern Sinfonia,The Royal Opera House, The Philharmonia Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

A busy life in the recording studio, he can be heard on many scores for both large and small screen, including several Bond and Harry Potter films and for TV Poirot, Spooks, Silent Witness and Downton Abbey.

John now has more time for private teaching and coaching chamber music at Cambridge University with William as his continuous inspiration. Recently he appeared as Leo Cassell in Dustin Hoffman’s film Quartet.

Swedish cellist FRANS HELMERSON studied in Göteborg, Rome and London with Guido Vecchi, Giuseppe Selmi and William Pleeth, as well as having had the benefit of guidance and support from Mstislav Rostropovich. Helmerson has performed with many of today’s finest

conductors such as Seiji Ozawa, Colin Davies, Neeme Järvi, Evgeni Svetlanov, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Herbert Blomstedt, Sergiu Comissiona, Rafael Frübeck de Burgos, Kurt Sanderling and Mstislav Rostropovich as well as with a number of the major orchestras, touring throughout Europe, the United States, South America, Asia and Australia.

Helmerson’s love for chamber music led him to take the position of artistic director of the Korsholm Festival in Finland (1994-2001), and he frequently appears at a number of international festivals such as in Verbier, Prades, Naantali, Kuhmo and Ravinia.

In 2002 he formed the Michelangelo String Quartet with Mihaela Martin, Stephan Picard and Nobuko

Imai. Helmerson has recorded concertos by Dvořák and Shostakovich, the Brahms Double Concerto with violinist Mihaela Martin, and the Bach Solo Suites, among others.

Frans Helmerson previously held a professorship at the Musikhochschule in Cologne. He now teaches as guest professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and as professor at the Kronberg Academy Masters.

For more information, visit: www.loddingkonsert.se

ORLANDO JOPLING studied with William Pleeth, Alexander Baillie and Raphael Wallfisch, and had masterclasses from Paul Tortelier and the coaches at Pro Corda and Prussia Cove. He has recorded the six Bach suites for solo cello among many other discs, and has given over 110 solo recitals as part of his ‘Cello Pilgrimage’,

raising almost £75,000 towards the restoration and upkeep of remote medieval parish churches.

He has given concerto performances with the Orchestra of the Swan and others, played chamber music in major festivals, played as guest principal cello with many orchestras, and played in the section of the LSO and Philharmonia for Bernard Haitink, Riccardo Muti, Colin Davis and Valery Gergiev among others.

Orlando is Principal Conductor of the 140-year-old Royal Orchestral Society. He has assisted Daniele Gatti, Wyn Davies and Colin Davis and guest-conducted the English Chamber Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Irish Chamber Orchestra, Savoy Opera, Independent Opera, British Youth Opera, Sinfonia Viva, the Schönbrunn Orchestra in Vienna and the Cyprus Symphony Orchestra. He founded two opera companies and programmed the Roman River Festival in coastal Essex for ten years.

SEPPO KIMANEN has been cellist of the Jean Sibelius String Quartet 1980-2014. He also taught cello and chamber music at the Sibelius Academy. Kimanen founded Kuhmo Chamber Music Festival in 1970 and worked as its artistic director until 2005. In the 1970s William Pleeth regularly performed and

tutored young Finnish musicians at the festival.

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JOELY KOOS pursues a varied musical career as a chamber musician, soloist and orchestral principal. Performing as co-principal with the City of London Sinfonia and the London Chamber Orchestra, she is also first call guest principal with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic and is regularly invited to play principal with

London Sinfonietta, the BBC Concert, BBC Scottish Symphony and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.

In March Joely was the soloist in two world premieres in one week: as solo cellist with the City of London Sinfonia at Southwark Cathedral in a performance of Roddy WiIliam’s ‘Homage to Bach’s Bourrée’; and the following day she performed a new solo cello work written for her by Jacob Thompson Bell as part of the Music/Non classical festival in Leeds.

Other ventures in 2016 include participating as solo cellist at several music festivals including the Frinton music festival, The Fitzfest, and The Suffolk Cello Festival. For the last twenty years Joely has very much enjoyed being professor of Cello at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. She has been invited to give masterclasses at the London Cello Society’s ‘CelloDay’ this April and is a regular masterclass coach at the Pro Corda cello course.

Educated at Chethams School as a joint first study pianist and cellist, Joely subsequently won scholarships to both Cambridge University and then the Royal Academy of Music. Finishing her studies at the Banff international music centre, Joely went on to be a prizewinner in the Jacqueline Du Pré Competition.

STEPHEN ORTON was born in Ripon, Yorkshire, and studied with William Pleeth at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. In 1985 Stephen became Principal Cello with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and has performed as a concerto soloist many times with the orchestra. He has been Principal Cello with the

Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the City of London Sinfonia, was a member of the Delmé Quartet for ten years, and has acted as Guest Principal Cello with the London Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia. Stephen has wide experience of chamber music, being a member of the Academy Chamber Ensemble, touring internationally and making numerous recordings. He has often played the Schubert Quintet with the Chilingirian Quartet, which he joined in 2013.

MELISSA PHELPS has enjoyed a varied career as soloist, teacher and chamber musician. As a soloist she has played with the Bournemouth and BBC Welsh Symphony Orchestras, the London Sinfonietta and the Academy of London, including broadcasts for BBC TV and Radio 3. As a chamber musician she has appeared

at many major international festivals, and has given recitals in all the main London concert halls. She is a highly respected teacher having taught at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Amsterdam Conservatory and is currently a professor at the Royal College of Music, where she was made a Fellow in 2016. Melissa Phelps has given premieres by Lutoslawski, Nyman and Turnage amongst others and has recorded for Decca,ASV, Teldec and Meridian. She plays on a Francesco Goffriller cello made in Venice in 1723.

HANNAH ROBERTS is one of the outstanding cellists of her generation and was privileged to have studied with William Pleeth for nine years whilst attending the Yehudi Menuhin school. Having won prizes in numerous prestigeous competitions and awards such as Shell LSO, BBC

Young Musician, Jacqueline Du Pré Memorial and Pierre Fournier awards Hannah has gone on to give many concerto performances with leading orchestras, including the London Mozart Players, LSO, BBC Concert Orchestra, and the Halle, also making frequent broadcasts for BBC radio and recoding for ASV.

Festival appearances have included Chichester, Malvern, Beverley, ‘Beethovenfest’ and regular participation in the prestigious ‘Manchester International Cello Festival’, where she was invited to lead the world premiere of a work for cello sextet by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies and performed on numerous occasions. Internationally she has taken part in the Piatigorsky International Cello Festival in Los Angeles and numerous other festivals in Europe.

In addition to being principal cellist of Manchester Camerata and her activities as soloist and chamber musician, Hannah is a committed and sought after teacher and is professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London and the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. She is honoured to have been awarded an FRNCM for her work helping to nurture upcoming gifted cellists.

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Canadian cellist SOPHIE ROLLAND graduated with a Premier Prix and highest honours whilst still in her teens from the Conservatoire de Musique in Montreal, where she studied with Walter Joachim. After periods with Lee Fiser, cellist of the LaSalle Quartet, Nathaniel Rosen in New York and Pierre Fournier in

Switzerland, Sophie came to London to study with William Pleeth. Along with Walter Joachim, without a doubt Sophie considers William Pleeth to be the most important influence on her development as both a musician and cellist.

Sophie has won every important prize in her native Canada, including the prestigious Virginia Parker Prize, which is awarded annually by The Canada Council to just one exceptional musician. Aged 20, Sophie made her debut with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal under Charles Dutoit and from there developed a career, which has taken her around the world as recitalist, chamber musician, concerto soloist and later on as teacher and jury member as well.

In London specifically, Sophie has performed in all the major halls. Highlights have included performances at The Proms as well as several recitals at the Wigmore Hall and many broadcasts for the BBC. Amongst those, the Financial Times wrote of a cycle of all Beethoven’s works for piano and cello given with her friend and compatriot Marc-André Hamelin: ‘Their playing offers, first and foremost, unadulterated musical pleasure ... not since Richter ‘accompanied’ Rostropovich have I heard this music expounded with such even-handed creativity.’

CHRISTOPHER VANDERSPAR is a Section Principal with the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House. In addition to his duties with the Orchestra he regularly plays solo cello parts for The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet. His repertory with The Royal Ballet has included Hans van Manen’s Four Schumann Pieces, Richard Alston’s Midsummer, Will

Tuckett’s If this is still a problem, Twyla Tharp’s Mr Worldly Wise, Stephen Baynes’s Beyond Bach, Glen Tetley’s Pierrot Lunaire and Liam Scarlett’s Sweet Violets. With The Royal Opera he has played the cello continuo in repertory including Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, L’ anima del filosofo, Semele, Mitridate, rè di Ponto and Alcina. Vanderspar was born to a musical family and began studying the cello at the age of six. He studied with William Pleeth and later with Jacqueline du Pré and Maurice Gendron. He won first prizes in the Heran Violoncello Competition and the Royal Over-Seas League Annual Music Competition. He became principal

cello of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the age of 21 and three years later joined the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

Vanderspar has a vibrant solo career playing concertos with many leading orchestras. He is a member of several chamber groups, including the Soloists of Covent Garden and the Vanderspar String Trio with his siblings Edward and Fiona.

The cellist KRISTIN VON DER GOLTZ studied with Christoph Henkel at the Musikhochschule Freiburg and with William Pleeth in London. She was a member of the Freiburger Barockorchester from 1991-2004.

Today she performs with the modern and the historical cello as a soloist

with various ensembles and conductors such as Berliner Barock Solisten, La Stagione Frankfurt, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marc Minkowski, Ton Koopman and Michael Schneider. She is a founding member of Trio Vivente, with whom she has performed and recorded 4 CDs.

Since 2009 she has been teaching as a professor for Baroque Cello and Early Music at the College of Music in Frankfurt and the College of Music in Munich.

She has recorded 3 solo CDs with music by Dall’Abaco, Dard and Klein. Her latest recording with cello sonatas by Carporale will be released this year.

Noted for his rich, powerful sound with purity of tone and emotionally engaging performances JAMIE WALTON has performed concertos with many of the eminent orchestras such as the LPO, RPO and Philharmonia, appearing throughout much of Europe, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Canada, Australia and the UK. He has

recorded 13 concertos with the Philharmonia and RPO, which include the Dvořák and Schumann with Vladimir Ashkenazy to great critical acclaim. For Signum Records he has also recorded much of the sonata repertoire, the complete works for cello by Britten and a film of the Britten suites for solo cello, which was premiered on Sky Arts.

Jamie is equally passionate about chamber music and is founder of the highly successfully North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, which he started in 2009 and subsequently shortlisted for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award within two years. Jamie then recently set up his own

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record label for chamber music: Ayriel Classical, whose debut includes a world premiere of ‘A Sea of Cold Flame’ written for the festival by the late Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, was launched in October 2016.

Jamie is a member of the Worshipful Company of Musicians and has been elected to the Freedom of the City of London. He was also awarded a Foundation Fellowship by Wells Cathedral School for his outstanding contribution to music and is lead Patron for Cedars Hall, a new concert venue there, which he officially opened last month.

He plays on a 1712 Guarneri.www.jamiewalton.com - www.northyorkmoorsfestival.com - www.ayrielclassical.com

Special Guests

ALASDAIR BEATSON combines a career as one of the UK’s most prominent chamber pianists with appearances as soloist in an especially varied and adventurous repertoire. His solo discography includes piano music of Mendelssohn, Ludwig Thuille, and the Opus 1’s of Schumann, Grieg, Berg and Brahms. 2017 will see the release of a recording with

BIS dedicated to music for horn and piano, recorded on four historical pianos spanning 1815-1890, with horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill. Forthcoming performances include chamber collaborations with Adrian Brendel, Philippe Graffin, Pekka Kuusisto, Alexander Melnikov and Pieter Wispelwey. Recent performances include concertos with the Scottish Chamber and Royal Scottish National orchestras, Britten Sinfonia, and the Scottish Ensemble; as soloist in Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques conducted by George Benjamin, and in appearances at festivals in Aldeburgh, Bath, Ernen (Switzerland), Delft, IMS Prussia Cove, Resonances (Belgium), Oxford Chamber Music and Plush. Alasdair was a student of John Blakely at the Royal College of Music and Menahem Pressler in Bloomington, Indiana. He is founder and artistic director of the chamber music festival Musique à Marsac.

Pianist LANA BODE specialises in song and chamber music recitals. An American by birth, she trained at Indiana University Jacobs School of Music under the guidance of Edward Auer, graduating with a BMus (High Distinction) at the age of 20. Since that time, she has lived and worked in the UK, training specifically as a contemporary

pianist and accompanist. She received an MMus with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama under the guidance of Andrew West and Rolf Hind. Her training included song projects and masterclasses with Graham Johnson, Roger Vignoles, Malcolm Martineau, Iain Burnside, Julius Drake, Sarah Walker, Dame Ann Murray, Natalie Dessay, Felicity Lott, Sir Thomas Allen, Thomas Quasthoff, Roderick Williams and Martin Frost.

Lana has performed in nearly all of the major concert halls in London including Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall. Awards include the Paul Hamburger Prize for Song Accompaniment and the prestigious Concert Recital Diploma (GSMD). Lana is a Samling Artist, a Leverhulme Artist and an alumnus of the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme. She was an accompaniment fellow at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance from 2014-16, and is now a staff accompanist at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. She is also Artistic Director of the concert series Virginia Woolf & Music, and the 2016 Viola Tunnard Young Artist at Aldeburgh Music.

CATHERINE BOTT owes the Pleeth family a great deal: after studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and two years singing everything from Bach to Berio with the Swingles, her earliest outings in Baroque chamber cantatas were in the inspiring company of Anthony Pleeth, sometimes rehearsing in the hospitable and encouraging ambience

of his parents’ house in North London.

Among her many recordings are Bach’s St. John Passion with the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea with Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with the Academy of Ancient Music. She has also premiered and recorded works by contemporary composers Craig Armstrong, Jonathan Dove, Michael Nyman and Errollyn Wallen.

These days, Catherine Bott’s speaking voice can regularly be heard on radio: between 2003 and 2013 she wrote and presented more than 300 editions of BBC Radio 3’s long-running Early Music Show and was one of the regular presenters of live evening concerts. In 2013 she signed a long-term contract with Classic FM, where her Sunday-night programme, Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Classical Music, is now in its fourth year: she also presents The Full Works Concert every Thursday and Friday.

Catherine continues to make feature programmes for BBC Radio 4, where she is a member of the Pick of the Week presenting team. She is a Fellow of the Guildhall School of

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worldwide, and is a frequent guest teacher in Canada at the Banff Center and at Domaine Forget.

He plays on a cello made in Brescia, c.1700, by G.B. Rogeri

NICHOLAS PARLE is professor of Harpsichord at the Hochschule für Musik and Theater in Leipzig, and also teaches at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Born in Australia, after obtaining his Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Sydney, he moved to London, where he has since worked with many of

the leading early music orchestras. In 1989 he won the first prize in the International Harpsichord Competition in Bruges, Belgium, at that time only the third time in 30 years that a first prize had been awarded.

The award-winning SACCONI QUARTET is recognised for its unanimous and compelling ensemble, consistently communicating with a fresh and imaginative approach. Formed in 2001,

its four founder members continue to demonstrate a shared passion for string quartet repertoire, infectiously reaching out to audiences with their energy and enthusiasm. The Sacconi is Quartet in Association at the Royal College of Music and Associate Artist at the Bristol Old Vic.

The 2015/16 season saw the Quartet focusing on the works of Jonathan Dove, Graham Fitkin and John McCabe, culminating in CD recordings of all three composers. Their commission with Mark Padmore of Jonathan Dove’s new song cycle In Damascus, with words by Syrian poet Ali Safar, was premiered in Folkestone, Aldeburgh and London. Other highlights of last season included return performances at William Walton’s house in Ischia, Italy, and collaborations with Freddy Kempf, Charles Owen, Roger Chase, Pierre Doumenge, Miloš Karadaglić, Tim Boulton, Simon Rowland-Jones, Garfield Jackson and David Waterman. They also recorded John McCabe’s Horn Quintet, written for them and David Pyatt in 2011.

The name Sacconi Quartet comes from the outstanding twentieth-century Italian luthier and restorer Simone Sacconi, whose book The Secrets of Stradivari is considered an indispensable reference for violin makers. Robin is indebted to Ellen Solomon for the use of his viola. Ben, Hannah & Cara have all been generously loaned their instruments by the Royal Society of Musicians, a charity, which helps musicians in need, for which they are extremely grateful.

Music and Drama and an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance.

Leading chamber musician, solo cellist, orchestral principal and renowned teacher, RICHARD LESTER appears regularly at the world’s foremost concert venues and festivals. He studied in London at the Royal College of Music with Amaryllis Fleming and in Germany with Johannes Goritzki. He was a member of the award-winning

Florestan Trio, a founder-member of the ensemble Domus, a member of Hausmusik and the London Haydn Quartet. Equally at home on both period instruments and ‘modern’, he was for many years principal with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and has been principal cello with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since 1989. In addition he is frequently called upon to be guest leader of the cello sections of the major London orchestras, appearing with many of the world’s finest conductors and soloists.

He has performed as concerto soloist with, among others, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Camerata Salzburg, BBC Scottish SO, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata and the Ulster Orchestra, under conductors including Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Paavo Berglund, Sandor Vegh, Myung Whun Chung and Sir Roger Norrington. He has also appeared as director and soloist with COE, OAE, Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields, London Mozart Players, Irish Chamber Orchestra, and in Montreal and Quebec with Les Violons du Roy.

The Florestan Trio was one of the world’s leading piano trios and for almost seventeen years the group maintained the same personnel, winning the Gramophone award in 1999 and the Royal Philharmonic Society award in 2000. Many of its records are benchmark recordings, nominated in collectors’ guides. The trio disbanded in 2012, finishing their career with a sold-out Beethoven series in London’s Wigmore Hall.

Richard Lester is regularly invited to take part in chamber music festivals around the world. He is artistic co-director, together with violinist Anthony Marwood, of the highly successful annual Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival in East Sussex. He has made over 40 highly acclaimed recordings, twice winning the Gramophone award for best chamber music. His recordings of the complete works of Mendelssohn for cello and piano and a disc of Boccherini sonatas on period instruments are available on the Hyperion label. Richard Lester teaches at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School in London. He gives masterclasses

Welcome to this performance at the Royal College of Music. Please turn off your mobile phone to avoid any disturbance to the performers. Private filming, sound recording and commercial photography are not permitted without prior written permission. Photographs may be taken during applause following a performance unless otherwise notified. Many events at the RCM are filmed and recorded. By attending a performance, you consent to any photography, filming or sound recording which may include you as a member of the audience. For further details, please see RCM Public Recording Policy at www.rcm.ac.uk

The photographs of William Pleeth used in this programme are taken from family archives. Every effort has been made to obtain permission (where appropriate) to reproduce this material and credit relevant photographers. Photograph credits:Page 3, lower image: Felix Schmidt Page 7: Radio Times

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