GUY JOHNSTON 
& ALASDAIR BEATSON

Tickets £18

GUY JOHNSTON

Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting and versatile British cellists of his generation. He achieved important early success through the ‘BBC Young Musician of the Year’ title, the Guilhermina Suggia Gift, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award and he was a recipient of a ‘Classical Brit’ Award. He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie Orchester and St. Petersburg Symphony, among many others. Guy’s mentors have included Steven Doane, Ralph Kirshbaum, Bernard Greenhouse, Steven Isserlis and David Waterman.
Recent seasons have included performances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and RTÉ Symphony Orchestra, among others. Future plans include concertos with the Moscow Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Ulster Orchestra.

As an enthusiastic chamber musician, Guy is a founding member of the Aronowitz Ensemble and is the founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival and performs chamber music at acclaimed festivals around the world. As well as maintaining a busy performing career, Guy is dedicated to promoting music with young people and is a patron of several charities. He is also a Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music.

Guy’s debut recital CD with pianist Kathryn Stott, received much critical acclaim; the New York Times refers to “Mr. Johnston's burnished and varied sound...”. Recent recordings include David Matthews’ ‘Dark Pastoral’ with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and a recording of the rarely heard Moeran Cello Concerto with the Ulster Orchestra for Naxos has also received high-praise.  Guy Johnston plays a 1714 David Tecchler cello.

Alasdair Beatson is highly regarded as a distinctive and  vibrant musician. Highlights of the 2014 season include a sixth solo Wigmore Recital on July 13th, an ECHO tour of major European concert halls with flautist Juliette Bausor, and chamber collaborations with such artists as Adrian Brendel, Philippe Graffin, Erich Höbarth, Pekka Kuusisto and Pieter Wispelwey.  His recent CD of Mendelssohn piano music with SOMM Recordings received praise for highly sensitive playing of rare insight (Classic FM Magazine) and was awarded the ‘Outstanding’ accolade of International Record Review, and a new disc presenting the complete piano music of Ludwig Thuille was released in April 2013.

Recent concerts include appearances as soloist with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, the Scottish Ensemble, and performances as soloist in Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, conducted by George Benjamin, and Hindemith’s The Four Temperaments.  As one of the most established chamber pianists of his generation, Alasdair works in a wide and varied repertoire with some of today’s finest musicians. Festival appearances in 2013 included Aldeburgh, Music at Plush, Resonances (Belgium), Ernen (Switzerland), Delft and Oxford Chamber Music.  A regular participant of IMS Prussia Cove, Alasdair was invited to join their touring groups in 2007 and 2011.  He is Artistic Director of the chamber music festival Musique à Marsac.