Guy Johnston Cello

“Johnston has already forged a place as one of the country’s most promising and distinctive cellists.” (The Strad). Guy Johnston has become a fast-rising star on the international stage after making an extraordinary debut at the BBC Proms performing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin.

Johnston has enjoyed successes with the London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, CBSO, BBC Scottish Symphony, RSNO, Orchester der Hessischer Rundfunk, St. Petersburg Academic Symphony, Gavle Symphony, Lithuanian National Philharmonic and he has undertaken previous tours of Japan with Katsushika Philharmonic, Osaka Philharmonic Senri Philharmonic, Habiki Strings, plus numerous recital engagements in Tokyo, Hakone, Kumamoto, Otsu, Kawaguchi and Fukuoka. Conductors he works closely with include Tortelier, Gatti, Slatkin, Ticciati and Burbayev.

Recent and forthcoming highlights include a tour of Japan with the Sapporo Symphony Orchestra/Ottaka (Elgar Cello Concerto), Walton Cello Concerto with Royal Philharmonic/Paul Daniel at Cadogan Hall, Britten Symphony for Cello and Orchestra with Northern Sinfonia/Robin Ticciati, Elgar Cello Concerto with Philharmonia/Stephen Cleobury, Dvorak Cello Concerto with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic/Robin Ticciati, Brahms Double Concerto with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Juraj Valcuha, Elgar Cello Concerto and Matthews’ Concerto in Azzurro with BBC National Orchestra of Wales/van Steen, the Elgar Cello Concerto with Oxford Chamber Orchestra/Nicholas Cleobury and Haydn Cello Concerto in C with University of London Symphony Orchestra/John Forster. In 2009, Johnston will also embark on two UK tours with both the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra and Manchester Camerata.

Future recitals include the BBC Proms, Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Cadogan Hall, Moritzburg Festival, Kings College Cambridge, Petworth Festival and Schloss Elmau and he collaborates with the pianists Kathy Stott, Charles Owen, Huw Watkins, Tom Poster and Finghin Collins. He is a founder member of the Aronowitz Ensemble who have recently been invited onto the prestigious BBC New Generation Artists Series.

Born in 1981, Johnston began cello lessons at the age of five. He studied with Steven Doane at the Eastman College of Music in Rochester, New York and continued his studies with Steven Isserlis at IMS Prussia Cove and Ralph Kirshbaum in the UK. Awards include winner for the BRIT award for Best British Newcomer in 2002 (for the recording of Karl Jenkins’ Armed Man – Mass of Peace, Virgin Classics), BBC’s Young Musician of the Year in 2000 as well as Shell/LSO Gerald Macdonald Priez, Musiciens Bénévoles Fund Award and Suggia Gift. His debut recital cd is due to be released on the Orchid Classics label in Spring 2010.

For more information visit www.guy-johnston.com

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