Guy Johnston, Cello
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting and versatile British cellists of his generation. He achieved important early success as the 2000 BBC Young Musician of the Year at 18. He has made many important debuts including the First Night of the BBC Proms playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In recent seasons Guy has worked on an education project with the Wigmore Hall, where he performs regularly, and is an inspiring leader of young musicians.
A founding member of the Aronowitz Ensemble, he is an enthusiastic chamber musician and regularly plays in festivals all over Europe and is the founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival. Guy’s debut recital CD on Orchid Classics was released to widespread critical acclaim. His recent recordings of relatively unknown cello works have been overwhelmingly well-received in the press. Guy plays a 1714 David Tecchler cello. He is a Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music.
Tom Poster, Piano
Since his London concerto debut at the age of 13, Tom has appeared in a wide-ranging concerto repertoire of over 30 major works with some of the world’s leading orchestras. Tom features regularly on BBC Radio 3 as soloist and chamber musician, and has made multiple appearances in both capacities at the BBC Proms. He has recorded discs for Chandos, Sonimage and Decca Classics; and a critically-acclaimed debut solo CD, In Dance and Song, for Champs Hill Records.
In addition, Tom has appeared as presenter and guest expert on BBC television and radio, given masterclasses at Dartington and in Singapore, acted as Artistic Director of Chacombe Music Festival, and moonlighted as conductor, cellist, oboist, recorder player and reciter (Walton’s Façade). Tom’s arrangements of Gershwin and Cole Porter songs have been extensively performed and recorded, while recent commissions undertaken as a composer include two works for Alison Balsom; a chamber operaand the soundtrack for Perfect Features’ feature film, A Million Happy Nows.