Richard Birchall

Richard Birchall is one of the UK's most talented young musicians, and is beginning to earn a reputation both as a solo cellist and as a composer and arranger. He made his Purcell Room debut earlier this year in a recital which included London premieres of works by Edward Harper and Sally Beamish, receiving a number of enthusiastic reviews. He has appeared as concerto soloist with the Guildford Symphony Orchestra, Croydon Symphony Orchestra, Nonesuch Orchestra, Sinfonia Tamesa and others, at venues such as St John's Smith Square and West Road concert hall, Cambridge. Richard will return to the South Bank in January 2011 to perform Pierre Boulez's Messagesquisse in the opening concert of the Park Lane Group New Year Series; he has also been commissioned to write a new piece for the series, which will be premiered by cello octet Cellophony.

In the past year Richard's chamber work has included appearances at Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Hall, St James's Piccadilly and St Martin-in-the-fields, and a performance of Ravel's Piano Trio with Clare Hammond and Philippe Graffin. He was solo cellist at Glyndebourne House in Julian Philips's new chamber opera 'Ghosts', and other contemporary chamber music projects include BBC Stockhausen and Murail celebrations from LSO St Luke's, broadcast on Radio 3. Future engagements include a Beethoven Sonata cycle with pianist Clare Hammond.

Richard is a regular freelance member of the English Chamber Orchestra, and has also worked with the London Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, and the Philharmonia. He has appeared as co-principal for the ECO, and as guest principal for other chamber orchestras including London Octave.

Richard read Music at Cambridge University before studying as a postgraduate cellist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with Louise Hopkins. He has also participated in masterclasses with Gary Hoffman (at the Manchester International Cello Festival), Philippe Müller, Martin Lovett, and Alexander Rudin. Since winning the prestigious Muriel Taylor Scholarship in 2005 he has won major awards from the Musicians' Benevolent Fund, Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, Countess of Munster Trust and the Craxton Memorial Trust. Richard has recently joined the staff at the Guildhall, where he now holds the position of Strings Assistant.