Richard Birchall

In October 2007 Richard was solo cellist at Glyndebourne House in Julian Phillips's new chamber opera 'Ghosts'. In the past year Richard's chamber work has included appearances at St James's Piccadilly, St Martin-in-the-fields, the Barbican Hall and Wigmore Hall, and a performance of Ravel’s Piano Trio with Clare Hammond and Philippe Graffin. Since 2007 Richard has been a regular freelance member of the English Chamber Orchestra, and he is currently on trial for a position in the Philharmonia. Further orchestral experience has included concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Manning Camerata, and London Octave. He has been guest co-principal for both the English Chamber Orchestra and the Manning Camerata. Richard has participated in masterclasses with Gary Hoffman (at the Manchester International Cello Festival), Philippe Muller, Martin Lovett, and Alexander Rudin, and has broadcast on BBC Radio 3, Radio 4 and Radio Vorarlberg, Austria.

Richard Birchall was born in London in 1984. He read Music at Cambridge University and studied the cello with Louise Hopkins as a postgraduate at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. During his time at Cambridge Richard performed concertos by Brahms, Haydn, Saint-Saens and Dvorak, and was the winner of the CUMS Concerto Competition. In November 2005 Richard won a Jellinek Award which led to a performance of the Schumann concerto with the Guildford Symphony Orchestra. In March 2006 he gave performances of the Elgar concerto in Cambridge and at St John's, Smith Square, and gave a recital at London's Foundling Museum as part of the New London Orchestra's 'Young Performers' series; he has also appeared as soloist with the Croydon Symphony Orchestra and Sinfonia Tamesa, and with the GSMD Symphonic Wind Ensemble in Friedrich Gulda’s Cello Concerto. In January 2010 Richard will feature as part of the Park Lane Group New Year Series in a recital at London’s Purcell Room.

Richard is also Artistic Co-director of London-based cello octet

Richard was the 2005 winner of the prestigious Muriel Taylor Scholarship, and his postgraduate studies were further supported by the Musicians' Benevolent Fund Music Education and Myra Hess Awards, the Craxton Memorial Trust, the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and the Countess of Munster Trust. Richard continues his affiliation with the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he now holds the position of Artist Fellow.