"an articulate musician with zest, spontaneity, technical assurance and a lovely sense of line…a major talent." Helen Wallace, BBC Music Magazine

Since his concerto debut at the age of ten, the English 'cellist Richard Harwood has performed in major venues throughout the world including the Royal Albert, Wigmore, Carnegie and Suntory Halls, NCPA Beijing, Musikverein, Concertgebouw and Alte Oper.

As concerto soloist, Richard has worked with conductors such as Mark Wigglesworth, Vasily Petrenko, Case Scaglione, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Okko Kamu, and Yehudi Menuhin, and with numerous orchestras including The Philharmonia, RTÉ NSO, Auckland Philharmonia and Ural Philharmonic.

As chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Jerusalem and Endellion Quartets, Joshua Bell, Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Olivier Charlier, Benjamin Schmid, Alena Baeva, Murray Perahia, Martin Roscoe, Peter Donohoe and Julius Drake, among others. Richard was cellist of the Sitkovetsky Trio from 2014-2016.

Richard's discography includes a debut disc (EMI Classics) with pianist Christoph Berner, Composing Without The Picture (Resonus); a solo album of concert works written by film composers, Christopher Gunning's Cello Concerto and Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, both on Signum and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He is regularly featured as a soloist on movie soundtracks, one of the most prominent being Patrick Doyle’s score to Kenneth Branagh’s Murder On The Orient Express.

Contemporary music is important to Richard and he's premiered solo works written for him by Dominic Muldowney, Martin Butler, Christopher Gunning, Alex Heffes, Fernando Velázquez, Benjamin Wallfisch and given the European premiere of David Horne's Zip with the composer at the piano. In recent years, he has developed a close association with Judith Weir and regularly performs her Unlocked for solo cello.

Richard was appointed principal cellist of the Academy of St. Martin of the Fields in October 2024. He was previously principal of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (2018-2024) and a principal of the John Wilson Orchestra, and regularly appears as a guest principal at the Royal Opera House, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, BBC Symphony, BBC NOW and RTÉ Concert orchestras.

He began his studies with Joan Dickson, before continuing with other eminent teachers such as Steven Doane, David Waterman, Heinrich Schiff and Ralph Kirshbaum. He complemented his studies by taking master classes and lessons with Mstislav Rostropovich, Janos Starker, Steven Isserlis, Boris Pergamenschikow, Miklós Perényi, Bernard Greenhouse, Valentin Erben (Alban Berg Quartet), William Pleeth, Zara Nelsova and Ferenc Rados.

He has won many major awards ever since 1992 when he became the youngest ever winner of the Audi Junior Musician Award. Richard won the 2004 Pierre Fournier Award and, in that same year, also became the first British 'cellist ever to be awarded the title "Bachpreisträger" at the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition, Leipzig 2004. Among many other accolades, he received the special "mention" prize from the jury at the Rostropovich Competition, Paris in 2005.

Richard was appointed professor of cello at London’s Royal College of Music in September 2024. He has given masterclasses at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory (Singapore), Bruckner University (Linz), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester), Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (Cardiff), Birmingham Conservatoire, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (Dublin), in addition to other teaching and summer course coaching.

Richard plays a cello by Francesco Rugeri, dated 1692.

"His playing is hard to beat for sheer beauty of tone."
Janet Banks, The Strad

LAST UPDATED : OCTOBER 2024
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