"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 award-winning English 'cellist Richard
Harwood has performed concerti and chamber music in major venues including
London's Royal Albert Hall, Southbank Centre, Wigmore Hall, Musikverein (Vienna),
Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Alte Oper (Frankfurt), Thomaskirche (Leipzig), Auditorium
du Louvre (Paris) and Alice Tully Hall / Lincoln Center (New York). As
concerto soloist, Richard has worked with conductors such as Mark Wigglesworth,
Case Scaglione, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Michele Mariotti, John Wilson, Okko Kamu,
Marko Letonja, Douglas Bostock, En Shao, Shuntaro Sato and Yehudi Menuhin, and
with numerous orchestras including The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth
Symphony, RTÉ National Symphony, RTÉ Concert, Auckland Philharmonia and the Ural
Philharmonic. As
chamber musician, he has collaborated with the Jerusalem and Endellion Quartets,
Gidon Kremer, Yuri Bashmet, Olivier Charlier, Guy Braunstein, Benjamin Schmid,
Alena Baeva, Ilya Gringolts, Pekka Kuusisto, Vilde Frang, Chen Halevi, Julian
Bliss, Martin Roscoe, Peter Donohoe, Gottlieb Wallisch and Julius Drake, among
others. Richard was cellist of the Sitkovetsky Trio from 2014-2016. He
is regularly heard on BBC, having made his BBC Radio 3 debut at the age of thirteen
with a live recording of the Elgar Concerto. He has also given live performances
on other radio networks including Classic FM, Radio France, MDR, RTÉ and Radio
New Zealand. Richard's
discography includes a debut disc for EMI Classics; recorded with pianist Christoph
Berner, Composing Without The Picture (Resonus); a solo album of concert
works written by film composers, and Christopher Gunning's Cello Concerto recorded
with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. On screen, Richard can be seen and heard
in Phil Grabsky's 2009 documentary In Search of Beethoven and is regularly
featured as a soloist on movie soundtracks, most recently in 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 Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the beginning
of 2018. He has also been a principal of the John Wilson Orchestra, and guest
principal at the London Symphony and RTÉ Concert orchestras. Richard
began his studies with Joan Dickson, before continuing with other eminent teachers
such as Steven Doane, David Waterman, Heinrich Schiff (University of Music and
Dramatic Art, Vienna) and Ralph Kirshbaum (Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester).
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
enjoys teaching and has given masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music,
Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Irish
Academy of Music and the Bruckner University (Linz), 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 |
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