"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 British '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 Vasily Petrenko, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Mark Wigglesworth, Case Scaglione, Okko Kamu, Peter Breiner, and Yehudi Menuhin, and with numerous orchestras including Royal Philharmonic, Slovak Philharmonic, The Philharmonia, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, 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'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.

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

Richard was appointed professor of cello at London’s Royal College of Music in 2024 and Assistant Head of Strings in 2025. He 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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