Richard Birchall, Matthijs Broersma, Pau Codina,
Reinoud Ford, Ashok Klouda, Bart Lafollette,
John Myerscough, Ella Rundle – cellos

Cellophony is the vibrant, sonorous and exhilarating sound of an octet of young professional cellists. The group was established in 2007 in London, and is beginning to carve a reputation as accomplished exponents of not only the standard cello ensemble repertory, but also a diverse array of specially commissioned arrangements and adaptations. They were finalists in the 2010 Royal Over-Seas League chamber music competition, and have featured in festivals in London, York, Newcastle, Cambridge and others; they have also enjoyed collaborating with sopranos Susana Gaspar and Catarina Sereno and tenor Ben Johnson. Cellophony are Park Lane Group Young Artists for the current season: they appeared at London’s Purcell Room in the opening concert of the New Year Series, to universal critical acclaim, and will make their Wigmore Hall debut in December 2011. Future engagements include appearances at festivals in the UK, France and Germany. Cellophony have recently recorded their first full CD, available soon on the Music Chamber label.

The members of Cellophony also work as soloists, chamber musicians and freelance orchestral players, in the UK and abroad. All eight players were students at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and three subsequently continued an affiliation with the School as holders of GSMD Artist Fellowships. Individually they have won a host of prizes, including the Royal Over-Seas League Gold Medal, the Guilhermina Suggia Gift, the Muriel Taylor Scholarship, and representation by the Young Concert Artists’ Trust.

RICHARD BIRCHALL

Richard Birchall read Music at Cambridge University before studying as a postgraduate cellist at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Louise Hopkins. He made his Purcell Room debut in 2010 in a recital which included London premieres of works by Edward Harper and Sally Beamish, receiving a number of enthusiastic reviews. Richard has appeared as concerto soloist with the Guildford Symphony Orchestra, Croydon Symphony Orchestra, Nonesuch Orchestra, Sinfonia Tamesa and others,  at venues including West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge and St John’s, Smith Square, and as a chamber musician has appeared at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Barbican.

Richard is a member of the Philharmonia Orchestra, and is currently on trial as Principal Cello with the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared as guest Principal with the Northern Sinfonia, and works regularly with the English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra and others. Richard was the 2005 winner of the prestigious Muriel Taylor Scholarship, and subsequently received major awards from the MBF, Countess of Munster Trust, Martin Musical Scholarship Fund and Craxton Trust. Richard also works as a composer and arranger: his music has been performed at London’s Purcell Room, the Sage Gateshead and a number of festival venues, and he has produced arrangements for the Doric, Barbirolli and Tippett Quartets – including a recent release of Psycho Suite on Signum Classics – as well as numerous transcriptions for Cellophony.

MATTHIJS BROERSMA

Matthijs Broersma was born in Holland in 1987 and began playing the cello at the age of four. In 2001 he gained a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Leonid Gorokhov and Louise Hopkins. He graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2010 and is currently continuing his studies with Louise Hopkins at the Hochschule der Kuenste in Bern, Switzerland. He participated in masterclasses at IMS Prussia Cove and elsewhere with Colin Carr, Bernard Greenhouse, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffmann, Steven Isserlis and Arto Noras and recently won 1st prize in the Kenneth Page Cello Competition and received awards from the Martin Musical Scholarship Fund, the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund and the Lyra Foundation.

As a soloist and chamber musician he has performed extensively throughout Europe, in venues such as the Concertgebouw and Wigmore Hall. In March 2006 he performed the Brahms B major Piano Trio with Zakhar Bron and later that year he worked with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, preparing his piano trio ‘A Voyage to Fair Isle’. More recently he gave recitals at the Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell Room and the Menuhin Hall, performed concertos with the new English Concert Orchestra and the Cambridge Beethoven Ensemble and Schubert’s String Quartet ‘Death and the Maiden’ at the Barbican Hall. Matthijs is also cellist of the Gemeaux Quartett, a firmly established international prize winning Swiss quartet. Future engagements include concerts at Kings Place in London, the Philharmonie in Koln, solo recitals in England and Switzerland and the Brahms Double Concerto in Holland.

PAU CODINA

Pau Codina was born in 1988 in Barcelona and began studying the cello at the age of 5 with Eulalia Subira. Other teachers to date have included Ivan Chiffoleau, Daniel Grosgurin, Peter Thiemann and Louise Hopkins. Pau is presently studying at the Chapelle Musicale Reine Elisabeth with Professor Gary Hoffman having graduated from the Yehudi Menuhin School in 2006, and from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with first class honours in 2010.

Over the course of his career so far he has taken part in several international music festivals such as the Manchester Cello and Chamber Music Festival and the Kronberg Cello Festival. He has also performed extensively throughout Spain, England and Germany, in venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell Room, the Pau Casals Auditorium, and the Palau de la Musica Catalana concert hall in Barcelona. He has appeared as soloist with several orchestras such as the Barcelona Sinfonietta, the Emporda Chamber Orchestra, the Andorra Chamber Orchestra, the Suedwestdeutsches Kammerorchester Pforzheim, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra of Budapest. Away from the concert platform, Pau has won several competitions and awards, such as the MBF’s Guilhermina Suggia award 2004 & 2007 and the Geoffrey Shaw Scholarship, the Martin Musical Scholarship, the Kronberg Cello Festival Schlosskonzert prize, and both third prize as well as the Critique’s award in the Primer Palau Competition in Barcelona.

REINOUD FORD

Born in the UK in 1984, Reinoud started to play the cello at the age of 8.  He studied with Louise Hopkins at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he graduated in 2007 with a high-class First. Reinoud has appeared as soloist with the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra in concertos by Haydn, Dvorak and C.P.E. Bach, and also performed C.P.E. Bach’s Concerto in A minor at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, with the Menuhin School orchestra. In November 2006 Reinoud held a recital for the diplomatic community and government officials in Doha, Qatar.

As a chamber musician Reinoud has toured all over England and Scotland and been invited to numerous festivals abroad, including the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Brazil. As a soloist, Reinoud won the Guilhermina Suggia Gift for a Gifted Young Cellist, and the Gwyneth George Prize from the Beethoven Society of Europe. Reinoud was string finalist in the 2006 Overseas League, London, and winner of the Flame competition in Paris the same year. In early 2009 Reinoud was a founder member of the Idomeneo String Quartet which was coached by the Vogler Quartet and the Hagen Quartet (Rainer Schmidt) in Basel, and by Gunther Pichler (Alban Berg Quartet) in Madrid. The quartet toured extensively in Europe. Formative musical experiences include masterclasses from Yehudi Menuhin, Bernard Greenhouse, Mstislav Rostropovich,  Gary Hoffmann, Steven Isserlis, Martin Lovett (Amadeus Quartet), Johannes Goritzki, Lynn Harrell, Heime Muller, Paul Katz, and Alexander Baillie.

ASHOK KLOUDA

Ashok Klouda has studied under some of the world’s finest teachers including Colin Carr, Jerome Pernoo and Louise Hopkins, at the Royal Academy of Music, Royal College of Music and Hochschule der Kuenste Bern. Ashok has performed all over the world as a recitalist and chamber musician. As cellist in the Barbirolli Quartet, Ashok recently undertook a Pettman/Royal Over-Seas League sponsored tour to Singapore, New Zealand and Australia and also performed in thirteen of Europe’s finest concert halls as part of the ECHO ‘Rising Stars’ scheme. This season includes London appearances at Conway Hall, Kings Place and the Wigmore Hall.

Ashok has won many awards and prizes, including 1st prize in the 2007 Royal College of Music Cello Competition and the 2006 J. & A. Beare Solo Bach Competition, and was also recently selected for the Tunnell Trust concert scheme with pianist Joseph Middleton, which resulted in a tour of Scotland in March 2011. Last season, Ashok made his solo Wigmore debut as a result of winning the Worshipful Company of Musicians/Concordia Foundation Young Artists Fund award. Ashok currently performs on the 1692 ‘Segelman’ Stradivarius cello, kindly on loan to him from the Royal Academy of Music.

BARTHOLOMEW LAFOLLETTE

Born in Philadelphia in 1984, from 1997 Bartholomew LaFollette was a pupil at the Yehudi Menuhin School. In 2003 he won a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he studied with Louise Hopkins, graduating in 2008. Bartholomew has won numerous prizes and awards including the Guilhermina Suggia Gift and a Jellinek Award which led to performances of Tchaikovsky’s Variations on a Rococo Theme with orchestras throughout Europe and the USA. In 2007 he was the first recipient of the Irish Chamber Orchestra’s prestigious Ardán Award which offers a young emerging international soloist a platform at the ICO’s music festival and appearances as soloist, including a performance of Haydn’s Concerto in C under Gabor Takacs-Nagy.

Engagements during 2008/9 included an IMS Prussia Cove ensemble tour, recitals at Wigmore Hall, St. George’s Bristol, King’s Place, Jacqueline du Pre Music Building, Bridgewater Hall, the Gower and Brighton festivals and several performances of the Schubert Quintet with the Doric String Quartet. As a soloist he performed the Dvorak Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Brahms Double Concerto with the Poznan Phiharmonic Orchestra in Poland. Future plans include recitals throughout the UK and in France.

JOHN MYERSCOUGH

Born in London in 1982, John Myerscough won the Gold Medal and First Prize at the 2006 Royal Overseas League Music Competition. He made his London recital debut with a critically acclaimed recital in the 2007 Park Lane Group New Year Series at the Purcell Room. He has subsequently given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall and the Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford, at the Brighton, Cambridge, Edinburgh Fringe and Kings Lynn Festivals and abroad at venues in Australia, New Zealand and Singapore. As a concerto soloist he has performed with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra in the Purcell Room, St. John’s, Smith Square and St. Martin-in-the-Fields and with the DeHavilland, Petersfield, Southampton University and Wimbledon Symphony Orchestras. He has also appeared with the Chilingirian and Endellion Quartets and with the pianist Melvyn Tan and violinist Viviane Hagner.

John is also the cellist of the Doric String Quartet. Regular visitors to Wigmore Hall, their first CD was released to critical acclaim on the Wigmore Hall Live label and was Editor’s Choice in Gramophone. Since 2010 the quartet has recorded exclusively for Chandos and have released recordings of works by Korngold, Schumann and Walton. Recent concert highlights include debut concerts in New York and Washington and recitals at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Hamburg Laeiszhalle and in Brussels, Frankfurt, Lucerne, Milan, Paris and Tokyo. Future engagements include tours to the USA, Denmark, Germany and Israel and concerts in Hannover, Geneva and Prague as well as venues across the UK.

ELLA RUNDLE

Born in 1988, Ella Rundle began the cello aged 8. In 2002 she gained a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School where she studied with Louise Hopkins and Leonid Gorokhov. In 2011 she graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and is now continuing her studies at the Universitaet der Kuenste, Berlin, with Konstantin Heidrich. She has won various competitions and awards including the concerto competition at the ISA festival, Vienna and scholarships from the Drapers’ Company and the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

As a soloist and chamber musician Ella has performed in venues such as the Barbican, Fairfield Halls, the Purcell Room, Snape Maltings and Wigmore Hall. She has also toured extensively throughout Europe including France, Denmark and Istanbul, and played on Portuguese radio RTP. She has been invited to play in festivals such as the Thy (Denmark), Aurora (Sweden), Viana (Portugal) and IMS Prussia Cove chamber festivals where she performed alongside artists such as Peter Donohoe and Jean-Guihen Queyras. As a concerto soloists Ella has appeared with orchestras including the New English Concert Orchestra, the Spirit of Europe Orchestra and the Chichester Camerata. Ella has participated in masterclasses with Frans Helmerson, Steven Isserlis and Ralph Kirshbaum and as a chamber musician with Thomas Ades, Eric Hobath, Heime Muller and Andras Schiff. She has also attended the ProQuartet Academy, France and Britten-Pears Academy, Aldeburgh.