Guy Johnston
Cello
At a glance
Guy Johnston
Cello
"A gripping performance"New York Times
Biography —
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award and a Classical Brit. He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, Philharmonia Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Moscow Philharmonic and St Petersburg Symphony under conductors such as Illan Volkov, Sakari Oramo, Vassily Sinaisky, Yuri Simonov, Alexander Dmitriev, Sir Roger Norrington, Robin Ticciati, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Sir Andrew Davis, Leonard Slatkin, Daniele Gatti.
Recent and forthcoming seasons have included BBC Proms with BBC National Orchestra of Wales, concertos with Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of Opera North, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Aurora Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie. Guy continues to play chamber music and recitals at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe including Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Louvre Museum, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, Moritzburg Festival, Three Choirs Festival and MusicFest Aberystwyth, collaborating with instrumentalists such as Melvyn Tan, Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Janine Jansen, Lawrence Power, Anthony Marwood and Brett Dean. Guy was privileged to perform as part of the Wigmore Hall and BBC Radio 3 special series of concerts, livestreamed during the COVID-19 pandemic. He gave weekly outdoor impromptu recitals in his home village in Dorset, which was featured by the BBC during the UK lockdown.
A prolific recording artist, Guy’s recent recordings include Howells’ Cello Concerto with Britten Sinfonia (a piece he also gave the premiere of) and a celebration disc of the tricentenary of his David Tecchler cello, collaborating with the acclaimed Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, where the cello was made. The 2019 season saw the release of his recording Themes and Variations with Tom Poster, comprising works by Beethoven, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Rachmaninov, MacMillan, Fauré and Martinu.
Guy is a passionate advocate for contemporary composers regular commissioning, performing and recording new works. He gave the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s ‘Falling in the Fire’ at the BBC Proms in 2015 and Emma Ruth Richards ‘Until a Reservoir no longer remains’ (with Sheku Kanneh-Mason). He has recently commissioned works by composers such as David Matthews, Mark Simpson , Joseph Phibbs and Matthew Kaner.
In addition to a busy and versatile career as an international soloist, chamber musician and guest principal, Guy is an inspiring leader of young musicians as a patron of several charities which promote music education for school children and young people including Music First and Future Talent. He is also a board member of the Pierre Fournier Award for young cellists.
Guy is Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival and a founder member of the award-winning Aronowitz Ensemble. He is Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and a guest Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded an Hon. ARAM in 2015.
Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron.
News —
Guy Johnston and BBC Radio 3’s Manchester Week: Live BBC broadcast of Walton’s Cello Concerto and talks with The Strad Magazine
'The Walton Cello Concerto brings back fond memories for the British cellist, from one of his first concerts to a recent performance by early mentor Steven Isserlis.' - Christian Lloyd (The Strad) Read more

Praise for Guy Johnston BBC Proms appearance
Praise for Guy Johnston's return to the BBC Proms Read more

Ikon Arts’ Artists at the BBC Proms
Today, two Ikon Arts artists perform at the BBC Proms. Read more

Ikon & EPAM artists during lockdown
A selection of highlights that Ikon/EPAM artists have been involved in during lockdown Read more

Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival Goes Online
Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival 2020 entirely available online Read more
Photos —
Reviews —
“The secret to performing Howells’s music – apart from ensuring those rich harmonies are bang in tune – is to catch its very English way of expressing deep feeling, which works by repression and hints rather than direct statement. Guy Johnston does this especially well in his performance of the Cello Concerto, which emerges as a substantial piece. And it’s not all repression; with the surprisingly joyful and energetic Finale he really seizes the moment.”
Daily Telegraph
" A gripping performance"
New York Times
“The playing is consistently polished and elegant"
BBC Music Magazine
"Guy Johnston was a magnificent soloist, delivering luminous, long-spun melodies like the most gentlemanly of baritones, and presenting virtuoso torrents as if they were second nature."
Arts Desk
Selected Discography —

Howells Cello Concerto
BBC Music Magazineeloquent performance" 5 Stars

Themes and Variations
The Stradsparklingly played with an effortless sense of style and brio, captured truthfully in glowing sound

Holst Invocation
The Strad“Guy Johnston captures its wistful, yearning quality to perfection, surfing the music’s impassioned dynamic range with a beguiling, velvet sonority that opens out thrillingly in moments of special intensity.”

Tecchler's Cello
Classical Music Magazine“Johnston offers a stunning tour-de-force. Imaginatively conceived and beautifully performed, this disc is a winner.”

Moeran Cello Concerto
BBC Music MagazineIn Guy Johnston[,] [the Cello Concerto] has a soloist entirely sensitive to its swift and sometimes paradoxical changes of mood: this is an effective performance of a little-heard and underrated work.

Milo
The New York Times...gripping performance

David Matthews Orchestral Works
BBC Radio 3Guy Johnston is a technically immaculate soloist
Related Media —
Guy Johnston at BBC Proms
Camille Saint-Saëns : Cello Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33 with BBC National Orchestra of Wales View on YouTubeGuy Johnston in Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival
Guy Johnston, the Artistic Director of the festival welcomes a wider audience through its virtual edition of the festival. View on YouTubeGuy Johnston - Live in the Woods
Guy performs Bach G Major Prelude, Suite 1 View on YouTubeGuy Johnston with Tom Poster
Guy gives a duo concert for Absolute Classics audiences View on YouTubeLe Cygne (The Swan), Saint Saens
Performance with Lydia Lowndes for Live in the Woods View on YouTubeWigmore Hall Live
Recital with Melvyn Tan as part of Wigmore Hall Live streamed during COVID-19 View on YouTubeRachmaninov, Sonata Op.19 in G minor
with Tom Poster View on YouTubeGuy Johnston records Herbert Howells cello concerto
A recent behind the scenes look at the recording session View on YouTubeThemes and Variations recording with Guy Johnston & Tom Poster - Macmillan
View on YouTubeBeethoven 7 Variations on 'Bei Männern, welche Liebe fühlen', WoO 46 (Magic Flute Variations)
View on YouTubeLutosławski - Grave for cello and piano
Lutosławski - Grave for cello and piano performed by Guy Johnston (cello) and Tom Poster (piano) at the Wgmore Hall, London. View on YouTubeBarber: Sonata for Cello and Piano in C Minor , Op. 6
with Chiao-Wen Cheng at Eastman School of Music View on YouTubeDownloads —
Contact —
Name
- Nicola Semple