| Biography | Guy Johnston (born 1981) is a British cellist and the winner of the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 2000. He has subsequently enjoyed a successful international career as a soloist and chamber musician and currently serves as a Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Johnston came to prominence after winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition in 2000, where he notably broke a string playing Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1. In the following year he made his concerto debut at The BBC Proms performing the Elgar Cello concerto with Leonard Slatkin and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
Johnston has since performed concertos with leading British orchestras including the London Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, the Philharmonia, English Chamber Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Orchestra of Wales and the Northern Sinfonia, and in Europe, the Middle and Far East with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester, St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Osaka Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchester der Hessischer Rundfunk and Musikkollegium Winterthur.
He is a founding member of the Aronowitz Ensemble, which has recently been invited into the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, guaranteeing regular feature presentations on BBC Radio 3 and other media over a two-year period.
Johnston released his debut recital disc Milo in May 2010 on the Orchid label with the pianist Kathryn Stott. The disc comprises British 20th-century music including the Cello Sonatas by Benjamin Britten and Frank Bridge and works "Sleep On" and "Milo" by Mark-Anthony Turnage. Turnage wrote the latter for the christening of his son, Milo.[6] Johnston premiered the work at Milo's christening and is his godfather.
Johnston recorded the Duruflé Requiem with Christine Rice (mezzo-soprano), Mark Stone (baritone), Tristan Mitchard (organ), The Choir of Somerville College Oxford, and David Crown (conductor), released on the Stone Records label in 2012.
Johnston was awarded a Classical BRIT Award for Young British Classical Performer in 2001. Johnston attended Chetham's School of Music, Manchester from 1996 to 1999 and studied under acclaimed cellist Steven Doane at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, USA. (June 2015) |