The magical sound of four cellos – from the rich textures of Renaissance vocal music to the vibrant rhythms of the Tango!
The Cellophonics return to the beautiful St Laurence Church.
They will play music from across the centuries, weaving the Fantasia for 4 voices by Henry Purcell, Ave Verum by the great Renaissance composer William Byrd and Fratres by his 21st Century Estonian musical cousin Arvo Pärt, with unpublished gems and especially commissioned work.
Cellophonics was born when a group of like-minded cellists (Christopher Allan, Adrian Bradbury, Ian Burdge and Benedict Rogerson) got together for an evening to remind themselves why they do what they do in the first place.
They have since established themselves as champions of all things cello with performances brimming with warmth and virtuosity, vividly bringing the contrasting characteristics of the cello to life.
Biographies:
Christopher Allan grew up in Stroud.
After studying with Melissa Phelps at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama he joined the acclaimed contemporary string ensemble, the gogmagogs, with whom he toured for a number of years.
He plays with many chamber groups (Fibonacci sequence, 12 Ensemble) and Chamber Orchestras (Britten Sinfonia, Academy of St Martin in the Fields) as well as various cross arts collaborations, notably with choreographer Hofesh Shechter.
He is co-artistic director of the Le Page Ensemble
Adrian Bradbury was principal cello in the National Youth Orchestra.
He studied cello at the Royal Academy of Music and Veterinary Science at Cambridge.
After further study in Berlin he developed an international career in chamber music as the cellist in the renowned Composers Ensemble, giving world premieres of music by Thomas Adès, and Dai Fujikura, amongst others.
Adrian is a regular guest principal in many orchestras and is Cello Tutor for the National Youth Orchestra of GB.
He is the worlds expert on the great 19th Century Italian cellist Alfredo Piatti (who married his English wife in Woodchester, Stroud).
Ian Burdge grew up in the West Country and studied with Alexander Baillie.
After graduating he co-founded the string session group, Millennia Ensemble.
Ian has collaborated over many years with Max Richter, Nitin Sawhney, Peter Gabriel and many others.
If you’ve heard the cello singing at the cinema recently it will probably have been Ian’s sonorous playing: he now works predominantly as a session cellist on film soundtracks – recent films include Wonka, No Time To Die, How To Train Your Dragon and Pedro Almadovar’s Room Next Door.
Ben Rogerson studied with Derek Simpson at the Royal Academy of Music.
Ben’s Grandfather was the principal cellist of the Halle Orchestra and a close friend of the great Pablo Casal – cello Royalty!
He is a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Mozart Players and spent the Noughties with the Irish Chamber Orchestra giving concerts with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Anthony Marwood and Nigel Kennedy in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing.
