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Jamie Walton

Becoming known for his purity of tone and uncompromising musical nature, Jamie Walton is now being compared by critics to some of the great cellists of the past. He has appeared throughout much of Europe, the USA, New Zealand, Australia and the UK in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. These include radio broadcasts and numerous festivals including Montpellier, Lucerne, Brighton, Harrogate, Ansbach, Schwabach, Schloss-Elmau, Chichester, Cheltenham, Three Choirs, International Newbury Spring Festival, the International Warwick Festival and the Manchester International Cello Festival. He has also given regular appearances and broadcasts in chamber music, concertos and recitals in Vienna. Jamie has just returned from an antipodean tour of recitals and concertos broadcast on national radio and television and was the first cellist to give a solo recital in the new Melbourne Recital Centre.

He and his pianist Daniel Grimwood appear regularly at Wigmore Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham where their debut was a recital of Chopin for the Chopin festival, sharing the evening with Krystian Zimerman. These led to concertos there with the English Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. They have also appeared in recital at the Bridgewater Hall, Fairfield Hall, Cadogan Hall and St John’s, Smith Square regularly as well as at the Chateauville Foundation, Virginia—a personal invite from Maestro Lorin Maazel.

Jamie’s increasing discography is consistently receiving the highest critical acclaim and he is gaining a reputation as a supreme interpreter of the repertoire. Regularly made CD of the month and given 5STARS by the likes of the Telegraph, the Times and BBC Music Magazine, the start of his concerto series with the Philharmonia (Saint-Saëns cello concertos) was voted onto Radio 3’s listening booth going on to receive ecstatic reviews including Classic FM magazine who described his Saint-Saëns as “The finest around”. Developing a strong rapport in both performance and recording with this great orchestra his Elgar and Myaskovsky was internationally praised, comparing Jamie to Rostropovich (International Record Review) and Tortelier. As part of an Anglo-Russian trilogy, in October 2010 Signum Classics also released Shostakovich Concerto No.2 and Britten’s Cello Symphony with the same forces and the completion installment is released in November 2010 of Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1 and the Walton Concerto which includes the world premiere of a revised ending Walton wrote in 1975. His recording career has also taken off with his pianist Daniel Grimwood and their recent release of the Rachmaninov and Grieg sonatas was a double 5STARS Chamber Choice CD of the month in BBC Music Magazine. The follow up disc includes sonatas by Chopin and Saint-Saens (No.2), one of sonatas by Brahms, Strauss and Thuille, a French disc of Faure, Debussy and Poulenc as well as sonatas by Britten, Shostakovich and Prokofiev. In 2011 Jamie will record the Dvorak and Schumann concertos with the Philharmonia and record/film the three solo suites by Britten as part of a box set to celebrate Britten’s complete works for cello.

He studied at Wells Cathedral School and the RNCM with Margaret Moncrieff before taking private tuition with William Pleeth who wrote of Jamie: “He is a cellist of outstanding performance ability. Combining warmth of tone with a technical command that reaches dazzling proportions, he leaves little doubt as the success that lies ahead of him—he is a musician of great integrity whose performance gives great pleasure.”

His debut with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra was hailed by the press and subsequent radio broadcasts and recitals followed. This led to radio broadcasts and concertos with the Lucerne Festival of Strings Orchestra and the Orchestra della Swizzera Italiana. Also passionate about chamber music, he joined the Wihan Quartet for their 20th Anniversary concert at the Rudolfinum in Prague, now available on DVD. A live DVD of a recent recital at Wigmore Hall 2007 is also available.

Jamie plays on a 1712 Guarneri.

As a member of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, he was recently elected into the Freedom of the City of London, having performed for HRH The Prince of Wales.

Passionate about chamber music and the landscape of North Yorkshire, Jamie launched the first North York Moors Chamber Music Festival in August 2009 to sell out audiences and is now an annual event.

www.jamiewalton.com