Guy Johnston
Cellist Guy Johnston has been among the most prominent players of his instrument in Britain since winning the coveted BBC Young Musician of the Year Award in 2000. He was born on May 7, 1981, in Harpenden outside London, where his parents operated a music shop and school. Johnston had a traditional English musical education that included singing (with his two brothers) in the choir at King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and studying at its school. He studied cello at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester from 1996 to 1999 and then went on for further study at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, under Steven Doane. His other teachers have included Ralph Kirshbaum, Bernard Greenhouse, and Steven Isserlis. At one of his BBC Young Musician competition performances Johnston broke a string but came back to win. A nod as Young British Classical Performer of the Year at the 2002 Classic Brit Awards confirmed his connection with audiences.
Johnston has served as Principal Guest Cello of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Guest Principal Cello of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam while also continuing to perform the core cello concerti with orchestras such as the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Britten Sinfonia, among others. His numerous concerto appearances have spanned the globe, including those at the First Night of the BBC Proms playing the Elgar Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin, the Tchaikovsky Rococo Variations with the St. Petersburg State Capella Orchestra under A.S. Dmitriev, and the Elgar Cello Concerto with the Osaka Philharmonic under Tadaaki Otaka in Tokyo.
Johnston's debut recording, Milo, featuring works by Britten, Bridge, and Turnage, appeared on the Orchid Classics label and was critically acclaimed. He has recorded for various labels, including Dutton Laboratories, Naxos (E.J. Moeran's cello concerto), Alto, NMC, and, in 2017, the house label of his alma mater, the King's College Choir. That album included three works commissioned "as a gift" to his instrument, a 1714 David Tecchler cello, on the occasion of its 300th birthday.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
14 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Holst: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4
Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Guy Johnston
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 12 Oct 2018
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rebecca Dale: Night Seasons
Tenebrae, Steven Isserlis, Guy Johnston
Classical - Released by Signum Records on 8 Mar 2024
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Gregson: A Song for Chris - Trombone Concerto - Music for Chamber Orchestra - 2 Pictures
The BBC Concert Orchestra, Peter Moore, Timothy Welch, Guy Johnston, Bramwell Tovey
Symphonic Music - Released by Chandos on 1 Jan 2011
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Howells: Cello Concerto, An English Mass
Guy Johnston, Stephen Cleobury, Choir of King's College, Cambridge
Classical - Released by Kings College Cambridge on 7 Jun 2019
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Concerto pour violoncelle - Sérénade
Guy Johnston, Rebekah Coffey, Ulster Orchestra, JoAnn Falletta
Classical - Released by Naxos on 1 Apr 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tecchler's Cello: From Cambridge to Rome
Classical - Released by Kings College Cambridge on 8 Sep 2017
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Howells: Cello Concerto, An English Mass
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Stephen Cleobury, Guy Johnston
Masses, Passions, Requiems - Released by Kings College Cambridge on 7 Jun 2019
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Themes and Variations
Guy Johnston, James Gilchrist, Tom Poster
Chamber Music - Released by Orchid Classics on 1 Mar 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Tabakova: Concerto for Cello and Strings: Longing
Classical - Released by Halle Concerts Society on 15 Sep 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bracing Change
JACK Quartet, Doric String Quartet, Carducci String Quartet, Guy Johnston
Chamber Music - Released by NMC Recordings on 19 May 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Requiem Aeternam
Christine Rice, Mark Stone, Choir of Somerville College, Oxford, Guy Johnston, Tristan Mitchard, David Crown
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Stone Records on 17 Sep 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Matthews: The Music of Dawn, Concerto in Azzuro & A Vision and a Journey
Rumon Gamba, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Guy Johnston
Symphonies - Released by Chandos on 1 Feb 2009
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Milo (Benjamin Britten - Frank Bridge - Mark Anthony Turnage)
Classical - Released by Orchid Classics on 29 Jun 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Matthew Coleridge - REQUIEM
RSVP Voices, Rob Johnston, Guy Johnston
Classical - Released by RSVP Voices on 2 Jun 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo