BEETHOVEN Seven Variations on ‘Bei Mannern welche Liebe fuhlen’
SCHUMANN Adagio & Allegro Op.70
PROKOFIEV Cello Sonata Op 119 in C
WATKINS Cello Sonata
RACHMANINOV Cello Sonata Op.19 in g
LISTEN: Paul Watkins accompanies live visual art performance
'A Short Film for the End of Time'
Chamber Music Society at Lincoln Center:
“Paul Watkins – is there a better cellist in the UK today?”
- GLASGOW HERALD
“Watkins’ attention to detail was rewarding, as was his willingness to risk the softest possible touch; the slow second movement and moments of magic as he drew his sound back as far as it would go.” - BBC PROMS, THE GUARDIAN
Paul Watkins is one of Britain’s foremost cellists, regularly acclaimed for his outstanding musicianship and moving performances. Alongside his playing, Watkins is also a successful conductor and was recently appointed Associate Conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra.
As a cellist Watkins performs regularly with most of the major British orchestras and has made six concerto appearances at the Proms. Outside the UK, performances include engagements at the Concertgebouw with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra/Kreizberg, the Melbourne Symphony and Queensland Orchestras, RAI Turin and Aarhus Symphony Orchestra. He has toured Italy and Prague with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and China and the Far East with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.
Alongside his concerto appearances, Watkins is a dedicated chamber musician and has been a member of the Nash Ensemble since 1997. As a solo artist, he has recorded for Nimbus and Chandos, and most recently has released Cyril Scott’s Cello Concerto with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, also for Chandos.
Huw Watkins has been described as "A pianist of alert intelligence and a composer with something to say”. -
THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY
Huw has given premieres of works by Alexander Goehr, Peter Maxwell Davies, Mark-Anthony Turnage and John Woolrich and his concerto engagements have included the Northern Sinfonia, Grace Williams’s Sinfonia Concertante with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and his own Piano Concerto (2002) with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Martyn Brabbins.
Huw also works regularly with the Britten Sinfonia and with artists including Daniel Hope, Nicholas Daniel, Guy Johnston, Alina Ibragimova, Alexandra Wood, Lawrence Power and his brother Paul Watkins.
Born in Wales in 1976, Huw studied piano with Peter Lawson at Chetham's School of Music, and composition with Robin Holloway, Alexander Goehr and Julian Anderson at Cambridge University and the Royal College of Music.
Huw's compositions have been commissioned, performed and recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Nash Ensemble, Belcea and Petersen quartets. His Sonata for Cello and Eight Instruments has been performed by the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group in London, Paris, Copenhagen and Aldeburgh, under the direction of Sakari Oramo and Peter Rundel. Recent commissions include works for Lawrence Power, Mark Padmore and the Petersen Quartet and he is a Jerwood-Associate Composer with Music Theatre Wales.
Huw has made a number of recordings including Thomas Adès’ song cycle The Lover in Winter with Robin Blaze for EMI Classics and Goehr's Symmetry Disorders Reach for Wergo. He is Professor of Composition at the Royal College of Music London.
