About
Cello
As a cellist Chris enjoys a varied career encompassing solo, chamber and orchestral performances.
He is a founding member of the Florian Ensemble and the Old Street Quartet, and works with pianist Charis Hanning.
Chris is a member of the chamber orchestras Outcry Ensemble and St Paul’s Sinfonia, and has worked with many other ensembles including Suffolk Philharmonic Orchestra, Bath Philharmonia, Manchester Camerata, Skipton Camerata, Opera Brava, Regent’s Opera, and the London Musical Arts Orchestra. As part of London’s thriving freelance scene he has played in shows, plays, and functions of all kinds, and is proud to be a part of the unique musical community playing in Covent Garden market.
Chris has appeared at many of the UK’s most recognisable performance venues, from Cadogan and Wigmore Halls to Ronnie Scott’s. Collaboration is central to his musical life — he has joined classical artists from the Gildas Quartet to the Lantivet Duo, as well as acclaimed jazz musicians such as Callum Au and Nigel Price. His flexibility encompasses many centuries and styles: in recent years he has performed cello concertos by Walton, Finzi, and Dvorak, alongside contemporary music with UPROAR Wales, and extensive work in early music. As a continuo player he has performed Handel oratorios and Bach’s Passions across the UK, and has worked with various period instrument groups including the Hanover Band, Eboracum Baroque, and Manchester Baroque.
Chris studied with Raphael Wallfisch and Philip Higham at the Royal Northern College of Music, and chamber music with Catherine Manson and James Boyd of the London Haydn Quartet.
Viols
Chris plays all sizes of viol — bass, tenor and treble — in a variety of early music settings, from consorts to passions.
He appears regularly as a guest player with renowned consorts Phantasm and Fretwork, recently appearing with Phantasm in concerts at Wigmore Hall, Temple Church, and King’s College, Cambridge. He plays treble viol in the new generation ensemble Tessera Consort, and has been a member of enterprising ‘historical pop group’ K’antu Ensemble since 2018.
He has also worked with virtuoso harpsichordist Nathaniel Mander, with larger groups including Figure, Three Parts Vied and Noxwode Baroque, and with acclaimed actor Mark Rylance. He frequently performs in Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions as cellist doubling viola da gamba.
Chris began learning the viol in 2009 as a student of Laurence Dreyfus at Magdalen College, Oxford, and continued private studies with Jonathan Manson (also of Phantasm). He plays a bass viol by Marc Soubeyran, made in 2018.
