Live streamed from Wigmore Hall, London

Timothy Ridout, viola; Tom Poster, piano

2019 New Generation Artist Timothy Ridout joins Tom Poster from Wigmore Hall’s Associate Artists, the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, to bring the world première of Kurt Schwertsik’s Haydn lived in Eisenstadt, written especially for this concert. This will be performed between two Brahms viola sonatas which were originally written for clarinet.

Timothy Ridout

With recent awards including the inaugural Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize in Hamburg and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, Timothy Ridout has confirmed his position at the forefront of young European soloists. He has been a BBC New Generation Artist since 2019 and will join the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in 2021.

Concerto engagements this season and last include Berlioz Harold en Italie with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and Orchestre National de Lille; Mozart Sinfonia Concertante at the Sion Festival (alongside Janine Jansen) and with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Camerata Salzburg; Bartok with the BBC Symphony, Hamburger Symphoniker and Sinfonieorchester Aachen; Walton with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Luzerner Sinfonieorchester; and the Britten Double Concerto with the Tapiola Sinfonietta and Siberian State Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, David Zinman, Gabor Takács-Nagy, Sylvain Cambreling and Sir Andras Schiff.

Equally in demand as a recitalist and chamber musician, his engagements include several appearances per season at the Wigmore Hall as well as throughout the UK, Europe and Japan. Festivals invitations encompass Lucerne, Lockenhaus, Heimbach, Bergen, Evian, Boswil Sommer, Heidelberger-Frühling, Montpellier, Aspen, the Enescu Festival and the Marlboro Academy; whilst his chamber music collaborators include Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Janine Jansen, Christian Tetzlaff, Nicolas Altstaedt, Steven Isserlis, Kian Soltani, Benjamin Grosvenor, Lars Vogt and Christian Gerhaher, among many others. He also maintains a regular relationship with the Nash Ensemble.

In 2016 Ridout won 1st Prize in the Lionel Tertis Competition and was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT). Other prizes include the 2019 Thierry Scherz Award at the Sommets Musicaux de Gstaad and 1st Prize at the 2014 Cecil Aronowitz Competition.

Born in London in 1995, Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and in 2018 took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World.

He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565–75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare’s International Violin Society.

Tom Poster

Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music).

Tom Poster

Photo: Elena Urioste

During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukebox series with Elena Urioste – featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, curator, backing dancer and snowman – brought a staggeringly diverse selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award.

Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has recently been ensemble-in-residence at Cheltenham Festival, Kettle’s Yard and Ischia Music Festival. Its debut album for Chandos Records, of works by Beach, Barber and Price, will be released in 2021.
Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally. Tom is pianist of the Aronowitz Ensemble (former BBC New Generation Artists) and Aronowitz Piano Trio, and he enjoys established recital partnerships with Elena Urioste, Guy Johnston, Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose and the Navarra Quartet.

Tom has recorded for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, Orchid and Warner Classics, and regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.

Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma and Kathryn Stott.

Program
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Viola Sonata in F minor Op. 120 No. 1
Kurt Schwertsik (b.1935)
Haydn lived in Eisenstadt
Johannes Brahms
Viola Sonata in E flat Op. 120 No. 2

Monday, May 10, 2021 8:00am ET / 1:00pm GMT
This concert will be available on demand for 30 days after the date of the concert.

To enjoy this concert visit: www.wigmore-hall.org.uk