How I Warm Up: Tricks to get the practice going!

With Guy Johnston
Sunday 1st December 2024 @ 5.00 pm

How I Warm Up: Tricks to get the practice going! With Guy Johnston

Join us in welcoming home Guy Johnston who has just moved back to the U.K. after a six-year teaching post at the Eastman School of Music. We are delighted he’s on our side of the Pond once again. Guy will share the fruits of his harvest on the subject of warming up and setting out his practice. Whether you’re a lark ( early morning practice ) or an owl (you love starting once everyone else is asleep) you’ll find something rewarding here. You are invited to play along and to ask questions.

Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.

He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra,BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony.

Guy is a passionate advocate for chamber music and recitals as founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival and performs regularly at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe including Wigmore Hall, Louvre Museum, the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, and Three Choirs Festival.

A prolific recording artist often championing contemporary British composers, Guy’s recent releases include Dobrinka Tabakova’s Cello Concerto with The Hallé and Rebecca Dale’s ‘Night Seasons’ with the Philharmonia Orchestra.

In addition to a busy and versatile career as an international soloist, chamber musician and guest principal, Guy is an inspiring leader of young musicians and holds a position at the Royal Academy of Music. He has recently been appointed President of the European String Teachers Association and is patron of several charities which promote music education for school children and young people including Music First and Future Talent.

Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron.

Accidents or Accidentals? The Pitfalls of Popper Etude No. 6

With Jennifer Langridge and Teresa De Oliveira, RNCM
Sunday 8th December 2024 @ 5.00 pm

Accidents or Accidentals? The pitfalls of Popper Etude No. 6 With Teresa De Oliveira and Jennifer Langridge, RNCM

From our Manchester Hub

LCS member and first-year student at the Royal Northern College of Music, Teresa de Oliveira, collaborates with her teacher Jennifer Langridge on this exploration of Popper Etude No. 6 from the High School of Cello Playing, which provides ample opportunities to examine specific challenges also present generally throughout Popper’s works.

Jennifer Langridge

Jennifer Langridge lives in Manchester, where she studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Eduardo Vassallo and was awarded the Barbirolli Prize for Cello. She then became a Junior Fellow of the RNCM as part of the Nossek String Quartet. She is now Professor of Cello at RNCM. Jennifer is the cellist of the Victoria String Quartet. This year they have performed and recorded in venues such as The Stoller Hall and the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. For 29 years she was Principal Cello of Psappha Ensemble and is now Principal Cello of Northern Chamber Orchestra and Manchester Concert Orchestra.

A highly experienced and dedicated teacher, she has a special interest in the psychology behind performance, including how to handle adrenaline and using effective practice techniques. Alongside her teaching and chamber coaching at the RNCM, she also teaches at Chetham’s School of Music.

Jen is married to percussionist, Tim Williams and has two sons, bravely making their own way in the music industry.

Teresa de Oliveira

Teresa De Oliveira is currently in her first year of study at the RNCM in the class of Jennifer Langridge. She previously studied at Junior Guildhall with Selma Gokcen. She enjoys playing chamber music and teaching, and spent much of her gap year working with her six students. This past summer, Teresa took part in a series of masterclasses with renowned cellists Raphael Wallfisch and Roel Dieltiens in Tereglio, Italy.

Learning from the State of Flow

With Joshua Lynch
Sunday 12th January 2025

Learning from the State of Flow With Joshua Lynch

From our Cambridge Hub

Aiming for precision, often fuelled by perfectionism, can lead to one-mindedness and tension in our playing. Learning from the state of flow through incorporating improvisation and child-like play in our practice can open cognitive pathways, helping us to become more aware of movement and sound production, and encourage spontaneity. We become better informed about our approach to learning repertoire and our overall playing.

In this talk, I will be using excerpts from the Cassado Solo Suite to demonstrate how including these elements in practice can liberate the body and mind, whilst exploring how we learn.

Joshua Lynch

Recipient of the Freda Dinn and Ida Marbett Award, St James Chamber Music Prize and Prix de Musique de Chambre Festival Ravel, Joshua Lynch is a passionate devotee of chamber music and has already enjoyed a diverse and creative career. He is the cellist of the Cambridge String Quartet, the ‘Quartet in Residence’ at Hughes Hall, Cambridge University.

Away from performing, Joshua is a committed teacher with positions at the Stephen Perse Foundation and St John’s College School in Cambridge and is a regular tutor at Aboyne Cello Festival Summer School, Cambridge Chamber Academy, and NLMS Summer School.

Simply ŠEVČÍK: The Route to a Royal Bow Arm

With Selma Gokcen & Josh Salter
Sunday 26th January to Sunday 22nd June 2025

Simply ŠEVČÍK: The Route to a Royal Bow Arm With Selma Gokcen & Josh Salter

A nine-part series of episodes short enough for a cuppa and a slice of cake!

Otokar Ševčík is a name synonymous with violin technique in the 19th century, a prominent pedagogue who taught in Bohemia, Russia, England and the United States and produced a long line of illustrious pupils. Feuillard transcribed his 40 Variations, op 3 for the cello, cleverly recognising what we cellists could steal from violinists to our benefit—exercises for a masterful control of the bow, necessary to great string playing. The bow is our tongue, our organ of speech, as Pierre Fournier used to say. So we hope you’ll come on board not only for the spiccato and the jeté but for a flavour of how these exercises can form the foundation of your cello playing.

Selma and Josh collaborated on their own edition during the pandemic to create something easy to read, enjoyable and with clear fingerings.

They will give demonstrations and everyone is welcome to join in. Roll up your sleeves and play along! Each session will last 15-20 minutes and a PDF of our new edition will be supplied free of charge to all participants.

For times and dates read more here

Selma Gokcen

Selma Gokcen is the co-founder and Chair of the London Cello Society and has overseen 21 years of successful seasons with a diverse array of events. She is a member of the teaching faculties of the Junior and Senior Guildhall School of Music and also maintains a private cello and Alexander Technique studio in London. She has taught the Sevcik 40 Bowing Variations op 3 in the version for cello for over 35 years and believes they are top of the list for understanding and acquiring a skilled bow technique.

Josh Salter

Josh Salter teaches cello for Camden Music Service and privately. His own studies were at the Royal Northern College of Music, and as a postgrad at the Royal Academy of Music. He performs chamber music with the Elmfield Trio and is a Director for Stringwise, which runs two holiday music courses a year. He recently played the Dvorak Cello Concerto with the London Medical Orchestra. When he isn’t playing the cello, Josh enjoys Pilates and swimming in the Hampstead ponds.