Adrian Brendel, Tim Horton

Introducing the performers…

Adrian Brendel (cello)

One of the most versatile and original Cellists of his generation, Adrian Brendel has travelled the world as soloist, collaborator and teacher. His early immersion in the core classical repertoire inspired an enduring fascination that has led to encounters with many fine musicians at the world’s most prestigious festivals and concert halls. His discovery of contemporary music through the works of Kurtag, Kagel and Ligeti in his teenage years opened a new and vital avenue that he continues to explore with huge enthusiasm alongside his passion for jazz and world music.

Adrian first studied the cello with William Pleeth, with whom he developed a deep attachment to chamber music. He then went on to study with Alexander Baillie and Frans Helmerson in London and Cologne, also frequently attending the masterclasses of Gyorgy Kurtag, Ferenc Rados, members of the Alban Berg quartet and his father Alfred Brendel. An acclaimed recording of Beethoven’s cello sonatas with his father is available on the Philips label, recorded during their recital tours of 2003/2004. Projects with contemporary composers and conductors during this time such as Kurtag, Thomas Ades and Peter Eotvos amongst many inspired him to cultivate new music in his concert programmes wherever possible. A three year project with Sir Harrison Birtwistle led to premieres of his song cycle ‘Bogenstrich’ and a piano trio released on the ECM label in 2013. He also premiered York Hoeller’s cello concerto ‘Mouvements’ in January of the same year with NDR Hamburg alongside Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s ‘Canto di Speranza’.

In great demand as a recitalist and soloist, Adrian works with Aleksandar Madzar, Imogen Cooper, Till Fellner, Tim Horton and Kit Armstrong. His chamber music partners include Henning Kraggerud, Lisa Batiashvili, Lars-Anders Tomter, Andrej Bielow, Katharine Gowers and Alasdair Beatson to name a few. Over the last two years he has visited the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Verbier, Ernen, Salzburg, Sonoro, Enescu, Schubertiade and Ruhr international festivals, and is a frequent visitor to London’s Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and many other important venues in Europe. He has performed concertos with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, RSNO, SCO and many orchestras across Germany and eastern Europe. His annual visit to the International Musicians’ Seminar in Prussia Cove, founded by the late Sandor Vegh as a perfect environment for music-making, is of great personal and artistic importance. Outside of his performing life, Adrian divides his time between south London, Berlin and Plush.

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Tim Horton (piano)

Tim Horton studied at Chetham’s School of Music with Charles Hopkins and Heather Slade-Lipkin and graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge in 1995. In the same year he replaced Alfred Brendel at short notice in two performances of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the CBSO and Sir Simon Rattle at Symphony Hall, Birmingham and at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Since then he has played with the RLPO, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 Tim was chosen as the scholar of the Klavier Festival Ruhr at the recommendation of Alfred Brendel, an honour that included a recital at the Festival and a bursary. Tim has a duo partnership with cellist Adrian Brendel with whom he has given tours of Spain, Germany, Italy and the UK, including concerts at the Wigmore Hall, London. In 2011 they made their debut at the Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has played regularly at the Plush, Aldeburgh, Bath and Elverum Festivals and has collaborated with many leading chamber musicians including Paul Lewis, Peter Cropper, the Elias Quartet, the Vertavo Quartet and the members of the Kungsbacka Piano Trio.

Tim has been playing with violist Robin Ireland since 2008 and they have toured Britain extensively. Their Nimbus Alliance disc of Shostakovich and Prokofiev was highly acclaimed on its release. They have also released a disc of the Brahms Sonatas and the Schubert Arpeggione Sonata. With the Leonore Piano Trio, Tim has given concerts in Italy and throughout the UK, touring New Zealand in 2012. The trio have recorded discs of the two Arensky Piano Trios for Hyperion and the trios of David Matthews.

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