Jamie Walton is a rising international soloist with a distinctive voice of his own and is now being compared by critics to some of the great cellists of the past. He has appeared throughout much of Europe, the USA and the UK in some of the world’s most prestigious concert halls and festivals. These include radio broadcasts and numerous festivals including Montpellier, Lucerne, Brighton, Harrogate, Ansbach, Schwabach, Schloss-Elmau, Chichester, Cheltenham, Three Choirs, International Newbury Spring Festival, the International Warwick Festival and the Manchester International Cello Festival. He has also given regular appearances and broadcasts in chamber music, concertos and recitals in Vienna.
He and his pianist Daniel Grimwood appear regularly at Wigmore Hall and Symphony Hall, Birmingham where their debut was a recital of Chopin for the Chopin festival, sharing the evening with Krystian Zimerman. These led to concertos there with the English Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of the Welsh National Opera. They have also appeared in recital at the Bridgewater Hall, Fairfield Hall, Cadogan Hall and St John Smith’s Square regularly as well as at the Chateauville Foundation, Virginia—a personal invite from Maestro Lorin Maazel.
His CDs have regularly been selected into the Telegraph Top 10 of the year and CD of the week and his recording of the Saint-Saëns cello concertos (Philharmonia/Alexander Briger - Quartz records) was also voted onto Radio 3’s listening booth going on to receive ecstatic reviews including Classic FM magazine who described his Saint-Saëns as “The finest around”. Developing a strong rapport in both performance and recording with the Philharmonia Orchestra, future recordings include Shostakovich's Concerto No.1, Walton's Cello Concerto and sonatas from Grieg and Rachmaninoff. February 4th 2008 saw the release of the Elgar and Myaskovsky concertos with the Philharmonia on Signum Classics to unanimous international acclaim comparing him to Rostropovich (International Record Review) and Tortelier. This October Signum Classics will be releasing Shostakovich Concerto No.2 and Britten's Cello Symphony with the same forces.
He studied at Wells Cathedral School and the RNCM with Margaret Moncrieff before taking private tuition with William Pleeth who wrote of Jamie: “He is a cellist of outstanding performance ability. Combining warmth of tone with a technical command that reaches dazzling proportions, he leaves little doubt as the success that lies ahead of him—he is a musician of great integrity whose performance gives great pleasure.”
His debut with the Vienna Chamber Orchestra was hailed by the press and subsequent radio broadcasts and recitals followed. This led to radio broadcasts and concertos with the Lucerne Festival of Strings Orchestra and the Orchestra della Swizzera Italiana. Also passionate about chamber music, he joined the Wihan Quartet for their 20th Anniversary concert at the Rudolfinum in Prague, now available on DVD. A live DVD of a recent recital at Wigmore Hall 2007 is also available (see Live in Concert page for details and YouTube).
Jamie plays on a 1712 Guarneri. For information and if interested to invest shares in the cello, please email Jamie or contact Emily Smith (Instrument Schemes Manager) on 01223 696 564 or at . For recent publicity on the subject, please see Times article.
As a member of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, he was recently elected into the Freedom of the City of London, having performed for HRH The Prince of Wales.
Jamie is represented by Jonathan Cooke Limited.