The Next Generation

These three young cellists are theoretically still students at the Kronberg Academy but are in practice already fully fledged soloists with international careers.

Maciej Kułakowski rearranged Ravel’s Violin Sonata himself incorporating subtle blues into its second movement, very much in the spirit of the 2020 Cello Biennale’s theme ‘The Cello Takes Over’.

The three suites Benjamin Britten composed for solo cello are the pinnacle of the cello’s 20th-century repertoire. Brannon Cho’s been filling concert halls around the world since he won first prize at the 2018 International Paolo Cello Competition – often performing Britten’s Cello Suite No. 1.

Shostakovich understood, as did Britten, how to compose highly characteristic and innovative, yet familiar music that wasn’t too intricate or complicated to listen to. Julia Hagen will be playing his cello sonata that dates to 1940 – a less tragic sounding work than many of his later compositions.