Cello
Richard Jenkinson started to play the cello at the age of 5 studying with Florence Hooton, Raphael Wallfisch and William Pleeth. In 1994 he won the Guildhall School's coveted Gold Medal and a prize at Vittorio Gui competition in Florence. He has made several recordings the latest of which (British 'cello & piano sonatas with Benjamin Frith) was released in May 2015 on the EM label. He is currently a Bramall scholar at the University of Birmingham where he is a final year Ph.D studying the music of Zoltan Kodaly.
In 1995 Richard was appointed principal 'cello with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and in 1998 joined the CBSO as principal 'cello. Since 2012 he has been the cellist of the Dante String Quartet. He has made several recordings with the quartet including Kodaly String quartets for Hyperion Records and began a project to record the Stanford String Quartets in December 2015 for Somm Records. Concerts with the Dante Quartet this season have included the Wigmore Hall and a series of Beethoven concerts at Kings Place in London. Future highlights include a BBC Radio 3 live broadcast from Belfast, tours to France and Japan and several complete Beethoven String Quartet cycles in the Autumn of 2016.
Richard is becoming increasingly in demand as a conductor and is Artistic Director of the Innovation Chamber Ensemble. He has led the ensemble in many performances and recorded three discs for Somm Records. He is Musical Director of the Orchestra of St John (Bromsgrove) and the British Police Symphony Orchestra. Highlights for the current season include Verdi Requiem and a further instalment in the OSJ's cycle of Beethoven Symphonies. Richard conducted the BPSO in a performance at Worcester Cathedral (April 2016 including a premiere of a new work by Ian Venables) and will conduct this orchestra at Beacon Park, Gloucester Cathedral (October 2016 including Elgar's Second Symphony) and Symphony Hall, Birmingham (December 2016).