Jonathan Byers

Belfast-born Jonathan Byers studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with David Strange, and then completed a two-year postgraduate course in Historical Performance with Jennifer Ward-Clarke.

Jonathan works regularly with several period instrument groups, including the English Concert, Gabrieli Consort, Academy of Ancient Music, Irish Baroque Orchestra, The Sixteen, La Serenissima, Sonnerie, and the Early Opera Company. His other orchestral work includes Camerata Ireland, RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra. In 2006 he performed a concerto by CPE Bach with the Ulster Orchestra (a concert recorded by the BBC).

He was awarded the Arts Council of Northern Ireland’s Young Artist Platform Scheme award in 2004, which enabled him to travel to the Netherlands, Germany and Italy for lessons with some of the finest baroque cellists in the world.

He has recently given solo recitals in Belfast and Malta and, in May 2007, a recital at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC.

Aside from playing work, Jonathan also manages the Marylebone Camerata, a London-based session orchestra.

Jonathan plays on a c.1760 cello by John Johnson and the 1692 Segelman Stradivarius cello, which has been kindly loaned to him by the Royal Academy of Music instrument collection.