Michael Kevin Jones, cello and John Bryden, piano

The Dragon and the Phoenix for solo cello by Grace Tin Yen Christus
Sonata No 5 by Antonio Vivaldi (1678 – 1741)
Kol Nidrei by Max Bruch (1838 – 1920)
Scherzo by Daniel Van Goens (1858 – 1904)
Sonata in G minor by Sergei Rachmaninov (1873 – 1943)

Michael Kevin Jones

The English cellist Michael Kevin Jones was born in Watford and studied Music Performance Piano/Cello at the Royal College of Music in London. While a student there he was chosen to play for the royal family and awarded a German government scholarship for further study in Köln. He continued his studies at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf with Johnannes Goritzki His teachers included Pauline Ballard, Dulce Haigh Marshall, Michael Evans and Joan Dickson.

Michael has found a unique place for himself among today’s performers. After his studies he quickly became solo cellist and toured the world with top musical groups. He has developed a non-conventional career incorporating multi-musical activities and is also a teacher and coach.

As member of ‘the Jones Maruri cello guitar duo, Michael had his first top 10 selling CD ‘Original music for cello and guitar’ in Hong Kong and China and as a soloist his recording of the complete J.S. Bach’ Cello Suites (BWV 1007) on a 1667 Stradivarius cello for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has received international critical acclaim and several audio awards.

He has recently started performing with John Bryden with whom he studied piano at Dartington College of Arts and they have just released their first album ‘ cello meditation’ together.

John Bryden

Pianist John Bryden was born in Edinburgh and went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He studied with Peter Katin in London and in master classes in Siena and in Bonn with Guido Agosti and Claudio Arrau. He also benefited greatly from the advice of Clifford Curzon and Hans Keller.

John’s concert career has taken him from California to Kathmandu via the Wigmore Hall and around the world on the MS Saga Rose and the MS Saga Pearl. For ACE Cultural Tours he has led over 150 tours within Europe , playing in houses or museums associated with Handel, Haydn, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Smetana, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Dvorak, Grieg and Elgar.

As a double bass player in the National Youth Orchestra he played at Bristol’s Colston Hall (after a memorable reception by the Lord Mayor) and as pianist of the Dartington Trio in a series of lunchtime concerts in St George’s, Brandon Hill.

At Dartington International Summer School he played for master classes given by Jacqueline du Pre. He is now so delighted to be giving concerts with his former piano student at Dartington, Michael Kevin Jones.

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