Nicola Tait Baxter studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Lionel Handy, winning prizes for both solo and chamber music and graduating with a first-class honours degree. Further scholarships took her to Germany and London, studying with cellists Johannes Goritzki and William Pleeth. At the age of 24 she gave her first solo broadcast for Radio 3 and she joined the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields chamber orchestra. For 5 years she was cellist in the renowned Fitzwilliam String Quartet, performing and giving masterclasses throughout Europe, Russia, North America and South Africa.
Very much in demand as a soloists and chamber musician, her repertoire includes most of the major ‘cello concertos and she has performed the 6 solo suites by Bach in festivals in Scotland, England and Germany and has appeared as soloist in Switzerland and the USA. Nicola is also a rather active chamber music player, regularly performing with her pianist Mina Miletic, Amabile Clarinet Trio and the Bochmann String Trio. More details can be found on her website.
Nicola holds teaching posts at Harrow and Merchant Taylors’ schools and has co-founded Leading Notes Chamber Music courses, for aspiring young string players. She has also written and published Five Fantasy Pieces for solo cello. A nature lover to the core, Nicola lives in leafy Amersham with her family of boys, cats and hens!
Colin Stone’s long and varied career began in the 1980s. He had success in the Royal Over-Seas league and debuts on BBC Radio 3 and at the Wigmore Hall. Regular broadcasts, London recitals and a series of recordings established him as one of the leading British pianists of his generation. He formed the London Mozart Trio in the 1990s and made his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 2001 giving the premiere of Robert Keeley’s Entourages in a live broadcast on Radio 3. Another premiere, a recording with Rustem Hayroudinoff of Shostakovich’s transcription for two pianos of his fourth symphony, attracted considerable praise in the music press. Colin Stone performed Shostakovich’s 24 preludes and fugues Op.87 in a concert introduced by Vladimir Ashkenazy, during the composer’s centenary celebrations in 2006 at Cadogan Hall, and subsequently recorded the set on the BigEars label.
He was invited to become a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1999 and continues to enjoy a life of teaching, performing, and recording.
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Cello/Piano Duo
