Timothy Ridout and Federico Colli

When the Guardian says ‘he’s that rare kind of musician who could play a cardboard box and make it sing’, you know you’re in for something special.

Violist Timothy Ridout is one of the most exciting young artists on today’s classical scene, known for his warmth, charisma, and fearless artistry. Since bursting onto the international stage, he has performed Bartók’s famed Viola Concerto with leading orchestras across the globe. A champion of new music, he gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin in the 2024/25 season.

His RNCM debut marks a new milestone as the first ever RNCM/BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Fellow. This programme showcases Ridout’s expressive range, opening with two standout works in fresh guises: Schumann’s Three Romances, originally for oboe, and his own arrangement of Brahms’ Cello Sonata No 1. He closes with Shostakovich’s haunting Viola Sonata, the composer’s final completed piece, written just a day before his last hospitalisation. With its quiet intensity and movements marked morendo – ‘dying away’ – it’s a powerful farewell voiced through the rich, introspective sound of the viola.

Our Inspirational Artists series is graciously supported by The Haworth Trust.