From Bonis to Brahms: Hidden Treasures
Farrington Hall, Shaftesbury
Saturday 5 June 2027 • 5PM
Mel Bonis: Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 67
Errollyn Wallen: Dervish
Bohuslav Martinů: Cello Sonata No. 1
Nadia Boulanger: Three Pieces
Johannes Brahms: Cello Sonata in F major, Op. 99
GUY JOHNSTON • Cello
TOM POSTER • Piano
PROGRAMME NOTES
Local hero Guy Johnston will perform with the acclaimed pianist Tom Poster - they have carefully curated a programme that will allow hidden treasures to delight our audience beside the splendour of a much loved Brahms sonata.
Mel Bonis’s Cello Sonata in F major is a richly expressive work that reflects the elegance and colour of French late-Romantic chamber music. Composed in the early twentieth century, the sonata combines lyrical warmth with moments of dramatic intensity and refined harmonic language. The cello sings in long, expressive lines while the piano provides both support and vivid character, creating an intimate yet richly textured dialogue. Though less frequently performed than works by her contemporaries, Bonis’s sonata reveals a distinctive voice of sensitivity, imagination, and emotional depth.
Dervish by Errollyn Wallen is a vivid and energetic miniature inspired by the whirling motion of Sufi dervishes. Driven by repeating rhythmic patterns and flowing melodic lines, the music creates a sense of continuous movement and trance-like momentum. Despite its compact form, the work moves through contrasting colours and moods, combining intensity with moments of reflection. Characteristically direct and expressive, Wallen’s writing captures both physical motion and a feeling of spiritual release.
Bohuslav Martinů’s Cello Sonata combines lyricism, rhythmic vitality, and rich harmonic colour in a style that is unmistakably his own. Written during the turbulence of the mid-twentieth century, the sonata balances moments of restless energy with passages of introspective beauty. The cello and piano engage as equal partners, moving between expansive melodies, folk-inspired rhythms, and vivid contrasts in mood and texture. Throughout the work, Martinů’s distinctive voice emerges: expressive, energetic, and deeply communicative.
Though better known as one of the twentieth century’s most influential teachers, Nadia Boulanger was also a gifted composer whose music reveals refinement, sensitivity, and expressive clarity. Her short pieces for cello display a distinctive French lyricism, balancing elegance with emotional depth. The cello’s warm, singing tone is paired with subtle harmonic colour and flowing melodic lines, creating music that feels both intimate and deeply expressive. These miniature works offer a glimpse into Boulanger’s own compositional voice—poised, understated, and full of quiet intensity.
Johannes Brahms’s Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 99, composed in 1886, is one of his most expansive and passionate chamber works. Written during a productive summer in Switzerland, the sonata reflects Brahms at the height of his maturity, combining symphonic breadth with intimate dialogue. The opening movement is bold and dramatic, while the lyrical Adagio offers moments of warmth and reflection. A vigorous scherzo introduces restless energy before the brilliant finale drives the work to an exhilarating conclusion. Throughout, Brahms treats the cello and piano as equal partners, creating music of richness, power, and expressive depth.
PERFORMERS
GUY JOHNSTON • Cello
Guy Johnston is one of the most exciting British cellists of his generation. His early successes included winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, and significant awards, notably the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, Suggia Gift Award and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.
He has performed with many leading orchestras including the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony.
Guy is a passionate advocate for chamber music and recitals as founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival, Music at Minterne, and performs regularly at prestigious venues and festivals across Europe.
Guy’s recent recording of the Bliss Cello Concerto and feature on Xiaogang Ye’s My Faraway Nanjing with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra were both released to critical acclaim in 2025. Future releases include Walton and Barber Cello Concertos with the BSO, Britten Cello Symphony with the RLPO and Tavener’s The Protecting Veil with Britten Sinfonia. He gave the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s Falling in the Fire at the BBC Proms, Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and both Phibbs’ Cello Sonata and Matthew Kaner’s Dialogues at Wigmore Hall.
Guy is also an inspiring leader of young musicians. He is Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music and was an Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music. He is President of the European String Teachers Association, Artistic Advisor to the British Cello Society and is patron of several charities including Music First and Future Talent. He is also a board member of the Pierre Fournier Award for young cellists.
Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron. He is a Larsen Strings Artist.
TOM POSTER • Piano
Tom Poster is a musician whose skills and passions extend well beyond the conventional role of the concert pianist. He has been described as “a marvel, [who] can play anything in any style” (The Herald), “mercurially brilliant” (The Strad), and as having “a beautiful tone that you can sink into like a pile of cushions” (BBC Music).
Tom has performed over forty concertos from Mozart to Ligeti with Aurora Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Scottish Symphony, China National Symphony, Hallé, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic and Scottish Chamber Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Nicholas Collon, Robin Ticciati and Yan Pascal Tortelier, or sometimes directing from the piano. He has premiered solo, chamber and concertante works by many leading composers, made multiple appearances at the BBC Proms, and his exceptional versatility has put him in great demand at festivals internationally.
Tom is co-founder and artistic director of Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, appointed Associate Ensemble at Wigmore Hall in 2020. With a flexible line-up featuring many of today’s most inspirational musicians, and an ardent commitment to diversity through its creative programming, Kaleidoscope is particularly renowned for its championing of unjustly neglected gems alongside deservedly celebrated classics. Kaleidoscope broadcasts regularly on BBC Radio 3 and has enjoyed residencies at the Aldeburgh, Cheltenham, Lammermuir and Ischia festivals. Its albums for Chandos Records have been shortlisted for BBC Music Magazine and Gramophone awards, while recent performance highlights have included concerts with Hilary Hahn, a debut at the BBC Proms, and two extensive tours of the USA. In 2024, Kaleidoscope was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Ensemble Award.
During the 2020 lockdown, his #UriPosteJukeBox series with Elena Urioste - featuring Tom as pianist, arranger, multi-instrumentalist, writer, backing dancer and snowman - brought a staggeringly eclectic selection of music to audiences across the world through 88 daily online performances, for which the duo won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Inspiration Award. Their subsequent recording, The Jukebox Album, received glowing reviews and a BBC Music Magazine Award.
Tom has recorded albums for BIS, Champs Hill, Chandos, Decca, NMC, Orchid and Warner Classics, appearing as soloist and in collaboration with Elena Urioste, Alison Balsom, Guy Johnston, the Aronowitz Ensemble, Aurora Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia and London Symphony Orchestra. He regularly features as soloist on film soundtracks, including the Oscar-nominated score for The Theory of Everything. He studied with Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and at King’s College, Cambridge. He won First Prize at the Scottish International Piano Competition 2007 and the keyboard section of the BBC Young Musician of the Year Competition in 2000.
Tom’s compositions and arrangements have been commissioned, performed and recorded by Alison Balsom, Matthew Rose, Yo-Yo Ma, Kathryn Stott and Roderick Williams. His chamber opera for puppets, The Depraved Appetite of Tarrare the Freak, received an acclaimed three-week run at Wilton’s Music Hall in 2017. He is a lifelong fan of animals with unusual noses.