Timothy Ridout

Biography

Timothy Ridout, a former BBC New Generation Artist, Borletti-Buitoni Trust fellow, and winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society 2023 Young Artist Award, is one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. The 2023-24 season sees him join WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse and Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra alongside the likes of Péter Eötvös, Kazuki Yamada and Sir Simon Rattle. Further highlights include his return to America with Camerata Pacifica and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, his debut with Royal Northern Sinfonia, and a plethora of exciting chamber music concerts.

Recent seasons have seen Ridout appear with BBC Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Metroplitan Symphony Orchestra, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Nederlands Kamerorkest, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre National de Lille, Camerata Salzburg, Orchestre de chambre de Lausanne, The Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra. Across his engagements he has worked with conductors such as Sakari Oramo, Lionel Bringuier, Sylvain Cambreling, Nicholas Collon and Sir András Schiff, and performed as far and wide as South America and Australia. In 2020, Ridout won Hamburger Symphoniker’s inaugural Sir-Jeffrey-Tate-Prize and in 2021, he joined the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program.

An iconic chamber musician, Ridout continues to present both solo and ensemble programs across venues such as Wigmore Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Alice Tully Hall. In the 2023/24 season, Ridout appears frequently at Wigmore Hall, returning to the venue multiple times with a selection of leading names including Benjamin Grosvenor, Hyeyoon Park, Kian Soltani, Janine Jansen, Daniel Blendulf and Denis Kozhukhin, building on his existing collaborations with artists like Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Christian Tetzlaff, Nicolas Altstaedt and Steven Isserlis. He also continues to collaborate with Tim Posner and Tim Crawford as part of Teyber Trio as well as performing recitals with pianists Frank Dupree and Jonathan Ware.

Ridout regularly records for the Harmonia Mundi label. His latest release, recorded with Martyn Brabbins and BBC Symphony Orchestra, features Lionel Tertis’s arrangement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto for viola and orchestra and Ernest Bloch’s Suite for Viola and Orchestra. It builds on his already impressive discography comprising works by Prokofiev and Schumann on A Poet’s Love and a recording of Berlioz’s Harold en Italie with John Nelson and Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg across various albums.

Born in London in 1995, Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music, graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and, in 2018, took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World.

He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565–75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare's International Violin Society.