DEBUSSY Cello Sonata (1915)
BRIDGE Four pieces for Cello and Piano
SCHUMANN Adagio and Allegro
N. BOULANGER Three pieces for Cello and Piano
BEETHOVEN Sonata for Cello and Piano No 3 in A major Op 6
BBC Young Musician prizewinner Maxim Calver makes his WMC debut with an expressive programme celebrating the cello’s lyrical voice, from shimmering impressionism through to Beethoven’s much-loved Sonata in A major.
About Maxim Calver
Praised for the “elegance of his technique, overall sound and natural poeticism” (Charlotte Gardner, Strad Magazine), British cellist Maxim Calver first gained public recognition as a BBC Young Musician 2018 Grand Finalist and Strings Category winner where he made his concerto debut with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Symphony Hall, Birmingham. Since the competition, he has been in high demand across the UK and Europe and has recently appeared as a soloist in leading venues including Tonhalle Zurich, Cadogan Hall, Kulturcasino Bern and the Grosse Saal of the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, where he made his European Concerto debut in 2021. Throughout the 24/25 season, he gave recital
performances alongside pianists Kumi Matsuo, Jams Coleman and Gorda Plada Giron with venues including Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall, the Oranjewoud Festival, Hay Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival and St. George’s Bristol amongst others. Maxim was also awarded the inaugural ‘Goldman Sachs Gives Award’ at the 2025 Verbier Festival Academy, the ‘Oranjewoud Award’ at the 2024 Schiermonnikoog Festival and a Hattori Foundation Senior Award in both 2025 and 2023.
About Kumi Matsuo
Kumi Matsuo is a versatile solo pianist, chamber musician and accompanist. She has won numerous competitions including First Prize in the 6th Isidor Bajic Memorial Piano Competition in Serbia and First Prize in the 5th Louisiana International Piano Competition, USA. She is now on the staff at RCM, working as Duo Coach to the String Faculty, as well as accompanying other instruments.
Kumi studied at the Toho Gakuen College of Music, Tokyo, and then at the Royal College of Music (RCM), London studying with John Blakely and Ashley Wass and completed her studies there with Artist Diploma and Master of Music in Performance with Distinction. She has also finished the Anthony Saltmarsh Junior Fellow in Accompaniment. Her study was generously supported by Charles Napper Award, the Russell Gander Award and the Rohm Music Foundation.
During her study at RCM, Kumi won RCM concerto competition twice and performed Ravel’s Piano Concerto for Left Hand in Cadogan Hall with RCM Sinfonietta conducted by Peter Stark and Prokofiev’s 3rd Piano Concerto with RCM Symphony Orchestra under Martin André in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, RCM. She also played Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No.1 with RCM Chamber Orchestra under Vladimir Jurowski at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
As soloist and chamber musician Kumi has played extensively in the UK, and in the USA, France, Italy, Holland, Poland, Romania, UAE, India, Korea and Japan. She made her New York debut at Carnegie Hall Weill Recital Hall and gave an extended concerto and recital tour in Louisiana.
