Absolute Classics Reimagined: Hugo Eedle & Simon Callaghan

Hugo Eedle, cello
Simon Callaghan, piano
Presented as part of Absolute Classics Reimagined Festival
Programme:
Beethoven Sonata, D major
Rachmaninov Sonata, G minor
Dvorak, Silent Woods
Presented as part of Absolute Classics Reimagined Festival, this early evening recital brings together Scottish cellist Hugo Eedle and acclaimed pianist Simon Callaghan for a powerful programme of Romantic masterworks. Beethovens radiant Sonata in D major is followed by the sweeping lyricism and virtuosity of Rachmaninovs Sonata in G minor, before the concert closes with the poetic stillness of Dvoks Silent Woods.

At just 25, Hugo Eedle is an award-winning Scottish cellist whose studies have taken him from Chethams School of Music and the Royal College of Music in London to the Hochschule fr Musik und Tanz in Cologne, supported by major scholarships and prizes including the Hollywood Trust award, the South of Scotland Youth Award and the Brigitte-Kempen Competition. He has appeared in leading venues such as the Royal Festival Hall and Bridgewater Hall and is a Scholar of Yehudi Menuhin Live Music Now. Simon Callaghan enjoys an international career as soloist, chamber musician and recording artist, with regular appearances in major UK halls and on tours across Europe, Asia and North America; praised for his cleverly curated programmes and technically brilliant playing, he performs with leading orchestras and chamber partners and is a founding member of the London Piano Quartet.
Artist Biographies
Hugo Eedle:
Hugo Eedle is a 25-year-old cellist from Scotland. He began playing the cello at the age of ten, studying with Alex McQuiston from age 13. From 2013 to 2017 he was a student at Chethams School of Music, where he was taught by Nicholas Jones. During this time, he won the Dewhurst Torevell Competition with his string quartet. In 2017, he was accepted as a student in Thomas Carrolls class at the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied with the support of the Dewar Arts Award and a scholarship from the college. Since 2018, he has continued his undergraduate studies at the Hochschule fr Musik und Tanz in Cologne with Thomas Carroll. Hugo has participated in master classes with Karine Georgian, Frans Helmerson, Guy Johnson, Robert Cohen, Francis Guten, and Torleif Theden. He has also performed with Chetham's Symphony Orchestra at venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Bridgewater Hall, Milton Court and Dukes Hall. Hugo has been supported by the Hollywood
Trust award for several years. He won the 'South of Scotland youth award' in 2019 and 2020, the Beatrice Harrington award for cellists in 2021, and in 2023 He won the Brigitte-Kempen competition in Aachen, Germany. Hugo also enjoys playing chamber music and has performed with his string quartet at venues including the Bridgewater Hall (in Manchester), Barrat Dur institute (Oslo), Mansfield Street (London), and the ' Royal Northen college of Music'. He is Scholar of Yehudi Menuhin live music now and has performed many concerts around Cologne.
Simon Callaghan:
Simon Callaghan performs internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, in parallel with a highly successful career as a recording artist. A favourite performer at the internationally renowned Husum Festival of Piano Rarities
in Germany, Callaghans recent sell-out concert was praised by VAN Magazine as a cleverly curated recital full of discoveries and by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung as technically brilliant. Callaghan has developed a wide following and appears on a regular basis in the UKs major concert halls, and on tours to Asia, North America and Europe. As concerto soloist, he has recently collaborated with the Ulster Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, with conductors including Jac van Steen, Martin Yates and Martyn Brabbins. Recital partners have included Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Jack Liebeck, Nicholas Daniel, Julian Bliss, Adrian Brendel, Feng Ning, Raphael Wallfisch, Ruth Rogers, Samuel West, Prunella Scales and Timothy West. BBC Young Musician of the Year Finalist Coco Tomita and Callaghan have a successful duo partnership which saw their second record released in 2024 on Orchid Classics. He is also a founding member of the London Piano Quartet, joining colleagues from the renowned Piatti Quartet to showcase the repertoire for piano quartet with a particular focus on revivifying works that have fallen into obscurity.