JONATHAN RADFORD

SAXOPHONE

BIOGRAPHY

Praised for his “exceptional musicianship and emotive playing”, Jonathan Radford is one of the leading classical saxophonists of his generation. In high demand internationally as a soloist and chamber musician, Jonathan is a Vandoren Paris Artist and Henri Selmer Paris Saxophone Artist.

Jonathan is an international prize-winner, notably named Commonwealth Musician of the Year, Gold Medal and First Prize winner in the 2018 Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition UK. He is also a prize winner in the SaxOpen International Competition (Strasbourg, France) and Concorso Internazionale de Musica Marco (Fiorindo, Italy). He was selected as a Young Artist with Park Lane Group, Tunnell Trust, Making Music UK, and Countess of Munster Musical Trust. Jonathan was featured as a ‘Rising Star’ in BBC Music Magazine 2018.

Jonathan studied at Chetham’s School of Music (UK), before completing his Bachelor and Master’s degrees from Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (CNSM), in the class of Claude Delangle. He continued his studies at Royal College of Music London with Kyle Horch, graduating with an Artist Diploma as the 2018 Mills Williams Junior Fellow.

Jonathan has given recitals at major venues internationally including at the Wigmore Hall, Southbank Centre, Bridgewater Hall Manchester, Seoul Arts Center South Korea, Grieg Hall Bergen, and Philharmonie de Paris. He is regularly invited to perform at international music festivals such as the Edinburgh, Buxton, Brighton and Lake District Festivals (UK), Daejeon Cosmopolitan Music Festival (South Korea), and Segovia International Music Festival (Spain). As a soloist, Jonathan has appeared with several orchestras including the Slovenian Chamber Orchestra and Liverpool Mozart Orchestra.

Upcoming engagements include performances at the Wigmore Hall, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, the Investec International Music Festival UK, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Klosters Music Festival Switzerland as well as concerts and tours in South Korea, Switzerland, Australia, Norway and Scotland.

A keen advocate of contemporary music he has premiered works by Cheryl Francis-Hoad (co-commissioned by ROSL), Luis Naón (co-commissioned by Radio France), Betsy Jolas (commissioned by the CNSM) and collaborated with IRCAM in Paris.

Jonathan has given workshops and masterclasses at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Chethams School of Music, Melbourne Conservatory, Nice Conservatoire, Dulwich School and at Howarths of London. He is active in outreach projects throughout the UK in collaboration with The Worshipful Company of Musicians’, and was selected for the Chamber Tots programme at the Wigmore Hall.

Passionate about chamber music, Jonathan is a co-founder of the Yendo Quartet. The Quartet is regularly broadcast by Radio France featuring on Generation Jeunes Interprète, Alla Breve and En Piste. Yendo released their first CD, Utópico in 2016 and plan to release their second CD in 2021 featuring works by Debussy and Grieg. Jonathan’s book “A practical guide to altissimo fingerings and passages for alto and soprano saxophones” is due for publication by Gérard Billaudot Éditeur of Paris later this year.