EDWARD FURSE  (cello) » 

Biography
Edward currently combines membership of the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland with freelance orchestral, chamber and solo work in the UK. Engagements in 2009/2010 have so far included a performance of Brahms' Double Concerto at the CBSO Centre (Birmingham), duo recitals at both the Leeds and North Wales and the National Theatre's productions of Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and All's Well That End's Well.

'a tour de force, with yearning cello passages, fine intonation and an expressive cadenza'. - Birmingham Post review, June 2003, of Edward's performance of the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No.1.

Other highlights of Edward's solo career include:

• Brahms Double Concerto (February 2010) CBSO Centre, Birmingham
• Saint-Saens Cello Concerto (May 2007 and October 2008 ) University Church, Oxford, and Bournville Quaker Meeting House, Birmingham.
• Vivaldi Double Cello Concerto (November 2006) St Magnus the Martyr, London
• Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor (March 2006) Saga Pavilion, Folkestone
• Haydn Cello Concerto in C (Directed from the cello) (Feb 2005) Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham
• Elgar Cello Concerto (March and June-July 2004) University of Birmingham, followed by two tour performances in Budapest
• Elgar Cello Concerto Imperial College, London, and tour performances in Helsinki and St Petersburg
• Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 (June 2003) Adrian Boult Hall, Birmingham

Edward has given over eighty performances with pianist Craig White since they met at the Montepulciano Music Festival in 2005, including recitals at the Schubert Festival, North Aldeburgh Festival, Cardiff Millennium Centre and Barber Institute of Fine Arts. Edward and Craig also work for Live Music Now, for whom they have recently conducted tours of Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Wales and Oxfordshire. Other chamber music projects have included recitals in Brussels and London with the Olive Piano Trio, and further performances at the Wigmore Hall, London, and in Anghiari, Tuscany.

Performing extensively with the New Music Ensemble in Birmingham, Edward has also taken part in an ambitious concert of experimental cello music at the CBSO Centre, including World and British Premieres of works by Caspar Johannes Walter and Eric Ona for cello and electronics.

Edward currently lives in London/Dublin and plays a German cello made by August Riechers, ca. 1860.

Orchestral Work
Orchestras: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Festival Orchestra, Opera North Orchestra, RTE Concert Orchestra, RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Watford Philharmonic. Shows: National Theatre Orchestra.

Edward's orchestral work also includes includes Opera North, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (extra list), Royal Academy Concert Orchestra (principal) and Sinfonia (principal), Royal Academy Symphony Orchestra, Young Janacek Philharmonic (principal), University of Birmingham's Symphony and Chamber Orchestras (principal). SHOWS: Les Miserables.

Education
Edward's schooling took place at Kings College School, Wimbledon. Edward's graduate studies took place at the University of Birmingham, where he gained a First Class BMus Hons (June 2004), and at the Royal Academy of Music, gaining a PGDip (June 2005). Edward also gained a LRAM in April 2006.

Prizes and Awards

• Barber Undergraduate and Postgraduate Prizes, University of Birmingham
• Royal Academy of Music Postgraduate Scholarship
• University of Birmingham's Martin West Bequest

Teachers: Sue Lowe, David Smith, Catherine Ardagh-Walter and Erica Simpson
Masterclasses and Lessons: Steven Doane, Robert Cohen, Clifford Benson, Malcolm Martineau, Michael Dussek, Wolfgang Boettcher, Selma Gokcen, Alexander Ivashkin, Richard Tunnicliffe, Eduardo Vassallo, Louise Hopkins, Moray Welsh, Wolfgang Boettcher and the Alberni and Kreutzer String Quartets.

Edward joined Morgensterns in September 2006

Edward's web profile was last updated 12th May 2012