Wednesday 11 January 2023, 7.30pm
St Mary's Creative Space, Chester

Leo Popplewell cello,
Antonina Suhanova piano

Bach: Gamba Suite No 2
Brahms: Cello Sonata No 2 in F, Op 99
Janacek: Pohadka
Shostakovich: Cello Sonata, Op 40
A dynamic young cellist who plays with "full-blooded commitment” and "delicious dancing grace", Leo Popplewell studied at Clare College, Cambridge, and later at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Leo has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, and London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and Southbank Centre. His festival appearances include the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Barnes Music Festival, Newbury Spring Festival, Orpheus and Bacchus Festival, Cambridge Summer Music Festival, Lake District Summer Music Festival and Highgate International Chamber Music Festival. He has played in masterclasses for Adrian Brendel, Pierre Doumenge and Alexander Baillie at the International Cello Gathering, Brian O’Kane at the Machynlleth Festival, and for Steven Isserlis at Wigmore Hall. In 2019 he won the Coro Nuovo Young Musician of the Year Competition, and is on the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme for the 2021/22 season. He has been broadcast regularly on national radio, most recently performing solo and chamber works by Detlev Glanert on BBC Radio 3.
Antonina has performed on international stages since 2000. After studies with Ludmila Kiselenko, Gunta Boža and Professor Juris Kalnciems in her native Latvia, she was admitted to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD, London) where from 2012 to 2018 she acquired First Class Bachelor of Music and Master of Performance degrees, both with distinction, under the tutelage of the distinguished British pianist Ronan O’Hora. She has performed outstanding solo recitals for the Society twice: first on our Virtual Concert series during lockdown, and then at our Celebrity concert in May 2022.