Leeds Lunchtime Chamber Music 23/24:

Jessica Burroughs – cello
David Cowan – piano

Ludwig Van Beethoven Cello Sonata No 4 in C Major
Imogen Holst The Fall of the Leaf (solo cello)
Gabriel Fauré Sonata No 2 for cello and piano in G minor
Gabriel Fauré Papillon (Butterfly)

Approximately 50 minutes without interval

Jessica Burroughs has performed at major concert venues in the UK and toured the world extensively as a classical cellist. Described as ‘Spellbinding’(Bachtrack) and ‘Dynamic’ (The Reviews Hub) she has played for big-screen motion pictures, worked with legendary pop, rock and soul stars, performed as a soloist at the Royal Albert Hall, London and been broadcast on many BBC Proms as well as for BBC Radio 3, Classic FM and CD recordings with Orchid Classics, Hyperion, Divine Art and Meridian Record labels.

Jessica’s current positions are cellist of the Roscoe Piano Trio, Cyprus based contemporary music group, Ensemble Cyclamen and Section Leader of the Orchestra of Opera North.

She is a regular guest leader for many of the leading UK orchestras and has performed in festivals worldwide such as Lucerne Festival, Paxos Festival and Texas Music Festival. She was a recent Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, Canada.

Jessica is passionate about finding ways to make music more accessible. She is Co-Chair of the Board of Trustees for Hebden Bridge Arts and holds the position of Events Programmer for the charity Awards for Young Musicians.

David Cowan studied at Clare College, Cambridge, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and in Winterthur, Switzerland. Immediately after graduating with distinction in solo piano from Winterthur, he was invited to join the teaching faculty of the Salzburg “Mozarteum”, working as accompanist and vocal coach in the Lied and voice classes there for nine years, before becoming Head of Music Studies at the opera house in Karlsruhe, Germany, and then Musical Director of the Opera Studio of the Opéra National in Strasbourg. He worked as repetiteur at the Salzburg International Festival in opera productions under the conductors Heinz Holliger, Gustav Kuhn and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, as well as being conductor of the University Orchestra in Salzburg from 1991-95.

From 2001-2015 David worked at the Opera House in Basel, Switzerland – first as repetiteur and staff conductor, later as Head of Music, Head of Casting and Head of the opera studio “Operavenir”. In his time there, Theater Basel twice won the prize “Opera House” of the year, chosen from all companies in German-speaking countries. Since 2015 David has been Head of Music at Opera North, based in Leeds, where he lives with his family.

He works regularly as a guest coach at the RNCM, at the Jette Parker Young Artist programme at the Royal Opera House, London, at Leeds College of Music, the Emerging Artist programme of Scottish Opera, and at the Opera Studio of the Irish National Opera.

As piano-accompanist he has worked and performed in concerts with many singers, including Simon Keenlyside and Dame Kiri te Kanawa, and with string players including the great French cellist, Maurice Gendron.