Timothy Ridout - Biography

With awards including the inaugural Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize in Hamburg (2020) and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, Timothy Ridout has confirmed his position at the forefront of young European soloists. He was a BBC New Generation Artist (2019 to 2021) and joined the Bowers Program of the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in 2021.

He appears with many orchestras across the globe, including BBC Symphony and Philhramonic orchestras, the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra, the Lucerne and Hamburg Symphony orchestras, Orchestre National de Lille; the Hallé, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra and hr-Sinfonieorchester, and in recitals at the Wigmore Hall, Schubertiade, Oji Hall, Concertgebouw Amsterdam and the Lucerne Festival, among many others. Ridout has worked with conductors including Sylvain Cambreling, Christoph Eschenbach, Sir Andras Schiff and David Zinman. He has appeared at the BBC Proms in Walton’s Viola Concerto and Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante.

In chamber repertoire, Ridout has toured to South America (with the Chamber Society of the Lincoln Center) and regularly collaborates with the likes of Janine Jansen, Steven Isserlis, Joshua Bell, Isabelle Faust, Kian Soltani, Benjamin Grosvenor, Hyeyoon Park, Nicolas Altstaedt and Christian Tetzlaff.

Ridout’s growing catalogue of recordings include Lionel Tertis’ arrangement of Elgar’s Cello Concerto for Viola (with the BBC Symphony under Martyn Brabbins), which won a 2023 Gramophone Award, and his 2-CD tribute to Lionel Tertis, which was nominated for a 2024 Gramophone Award, both released on Harmonia Mundi.

Ridout studied at the Royal Academy of Music graduating with the Queen’s Commendation for Excellence. He completed his Masters at the Kronberg Academy with Nobuko Imai in 2019 and in 2018 took part in Kronberg Academy’s Chamber Music Connects the World. He plays on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto c.1565-75 on loan from a generous patron of Beare’s International Violin Society.

Ridout participated in BBT’s 20th-anniversary celebrations at London’s Wigmore Hall, June 2023.

I am so grateful to the Borletti-Buitoni Trust for its dedication and all encompassing support. More than ever at this point in time it is invaluable to have a direction and the means to get a project off the ground, and BBT has given me the opportunity to look beyond the next season or two and to develop projects which give new perspectives and a deeper understanding as an artist. Having a regular dialogue with the team has given me the chance to develop and refine creative ideas, and I can’t wait to see my projects come to life!

Photographs by Simon Weir