Cellist and composer Robin Stevens has died, aged 67

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The death of British cellist and composer Robin Stevens has been announced, aged 67, on 16 February 2026. Stevens had been diagnosed with colon cancer in recent years, with the disease spreading through his system since.

Stevens was born in Newport, Wales, on 30 August 1958. He began cello lessons aged eight, studying with Dorothy Miller. As a child, he found inspiration from a televised masterclass from the cellist Paul Tortelier, which he believed set his future course as a composer, transcribing music by watching and listening to the first of Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas.

He attended at two-year preparatory music course at Dartington College, where he performed the Elgar Cello Concerto with the College Orchestra at the age of 16 and played numerous chamber works.

Aged 18, he undertook a combined music degree at the University of Manchester and an undergraduate course in cello at the Royal Northern College of Music. He later undertook two years of postgraduate study at Birmingham University under the tutelage of composer John Joubert, with the ambition of becoming a music lecturer. Here, he completed his first major composition, a four-movement String Quintet.

Following his studies, he held a post at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in York, where he worked for five years as music director and pastoral worker.

He continued to compose prolifically throughout his life, with nearly 180 works to his name. These included a Sonata and Suite for unaccompanied cello, a cello concerto, 14 works for cello and piano and nearly 40 short works for unaccompanied cello. He composed two sonatas for violin and piano, seven shorter works for violin and piano and two short works for unaccompanied violin, as well as three short works for viola and a viola concerto.

His works have been recorded on Prima Facie, Divine Art and Toccata Classics labels, the latter of which will release three recordings of Stevens’ complete orchestral music in 2026. His two solo cello albums, An Inward Journey, and Further Along An Inward Journey were released in 2021 and 2023, featuring Stevens as the sole performer.

Sensing that his ’days on this earth are drawing to a close’, Stevens published his autobiography and list of works, available on his website. ’It felt appropriate to give a brief summary of my life story; to explain something of the forces and influences that have shaped my music, and to demonstrate the principal features of my compositional style through reference to each of my major works,’ he stated in July 2025.

’My words are intended for informed and inquisitive music-lovers, to provide a readable introduction to my music, to give a sense of the range of my creative output, and, hopefully, to stimulate greater interest in my compositional oeuvre.’