Cellist Leo Popplewell performs ‘El Cant dels Ocells’

Guildhall School of Music and Drama graduate, Leo Popplewell will feature at this year’s Cheltenham Music Festival. Performing on Friday 15 July at 5pm, Popplewell will play a selection of works for solo cello including Bach Cello Suite no. 5 in C minor, Britten Cello Suite no. 1, op. 72 and the traditional Catalan piece El Cant dels Ocells (‘Song of the birds’) arranged by Sally Beamish heard in the video above. 

Popplewell has performed in many of the world’s leading concert halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as London’s Wigmore Hall, Barbican Hall and Southbank Centre, recently performing solo and chamber works by Detlev Glanert on BBC Radio 3. 

Popplewell is a member of the Mithras Trio, which won the 10th Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, 67th Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, Cavatina Intercollegiate Chamber Music Competition 2019 and the St. James Chamber Music Competition 2018. In 2019 the trio received the Royal Philharmonic Society Henderson Award and is participating in the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme.

Cheltenham Music Festival launched in 1945 to celebrate classical music. Since its beginnings the festival has boasted performances by some of the world’s leading musicians including Nicola Benedetti, Steven Isserlis and Dame Evelyn Glennie. This year’s festival will run from 8 July to 16 July.