Guy Johnston & Tom Poster
National Concert Hall Ireland

The Young British cellist, Guy Johnston (born 1981), winner of last year’s BBC Musician of the Year Competition, made his Dublin debut at the National Concert Hall last Saturday night.

He’s an engaging performer and stylish one, too. One of the pleasures of the evening was the way he drew such clear distinctions between the various styles represented in his programme of Martinu, Beethoven, Shostakovitch and Chopin.

Johnston’s less assertive and altogether more flexible manner showed a young player of intriguingly responsive temperament. I don’t think I’ve heard a young cellist with such an awareness of his instrument’s melting beauty or persuasive whispering since the early days of Steven Isserlis. And auguries for future achievements don’t come much more promising than that.

Michael Dervan