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The UK’s national cello festival for young players takes place among the historic buildings of Greenwich this April, presented by the London Cello Society, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, and the National Maritime Museum.

On Friday 13 April, cellist, singer, songwriter, and Trinity Laban alumnus, Ayanna Witter-Johnson  guest stars at the Cutty Sark among a line-up of recent Trinity Laban student and graduate cellists (Christina Elisabeth Cooper, Helena Švigelj, Melody Lin, Olivia Clayton, Thibault Blanchard, and Urška Horvat) at an evening welcome concert.

The programme will include Vivaldi’s Concerto for two cellos in G minor alongside works by Giovanni Sollima and Frederic Borsarello.

Also performing at the Trinity Laban showcase is the conservatoire’s Cello Ensemble, with the world premiere of Fanfare for 6 cellos by Trinity Laban composition student Toby Carswell.

The Trinity Laban concert ends the first day of Go Cello! – a national celebration of the cello for young cellists from across the UK playing at grades 1-8 and above. Across the weekend, young players will be taking part in classes and rehearsals with professional players and teachers, while a parallel event on the Saturday for teachers will explore how to incorporate new and traditional concepts into cello teaching.

The Saturday will conclude with a London Cello Society event at St Alfege Church. Then on Sunday afternoon, participants will perform a unique concert on the Great Map at the National Maritime Museum.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson graduated from Trinity Laban in 2008 with a First Class Degree in Composition and the Trinity Laban Silver Medal, and went on to complete a Masters of Music in Composition at the Manhattan School of Music. She was a participant in the London Symphony Orchestra’s Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and become an Emerging Artist in Residence at London’s Southbank Centre.

Straddling the classical and alternative R&B worlds, Ayanna was a featured artist with Courtney Pine’s Afropeans: Jazz Warriors and became the only non-American to win Amateur Night Live at the legendary Apollo Theatre in Harlem, NYC.

(Image credit: Ayanna Witter-Johnson by Bumi Thomas)