Alexander Baillie

Alexander Baillie is one of those rare musicians who began playing his instrument at a relatively late age -- 12, in his case -- and developed quickly enough to win second prize in a major competition by age 22, the prestigious Casals Competition (1978). Baillie has since become one of the leading English cellists of his generation, performing with equal success as a soloist and chamber music player. He has also become a prominent recording artist, and his repertory is broad, taking in standards by Beethoven, Brahms, <a href="spotify:artist:4kHtgiRnpmFIV5Tm4BIs8l">Prokofiev</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6s1pCNXcbdtQJlsnM1hRIA">Shostakovich</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:7MJ1pB5d6Vjmzep2zQlorn">Britten</a>, as well as contemporary works, which he has premiered, by <a href="spotify:artist:5Ks8fS8lZJnTFbtvxkDOkM">Lutoslawski</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0qEO82Hj3SvjoNyEfKpRku">Penderecki</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7xkiLJgEoKMVDgTh0s2Mqu">Henze</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:7A29QKpDvdkEuTM6vcY17z">Schnittke</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5p6TCmGe9IygOnvamIaZpA">Takemitsu</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0x18ovS0dAzgGlZOWuc52W">Richard Rodney Bennett</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0LOMMah2zqiiGZ7pfPiXYT">Colin Matthews</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:2mNCjLMJzdNmVVoCZnTxYC">Mark-Anthony Turnage</a>. Baillie was a member of the now-defunct chamber orchestra Fires of London and is a member of the Villiers Piano Quartet. He has recorded for a variety of labels, including Naxos, ASV, Nimbus, Lyrita, Regent, Unicorn-Kanchana, and Cala Records.

Alexander Baillie was born in Stockport, England, on January 6, 1956. As a late bloomer he quickly advanced and enrolled at London's Royal College of Music when he was 16. His teachers there included <a href="spotify:artist:1699gDv0hxpN6FNoEkPOcj">Joan Dickson</a> and Anna Shuttleworth. From 1975-1978, he studied at Vienna's Hochschule für Musik with <a href="spotify:artist:3gRhPRzqUOuQAei7DMGJIC">André Navarra</a>, and later teachers included <a href="spotify:artist:50hiYMhi0g77BOkkQ4zebB">Mstislav Rostropovich</a> and the cellist who first inspired him to take up his instrument, <a href="spotify:artist:5VRErWhTZd0si1lqt1DwoW">Jacqueline du Pré</a>.

Baillie's debut recital was in prestigious quarters, London's Wigmore Hall, in 1978. Three years later he gave an acclaimed account of <a href="spotify:artist:3A5qNDgaeTFBD5pDxSvlJ0">Dutilleux</a>'s Tout un monde lointain, with the <a href="spotify:artist:23BiSNXm5UaRFuusoWisYO">BBC Symphony Orchestra</a>, under <a href="spotify:artist:5jKPZpM5NojkLVEXxxWZwG">Mark Elder</a>, as his orchestral debut.

In 1982 Baillie took second prize in the Bavarian Radio ARD competition in Munich. By the mid-'80s, he was an international figure, regularly appearing with major orchestras and in recitals, often paired up with pianists <a href="spotify:artist:1x1BXaOZgIvaHnafQhuPYB">Piers Lane</a>, Kathron Sturrock, and (later) James Lisney. Among his earliest recordings was a CD of cello sonatas (with <a href="spotify:artist:1x1BXaOZgIvaHnafQhuPYB">Lane</a> on piano) by <a href="spotify:artist:4kHtgiRnpmFIV5Tm4BIs8l">Prokofiev</a> (Op. 119) and <a href="spotify:artist:6s1pCNXcbdtQJlsnM1hRIA">Shostakovich</a> (Op. 40) on the Unicorn-Kanchana label.

Baillie joined the faculties of two prestigious music schools: the RCM (1994) and the Bremen-based Hochschule für Künste (1995). Throughout the 1990s and early years of the new century he has continued to regularly concertize, often as a member of the Villiers Piano Quartet. Among Baillie's newer recordings is the ambitious 2008 Regent CD set of the complete Beethoven Works for Cello and Piano with pianist James Lisney.