Cellist Richard Harwood Steps Down from London's Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

The English cellist has held the principal cellist post since 2018

44-year-old English cellist Richard Harwood has announced that he will step down from his role as Principal Cello of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). He was first appointed to the position in 2018.

A graduate of the Vienna University of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied with Heinrich Schiff and Ralph Kirshbaum, Harwood has performed extensively as both soloist and chamber musician — and served as a member of the Sitkovetsky Trio from 2014 to 2016.

As a soloist, Harwood has appeared with conductors including Mark Wigglesworth, Case Scaglione, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Michele Mariotti, John Wilson, Okko Kamu, Marko Letonja, Douglas Bostock, En Shao, Shuntaro Sato, and Yehudi Menuhin — and with numerous orchestras including The Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, Bournemouth Symphony, RTÉ National Symphony, RTÉ Concert, Auckland Philharmonia and the Ural Philharmonic.

Harwood made his radio debut at just 13 years of age when he was heard on BBC Radio 3 as the soloist in Elgar's Cello Concerto. He is now regularly heard on that same station and has also received airtime on radio networks including Classic FM, Radio France, MDR, RTÉ and Radio New Zealand.

A champion of contemporary music, Harwood has premiered solo works by Dominic Muldowney, Martin Butler, Christopher Gunning, Alex Heffes, Fernando Velázquez, and Benjamin Wallfisch. He also gave the European premiere of David Horne's Zip, with the composer at the piano. Harwood is a close collaborator of Judith Weir and regularly performs her work Unlocked for solo cello.