Royal Academy of Music announces Guy Johnston as Professor of Cello

Johnston will return to the Academy as a professor of cello from September 2025

Cellist Guy Johnston previously served as a professor at London's Royal Academy of Music in 2011 and then acted as a visiting professor. His appointment follows the announcement of several new artists joining the String Department, including violinists Hilary Hahn as a visiting professor and Sini Simonen, who joined the Academy this term as a professor of violin.

"I’m so happy to be returning to teach at the Royal Academy of Music. Having started out as a professor at the Academy in 2011, then visiting professor, and more recently living in the States and teaching at the Eastman School of Music from 2018-2024, it gives me great pleasure to be returning here full circle in 2025," Johnston said. "I’m greatly looking forward to picking up from where I left off with the next generation of young, aspiring cellists at the Academy!"

Johnston's early awards and honors include winning the BBC Young Musician of the Year, the Shell London Symphony Orchestra Gerald MacDonald Award, the Suggia Gift Award, and a Young British Classical Performer Brit Award.

As an educator, he was an Associate Professor of Cello at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, from 2018-2024. He was recently appointed President of the European String Teachers Association and is a patron of several charities that promote music education including Music First and Future Talent. He is also a board member of the Pierre Fournier Award for young cellists.

He has performed with many leading international orchestras including the London Philharmonic, NHK Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony, Deutsches Symphonie- Orchester Berlin, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and St Petersburg Symphony.

With a passion for chamber music, he is the founding Artistic Director of the Hatfield House Music Festival. For new music, he gave the premiere of Charlotte Bray’s ‘Falling in the Fire’ at the BBC Proms and Joseph Phibbs' ‘Cello Sonata’ at Wigmore Hall.

His 2024/2025 season will see the world premiere of Joseph Phibbs’ Cello Concerto for Guy and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

A Larsen Strings Artist, Guy Johnston plays the 1692 Antonio Stradivari cello known as the “Segelman, ex Hart” kindly loaned to him through the Beare’s International Violin Society by a generous patron.

"I am really looking forward to welcoming Guy Johnston back to the Academy next September," said Head of Strings Graham Mitchell. "His rich experience as a leading cellist will no doubt be hugely valuable to our students. Alongside the exceptional staff and new appointments of Hilary Hahn and Sini Simonen, Guy will provide transformative musical experiences for Academy musicians in this role."

(PC: Frances Marshall)