Timothy Ridout

Described by The Guardian as a “rare kind of musician who could play a cardboard box and make it sing”, Timothy Ridout is internationally recognised for his distinctive musicality and compelling artistry.

Ridout appears regularly with leading orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, hr-Sinfonieorchester, Dresden Philharmonie, Philharmonia Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Orchestre de Paris, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. He collaborates with distinguished conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Sakari Oramo, Sir András Schiff, Sir Mark Elder, Hannu Lintu, Andrew Manze, Jonathan Darlington, Martyn Brabbins, Donald Runnicles, Sylvain Cambreling and Kazuki Yamada.

Concerto highlights of his 2026/27 season include Vaughan Williams’ Suite with Royal Scottish National Orchestra and Thomas Søndergård, Bacewicz’s Viola Concerto with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra and Norrlandsoperan Symphony Orchestra, Mozart Clarinet concerto with Symphoniker Hamburg, Hillborg’s Viola Concerto with Tapiola Sinfonietta, Kurtág’s Movement with Gulbenkian Orchestra, and Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Other concerto performances feature Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside Janine Jansen with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under Ryan Bancroft and Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under Michael Sanderling.

A passionate advocate of contemporary repertoire, Ridout gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Viola Concerto Hold Your Heart in Your Teeth with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati at the Berlin Philharmonie in 2024 and gave country premieres in Switzerland and the Netherlands last season. He has appeared twice at the BBC Proms together with BBC Symphony Orchestra and with Ensemble Resonanz.

This season he directs performances from the viola with Munich Chamber Orchestra at Wigmore Hall, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Kremerata Baltica and Manchester Camerata. As Artist in Residence with the De Valette Chamber Orchestra, he leads programmes in Valletta and Brussels.

A highly respected chamber musician, Ridout performs in major venues including Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Vienna’s Musikverein, Seoul Arts Center and New York’s Alice Tully Hall. He appears regularly at major international festivals such as Verbier, Salzburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Rheingau, Kissinger Sommer, Solsberg, Klosters, Evian, Beethoven Easter Festival and La Jolla. Forthcoming collaborations include projects with Benjamin Grosvenor, Kian Soltani, Hyeyoon Park, Federico Colli, Frank Dupree, Lucie Horsch, Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky and Janine Jansen.

As an Associate Artist at Wigmore Hall, Ridout appears this season with Sol Gabetta, Hana Chang, Jonathan Ware, the Doric String Quartet, Adam Walker and Anneleen Lenaerts, and curates a day-long celebration of the viola showcasing the instrument’s remarkable versatility and breadth of repertoire. As a Junge Wilde artist at Dortmund’s Konzerthaus, he presents a solo recital, while further engagements include tours with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and appearances at the Kaohsiung Festival in Taiwan, Viola Space in Japan and the Z+ Festival in Shanghai.

A recording artist of exceptional versatility, Ridout records exclusively for Harmonia Mundi. His latest album Alto Appassionato, recorded with pianist Jonathan Ware, explores the rich world of twentieth-century French music. Ridout received the BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Award (2026) and the Opus Klassik Young Instrumentalist of the Year Award (2025) for his solo album featuring works by Telemann, Bach, Britten and Caroline Shaw. In 2024 he released an album which paid tribute to the great violist Lionel Tertis. In 2023, he won a Gramophone Award for his recording of Elgar’s Cello Concerto, arranged for viola by Lionel Tertis, with BBC Symphony Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins. His extensive catalogue also includes recordings of works by Prokofiev, Britten, Schumann, Vaughan Williams, Hindemith and Martinů, in collaboration with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, and pianists Frank Dupree and James Baillieu.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and Kronberg Academy, Ridout is the recipient of numerous international honours, including First Prize at both the Lionel Tertis and Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competitions. A former BBC New Generation Artist and Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellow, he received the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award in 2023 and was the inaugural recipient of the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra’s Sir Jeffrey Tate Prize. He is also an alumnus of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s prestigious Bowers Program.

Timothy Ridout performs on a viola by Peregrino di Zanetto (c.1565-1575), generously loaned by a patron of the Beare’s International Violin Society.