Mitchell, Graham

Double bassist from Scotland who began playing at fifteen years of age and attended the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he studied under Duncan McTier.

In 1998, he won the Edinburgh International Double Bass Competition and the Scottish Bass Trust International Competition, became a Professor of Double Bass at the Royal Academy of Music, and joined the Philharmonia Orchestra of London.

Other groups with whom he has worked include the Andrusier Ensemble, the Angel Piano Trio, the Benyounes Quartet, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Callino Quartet, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the Composers Ensemble, the English National Opera, Ensemble 360, The Fibonacci Sequence, Florestan, the Gould Piano Trio, the Hebrides Ensemble, the Leopold String Trio, the London Bridge Ensemble, the London Chamber Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, the Nash Ensemble, the Northern Sinfonia, the Oare String Orchestra, the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sacconi Quartet, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Takacs Quartet, the Turner Ensemble, and the Welsh National Opera.

The Andrusier Ensemble premiered Hans Rott’s “Dachs Study in D major” in London, England, on 21^st May 2002.

On 8^th August 2004, the Gould Piano Trio, along with Graham and other guest artists, performed Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Septet, Op. 20” at the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival in St. Andrew’s Church, Northumberland.

Graham, pianist Paul Lewis and the Leopold Trio performed Franz Schubert’s “Trout” quintet at the Chipping Campden music festival in June 2005. In 2006, they immortalized it on CD. Other recordings on which Graham appears include The Choirboys and Mats Lidstrom: Suite Tintin.

On 4^th October 2007, Graham and a handful of other instrumentalists participated in the IMS (International Musicians Seminar) Prussia Cove at the University of Cambridge. Their program included Schubert’s “Octet” and Albert Roussel’s “Duo for Bassoon and Double Bass”, which Graham performed with Ursula Leveaux.

The Scottish Chamber Orchestra appeared at Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh on 17^th November 2007 in an eclectic concert that opened with “Music for the Theatre” by Aaron Copland and included two premieres, “Oxymoron” by Erkki-Sven Tuur and “A Prayer out of Stillness” by Mark-Anthony Turnage.

In January 2008, Graham was one of several musicians who descended upon The 9^th Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival to perform the aforementioned “Trout” and Richard Strauss’s “Metamorphosen”.

The “Trout” has become quite a fixture in his repertoire. He and the Kungsbacka Piano Trio and violist Lawrence Power interpreted the work at Wigmore Hall on 8^thNovember 2008.

In August 2009, he took part in the Kungsbacka Chamber Music Festival and the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival.

He and pianist Faith Leadbetter united for a good cause on 28^th November 2009 at Wolverton Manor, raising consciousness and funds for leukemia research.

The London Bridge Ensemble delivered a private performance of Gabriel Faure’s “La Bonne Chanson” and “Piano Quintet No. 2 in C minor, Op. 115” in Central London on 31^st March 2010. They were in the recording studio just a few days later recording Faure’s music for Sonimage Classics.

The Sacconi Quartet was on hand, along with the Heath Quartet, to perform the string section of Dmitri Shostakovich’s “Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Trumpet” at Wigmore Hall as part of the Young Concert Artists Trust’s 25^th Anniversary Gala on 24^th April 2010.

On 14^th June 2010, the “Trout” reared its head again at West Road Concert Hall in Cambridge, in order to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. The evening also featured Graham performing the very low bits of Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048”.

Graham participated in the North York Chamber Music Festival again at All Saints’ Church in Hawsker, Yorkshire, in August 2010. The program comprised Beethoven’s “Septet in E flat major, Op. 20” and Maurice Ravel’s “Introduction and Allegro”.

On 5^th February 2011, Graham and Piers Lane, Tasmin Little, Joan Enric Luna, David Le Page and Paul Watkins performed the “Trout” at Kings Place in Kings Cross, London.

He was the special guest of Ensemble 360 on 31^st March 2011 when they entertained at Crucible Studio with selections from Johannes Brahms’ “Hungarian Dances”.

The Sacconi Quartet appeared at the Sacconi Festival on 8^th May 2011 for Schubert Sunday. This time, the menu did not include the “Trout”, but his “Octet”, “String Quartet in C minor D703” (“Quartett-Satz”) and “String Quartet in D minor, D810” (“Death and the Maiden”).

The “Trout” would get another airing on 20^th May 2011, at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, this time with pianist Imogen Cooper and the Takacs Quartet, and on 2^nd July 2011 at the Mill Hill Music Festival, with members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Graham spent part of August 2011 as an instructor at the Dartington International Music Festival, where he also gave a recital of Richard Strauss’s “Prelude to Capriccio” and John Woolrich’s “Capriccio” with the Benyounes and Callino Quartets.

Here are The Choirboys and Hayley Westenra singing “Do You Hear What I Hear” from The Choirboys which Graham performs on…

Sources:

Mitchell, Graham

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