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The Classical Circuit
6. Jamie Walton: building trust with an audience, the art of programming, and what he gained from stepping back from his solo career
Ep. 6
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Jamie Walton is a cellist, cultural entrepreneur, and Artistic Director of the North York Moors Chamber Music Festival and Ayriel Studios. As a soloist, he has appeared and recorded with the UK’s finest orchestras, including recording three concerti with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and no less than ten concerti with the Philharmonia Orchestra (including the Dvorak and Schumann concerti under Vladimir Ashkenazy). Turning his focus to chamber music, he launched his festival in 2009, which has sold to capacity audiences ever since and was shortlisted twice for a Royal Philharmonic Society award. It was also one of the only organisations that went ahead as planned during the Covid pandemic (in both 2020 and 2021), adapting quickly to house concerts in a five thousand square foot acoustically-adapted marquee.
Jamie was also the Patron and lead campaigner for Cedar’s Hall, a brand new concert hall at Wells Cathedral School, which he helped officially open in 2016. And, more recently, he initiated the building of a new state-of-the-art recording studio in the heart of the North York Moors - Ayriel Studios - which opened in 2022.
In this episode, Jamie talks about what drives him and his creative process, the parallels he finds between music and food, why he doesn’t miss the conventional concert circuit and why he’s so passionate about showing young musicians a world outside of the conservatoire bubble.
This episode was recorded in August 2023.
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This podcast is also available to listen to via The Violin Channel
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Music: François Couperin - Le Tic-Toc-Choc ou Les Maillotins
Performed by Daniel Lebhardt
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The Classical Circuit is made by Ella Lee (producer by trade, pianist at heart).
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