After graduating from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama Christopher Allan joined the acclaimed contemporary group, ”the gogmagogs”.

He plays with the Britten Sinfonia, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Aurora and the Scottish Ensemble and is co-principal cello with the Orchestra of the Swan.

Christopher is an active chamber musician, performing with the Le Page Ensemble, the Fibonacci sequence and Sound Collective amongst others.

He was solo cellist with the Mike Westbrooke company and has collaborated with numerous creators, including John Tavener, Max Richter, Django Bates, Stephen Warbeck, Errollyn Wallen and Paul Clark.

His interest in contemporary and cross arts work has lead to associations with an array of different projects and artists, from Gare St Lazare’s “Here All Night” (an exploration of music in the work of Samuel Beckett, to the Clod Ensemble, Hofesh Shechter, Chroma, Opera North, Goldfrapp, Mumford and Sons, Opus 20, Cellorhythmics, Sabreen, Sachal Studios, Quincy Jones and Guy Barker.

Christopher has curated many concerts, often in collaboration with actors, and founded “Music on the Pond”, a series of intimate concerts above his local corner shop. He has arranged for Hofesh Shechter, Mumford and Sons and the Almeida Theatre.

He has also played for many theatre productions (RSC, the National Theatre and the Globe), and has made a number of recordings, including Hans Gal’s Sinfonia Concertante with Kenneth Woods (solo cello), Philip Glass’s “In The Penal Colony“ with Music Theatre Wales, and Bach’s “Goldberg Variations” with the Le Page Ensemble.

Christopher plays a William Forster cello built in London in 1800.

Adrian was a scholar of Churchill College, Cambridge (in Veterinary Science and Music) and then the Royal Academy of Music.

After further study in Berlin he developed an international career in chamber music as the cellist in Composers Ensemble (winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Chamber Award, 2002), Jane’s Minstrels, Trio Gemelli, Touchwood Piano Quartet and Chamber Domaine, giving countless world premieres of solos and chamber works by composers including Thomas Adès, Guy Barker, Judith Bingham, Tansy Davies, Dai Fujikura, James MacMillan, Robert Saxton, Naresh Sohal, Hugh Wood and John Woolrich.

A regular guest principal player with most of the major British orchestras, he is also Cello Tutor to the National Youth Orchestra.

His research into ensemble synchronisation, with Professor Alan Wing, is published by the Royal Society, and his discography includes the complete operatic fantasies of 19th-century cello virtuoso Alfredo Piatti (with Oliver Davies on Meridian) and ‘The Pre-Raphaelite Cello’ (with Andrew West on Somm).

Ian Burdge graduated from the University of Surrey, where he studied with Alexander Baillie and was awarded the Robert Naylor Memorial Prize, as well as spending a year at the University of North Texas, learning with Carter Enyeart of the Philadelphia Quartet.

After graduating he co-founded the string session group, Millennia Ensemble, and spent his early years in London as a member of the band Drugstore, resident musician for Corali Dance Co, alongside performing in acclaimed musical theatre productions, including touring on Beauty and the Beast and Miss Saigon.

Ian has been a long term member Max Richter Ensemble, the Nitin Sawhney band and  performed live with a range of renowned ensembles including the Jules Buckley Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, LSO and LCO, The Heritage Orchestra, New Blood Orchestra with Peter Gabriel. Tours include Rosas Dance Co with the Duke Quartet, Jocelyn Pook, Natasha Atlas Mazeeka ensemble, Hans Zimmer, John Metcalfe as well as live shows for Stevie Wonder, U2, The Who, amongst others. Ian enjoys collaborating and writing orchestrations for artists such as Jasdeep Singh Degun, Doves, Garou and Elbow and has arranged and played live music for Harris Reed’s shows, opening London Fashion Week in 2024 & 2025.

He now works predominantly as a session cellist on film soundtracks as well as pop, television, film and video games. He has featured on numerous studio recordings such as Radiohead, Kylie, Florence and the Machine and Paul McCartney. Recent films include Wonka, No Time To Die, Batman, Andor, How To Train Your Dragon , David Attenborough: Ocean and Pedro Almadovar’s Room Next Door.

He is a frequent chamber musician with various groups and has been instrumental in playing and organising regular chamber concerts in the Goodness Brewery & other London venues.

Ian plays on an English Cello by John Betts c1790

Cellist Ben Rogerson is a member of the BBC Concert Orchestra and the London Mozart Players.

He spent the Noughties with the Irish Chamber Orchestra giving concerts with artists such as Maxim Vengerov, Anthony Marwood and Nigel Kennedy in venues ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York to the Forbidden Palace in Beijing, and the Community Centre on Inis Boffin.

His life with the BBCCO involves a more eclectic range of music making, from classical and pop concerts, to recording music for TV, film, radio and CD. Earth Wind and Fire, Kylie Minogue, and Dame Edna Everidge are amongst the artists they have worked with recently, and the orchestra is resident for Radio 3’s flagship show ”Friday Night is Music Night”.

Ben loves appearing as a guest with the Academy of St. Martin-in the-Fields, Britten Sinfonia and the English Chamber Orchestra and gives chamber music concerts with the Minerva Ensemble and Ferrer Quartet.

Solo projects have included Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No1 with Richard Hickox, and Haydn’s C Major Concerto under the baton of David Watkin, both at the Endellion Festival in Cornwall.

Ben studied at the Royal Academy of Music where his cello teacher was Derek Simpson of the Aeolian Quartet, and at SUNY Purchase, USA, with Julia Lichten of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

For several years Ben coached the cello section of the National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, a role he has also fulfilled for the National Youth Orchestras of Wales, and of Great Britain, and the Royal Academy of Music. He teaches the cello at Tonbridge School and the Royal Grammar School in Guidlford.