Welcome to the Web Page of... Richard Bamping, Cellist Richard Bamping was born in Manchester in 1969. He was educated at Chetham's School of Music where he studied the 'cello with Elizabeth Wilson, taking part in solo concerts, competitions and Masterclasses with many of the world's leading 'cellists including a televised Masterclass with the late Paul Tortelier for the BBC. In 1987 Richard won a Scholarship to study with Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School Of Music in London. Whilst there he gave many solo recitals around Britain and several Concerto performances including Shostakovich Concerto No. 1 with the Oxford Sinfonia, Haydn C Major with the Guildhall Chamber Orchestra and Mozart, Vivaldi and Boccherini concertos at the South Bank Centre with the London Soloists Chamber Orchestra with which he was the Principal 'Cellist for three years. He is an experienced chamber musician having performed most of the standard repertoire with various groups throughout the U.K. and Europe.

As a finalist of the Shell/LSO Competition, Richard was selected to be the Principal 'Cello in the first Pacific Music Festival in Japan which involved working very closely with its two main Conductors - Michael Tilson-Thomas and the late Leonard Bernstein.

In 1991 Richard graduated with Distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and in the same year he won the Guildhall Concerto Competition and the Yehudi Menuhin / English Speaking Union Scholarship to study for six weeks at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts in Canada where he performed to critical acclaim, studying with Aldo Parisot, Steven Isserlis and Janos Starker.

As a result of winning the top award from the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Sydney Perry Scholarship from the Martin Musical Trust, Richard spent 1991/92 studying in Florence, Italy with Amedeo Baldovino, giving recitals in Italy and the U.K.

Richard has an extensive solo repertoire and has performed in China, Canada, Japan, Italy, Greece, Spain, Switzerland, Slovakia, The Czech Republic, France, Germany, Portugal, Macao, Hong Kong, The United States of America and throughout the U.K. He has made television and radio broadcasts for the BBC, NHK (Japanese television), Spanish television, and RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong). He is currently one of the busiest session recording artists in Hong Kong.

Since being appointed Principal 'Cellist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra in 1993, Richard's versatility as a performer has been demonstrated in solo performances with the orchestra ranging from Beethoven to Ligeti. He is also a founding member of the Hong Kong String Quartet which now holds residency at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and RTHK (Radio Television Hong Kong). The group, which is the first professional string quartet in Hong Kong's history, is dedicated to promoting chamber music of all periods - playing in schools and hospitals as well as it's regular appearances in the concert halls of Hong Kong and Macao. The quartet has commissioned and performed many new works by Hong Kong Composers over the last four years.

Richard plays on a Luigi Piatellini 'cello made in Florence in 1790.