ANNOUNCEMENTS
The paperback edition of Cello is now available. Order here on Amazon.
My co-founded Guerrero Baroque Collective is the UK’s newest period instrument ensemble. Bringing together instrumentalists from top London groups and international singers in different formations, it explores under-performed repertoire alongside better-known favourites.
Upcoming!
2025
6 December. Debut performance of my co-founded Guerrero Baroque Collective at St James Church, London.
8 November. Another BBC 3 Radio Record Review broadcast, playing from my choices of Sinfonia of London, The Hallé and super-cellist Gautier Capucon. Listen here. Available until 1 December.
21 October. First podcast for new show, History F***’s Sake. Episode 1: And the Band Didn’t Play On. Available on many platforms.
15 October, 5pm, Goldsmiths, London. Free event. I’ll be joining the brilliant Eleanor Chan for Music, life-writing and how to write about what you can’t hear. More info here.
12 October, Sunday, 19.30. The rerelease of my BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature, ‘The Cello and the Nightingale’. Tune in here.
25 September. A performance based on my book Cello called ‘Through Silence to Sound’ for New Paths Music Festival. This performance is a love song to the cello – weaving together spoken word, live music and accompanying images. More info here.
10 September. Listen to my radio interview on Cello and new projects on Selina MacKenzie’s The Lifestyles Show on TRE.
7 September. At the BBC Proms on Radio 3 (at 1:00:35) with Ian Skelly looking ahead at the final week of the Proms at the Royal Albert Hall.
4 September. Durlston Country Park, Swanage. Event ‘Love of the Cello’ for Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival. More here.
19 August. Edinburgh Book Festival. My talk The Sound of Four Strings will be based on my recent book Cello. More here.
25 June. Podcast for BYU Radio’s Constant Wonder on the cello beehive and my recent book Cello. Listen here.
22 May. Hay Festival. Wales. An evening of storytelling and a performance with Cara Berridge to celebrate my book Cello. Book here.
18 May. Sacconi Chamber Music Festival. Folkstone, Kent. A performance with Cara Berridge to celebrate my book Cello. Great concessions available. Book here.
25 April. ‘Pauline Viardot: An Audience in your hand.’ Oxford Song Festival. More here.
30 March. A performance to celebrate my book Cello for Oxford Literary Festival. I am joined by cellist Cara Berridge and composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad. Directed by Jess Clough-McRae from an idea devised by Tom Morris (War Horse). More information here.
27 March. Tan Twan Eng joins me at the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing for an evening of literary insight, discussing ‘The House of Doors’ and the craft of historical fiction. More information here.
22 March. At minute 1405, I explore exciting new releases with Andrew McGregor on BBC Radio 3 for Record Review. Listen here.
20 March. Podcast on my book Cello for Biographers in Conversation. Listen here.
29 January. My book and its discoveries is filmed for International Holocaust Remembrance Day 2025 at the European Parliament. Various videos can be found on my page here, including my finding of Pál Hermann’s cello and my meeting with the EU President, Roberta Metsola.
17 January, BBC Radio 3. Five Cellos: Lost and Found. A five-part series for The Essay.
15 January. Podcast for NPR Network Radio where my book Cello was chosen for Book of the Day. Available to listen both on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
2024
14-18 October, BBC Radio 3. Healing Musicians: a five-part series for The Essay, talking to five musicians about injury and overcoming it.
9 October. Watch the ITV News report on how Holocaust survivor was reunited with her father’s cello at the Wigmore performance as part of the book launch. Pál Hermann, a renowned composer, was sent to a death camp in 1944 and murdered by Nazis. His lost cello, believed gone forever, has resurfaced. You can also find The Telegraph feature here.
29 September, Wigmore Hall, London. A world premiere of Frances-Hoad’s cello suite, including Bach, spoken-word and visuals. Directed by Tom Morris and featuring Natalie Clein. Full recording is available to watch here.
7-8 September, Haddenham Library, Buckinghamshire. Life-writing workshop, and talk on Cello – A Journey Through Silence to Sound.
3 July, Proms, BBC Radio 3. Holst and Elgar. Talking with Martin Handley about Holst’s life, music, and The Cloud Messenger, receiving its Proms debut.
19 June, Holywell Music Rooms, Oxford. In Conversation with Sir Stephen Hough.
19 May, BBC Radio 3, Sunday Feature. Playing with nightingales in a Sussex wood! Exploring the story of the first BBC outside broadcast, cellist Beatrice Harrison, who duetted with nightingales live on radio in 1924, and changed the history of broadcasting.
15 May, BBC Radio 4, Front Row. Talking about Beatrice Harrison, the cello and the nightingale.
9 May, Surrey Hills International Music Festival. In conversation with Huw Watkins on his premiere and the festival programme.
23 April, Wolfson College, Oxford. Unheard Music. Performing with musician Matthew Sheeran and luthier Robert Brewer Young.
24 March, Musical Bloomsbury lecture at Christchurch College, Oxford. As part of the series Bloomsbury and the Art of Being Modern, Buy Special Interest Event 2024, Bloomsbury and the Art of Being Modern Tickets online – Christ Church (digitickets.co.uk).
23 January, Wolfson College, Oxford. Watch here. In Conversation with pianist Imogen Cooper on the art of performance.
2019
22 May | 6:30 pm
Fletcher Challenge Theatre
Simon Fraser University, Harbour Centre
The Fateful Voyage
Graduate Liberal Studies is hosting a talk and excerpted performance of The Fateful Voyage, written by BBC broadcaster and Director of the Oxford Centre for Life Writing, Kate Kennedy. Kennedy will be joined in the performance by pianist and Director of the Southbank Sinfonia, Simon Over, and world-renowned London tenor, James Oxley. Sponsored by the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Fellowship in the Humanities and Graduate Liberal Studies with thanks to the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at SFU. Read more…
27 March 2019 Talk on Walton for the LPO, Royal Festival Hall
18 January In conversation with Sir Mark Elder, Saffron Hall
25 January chairing discussion with Sir Thomas Allen, Wolfson College, Oxford
5 February 5:30pm chairing lecture by Nicola Lefanu, Wolfson College, Oxford
12 February 5:30pm chairing lecture by Errolyn Wallen, Wolfson College, Oxford
13 February 12:15pm In conversation with composer Edmund Finnis, Wigmore Hall
27 March 12:15pm In conversation, Britten Sinfonia, Wigmore Hall
27 March 6:30pm lecture on William Walton, London Philharmonic Orchestra, QEH, Southbank Centre
24 April 10-4 chairing Venus Unwrapped: A day focussed on female composers, King’s Place
9 May 6:30 lecture on AE Housman’s poetry, Glasgow City Halls
9 May 7:30 co-presenting BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra concert featuring Butterworth, BBC Radio 3
20 – 23 May The Fateful Voyage on tour, Vancouver
7 – 23 June Aldeburgh Festival details forthcoming
2018
6 December 6:45pm lecture with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City Halls, Glasgow ‘Britten in Exile’
24 November 10 – 4pm Writing Your Life day seminar, Wolfson College Oxford
21 November 1pm In Conversation with composer Luke Styles, Wigmore Hall
11 November 6:45pm Sunday Feature: In Ruhleben Camp, broadcast BBC Radio 3
10 November 11am Lecture on Britten’s War Requiem, The Red House, Aldeburgh
10 November 6:30pm Lecture on Music’s War Poets, Saffron Hall
10 November 7:30pm The Last Letter, Britten Sinfonia, Saffron Hall
9 November 7:30pm The Last Letter, Britten Sinfonia, Milton Court, Barbican Centre
9 November 7:30pm The Fateful Voyage, Clipston, Northamptonshire
8 November 6:30pm Lecture on Music’s War Poets, St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich
8 November 7:30pm The Last Letter, Britten Sinfonia, St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich
3 November 2 – 4pm Lecturing on Ivor Gurney and Wilfred Owen, Literature Cambridge
2 November 6:30pm Performing A Terrible Beauty (poetry and music recital with tenor Robert Murray), King’s College Chapel
1 November 7:30 Sounds of Suffrage (narrator, with Berkeley Ensemble), Senate House, London
31 October 7:30 Armistice Concert, Parliament Choir, Southbank Sinfonia, Central Hall, Palace of Westminster
26-28 October Beyond Wilfred Owen conference, Wolfson College, Oxford
8 October 7:30pm Lecture and book signing, Words and Music of World War One, with Sebastian Foulks, Cheltenham Literary Festival
8 October Music Matters broadcast on Hubert Parry with Tom Service, BBC Radio 3
7 October 6:45pm Sunday Feature on Hubert Parry, broadcast BBC Radio 3
15 September 2pm Lecture on Ivor Gurney, Gloucester Cathedral
8 September 9am Elgar with Andrew McGregor, broadcast BBC Radio 3
12 August 5:30 Proms Plus discussion with AC Grayling on Vaughan Williams
12 August 7:30 BBC World Service with Georgia Mann, presenting BBC Symphony Orchestra with Edward Gardner Prom
2017
27 October LPO talk on Shostakovich’s Leningrad Symphony, Royal Festival Hall
Dr Kate Kennedy 