Mats Lidström
Cello
MATS LIDSTRÖM, cello
CelloLid.com & matslidstrom.com
Professor at the Royal Academy of Music
and solo cellist with the Oxford Philharmonic&Soloists
CV
As an international soloist and chamber musician, Mats Lidström has gained a reputation for performances of great insight and virtuosity. Born in Stockholm, Sweden, currently living in London, Mats combines performing with teaching and composing.
EDUCATION
Mats studied with Ms.Maja Vogl at the Gothenburg (Göteborg) Conservatoire for six years before continuing with Leonard Rose for four years at the Juilliard School of Performing Arts (1977-81). Chamber music coaching with Claus Adam, founder-member of the Juilliard String Quartet ( and a student of Emmanuel Feuermann ), Alexander Schneider (violinist with the legendary Budapest String Quartet), Misha Schneider ( student of Julius Klengel ), Joseph Fuchs and William Lincer ( principal violist of the New York Philharmonic under Toscanini and Bernstein for 29 years ).
Additional cello coaching with Pierre Fournier, Janos Starker and Lynn Harrell. Also coaching in renaissance music with Suzanne Bloch, daughter of composer Ernest Bloch.
CURRENT INSTRUMENT Mats plays the ‘Grützmacher Rocca (Joseph Antonius Rocca 1857)
TEACHING Appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1993 (Honorary Associate in 1998),Mats Lidstrom has given masterclasses at conservatories in San Francisco, Cleveland and Oberlin, as well as in Australia, Brazil, Colombia, Portugal, Spain, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, the UK and Sweden. Prior to the Royal Academy, he taught at the Gothenburg University, Sweden.
Mats is the founder of the annual summer course EXPANSION for cellists, which aims to be less of the standard ‘masterclass’ and more about providing the students with technical fundament needed for expressing musical ideas. Hence the motto: ‘Imagination promises musical expression, but a solid technique delivers it’.
SOLOIST WITH ORCHESTRA
As a soloist he has performed and recorded with some of the world’s leading orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche S.O.Berlin, Czech Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony, with conductors such as André Previn, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Andrew Litton, Maxim Shostakovitch, Leif Segerstam and Marios Papadopoulos.
CHAMBER MUSIC
As a chamber musician, Mats has performed in many of the major halls, including Alice Tully Hall and The Y (New York City), Théâtre du Châtelet and Cité de la Musique (Paris), Musikverein (Vienna), Gulbenkian (Lisbon) , Berwald Hall in Stockholm, the University Hall ( hall of the Nobel Peace Prize) in Oslo, and the Barbican-, Wigmore-, Queen Elizabeth- and Royal Festival Halls of London.
RECORDING ARTIST
His research of the neglected but beautiful repertoire for his instrument, has resulted in several highly acclaimed and award-winning CD’s (including ‘Record of the Month’ and Record of the Week by the BBC Music Mag. and The Guardian, the French Diapason d’Or for the research of the music by Charles Koecholin). He appears as soloist and chamber musician on EMI, Deutsche Grammophone, Decca, BIS, Hyperion, Musica Sveciae, Opus 3, Caprice Records, as well as on his own label CelloLid.com.
TV and RADIO
Several appearances on TV and radio throughout Europe, Japan, S America and the U.S (including guest-appearances on Andy Warhol’s TV show Interiors), at present four times a guest on Radio 3’s In Tune ).
FESTIVALS
Festivals include Aspen, Kingston, Pensacola (USA), Cello Encounter (Rio de Janeiro) and festivals in Holland, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Denmark, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.
ORCHESTRAL BACKGROUND
Mats has worked as Principal Cellist with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Swedish Opera and the Norrköping S O (Sweden). In addition he has worked as guest-principal with the London Symphony Orchestra, The Philharmonia, Britten Sinfonia and St. Martin’s-in-the-fields of London, The Scottish BBC and Royal Scottish National Orchestras,The Royal Concertgebouw, Los Angeles and Oslo Philharmonic orchestras, Bergen Philharmonie, Bournemouth- and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestras, and the major symphony orchestras of Sweden. Mats is currently the solo cellist of Oxford Philomusica, a shared position with fellow cellist Peter Adams.
Mats is a coach for the London Schools Symphony Orchestra, also appearing with them as their soloist at The Barbican in 2013 and 2014.