Christopher Jones, freelance teaching staff: violin

Praised as “a voice from another planet” (The Arts Desk, Wigmore Hall, Feb. 2020), Christopher enjoys a varied career as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher.

He was a founding member of the Gildas Quartet, lauded by The Strad for their “exquisite playing”. Over its decade-long history, the quartet has played all over the UK and Europe, and recently toured China and Australia. A keen proponent of the music of living composers, Christopher also often plays with the acclaimed Ligeti Quartet.

Christopher frequently directs the London Musical Arts and London Concertante orchestras from the violin, with whom he has appeared as a soloist for works by Bach, Beethoven, and Vivaldi. Other concerto appearances include performances of the Sibelius, Stravinsky, and Paganini Concertos with the New Bristol Sinfonia and Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra.

Christopher teaches at the University of York and the Sheffield Music Academy, and plays a 1715 Pietro Guarneri of Mantua violin on permanent loan to him from an anonymous patron. He’s thankful for the previous loan of a 1783 Onorato Gragnani violin from the Harrison Frank Foundation.