TOBY WHITE & RYAN DRUCKER Cello and Piano

Music about Fairy Tales by Prokofiev, Janacek, Schumann and Bridge

Born in 1993 in Ripon, North Yorkshire, Toby completed his master’s degree with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2017 in the class of Louise Hopkins where he continues to
study on the artist diploma course.

As a chamber musician Toby has participated in many masterclasses with the Belcea, Endellion, Wihan and Chilingirian quartets. Over the past 3 years Toby had been a regular performer at the Mendelssohn on Mull chamber festival most recently performing Schubert string quintet with, amongst others, Levon Chilingirian and Stephen Orton.

In July 2016 Toby made his radio 3 debut performing Anthony Payne’s ‘Out of the depths comes song’ live as part of the pre-concert proms. Other highlights recently include performances of Schumann piano trio no.1 and Elgar piano quintet with Donald and Vivian Weilerstein, a performance of Bach ‘the musical offering’ with Levon Chilingirian and the Chilingirian quartet at King’s Place, performing as part of a workshop playing Mendelssohn octet with Janine Jansen, a performance of Shostakovich Cello concerto no.1 with the St Cecelia orchestra and most recently performing works by Harrison Birtwistle and Thomas Ades as part of the ‘This is Rattle’ concert series 2017.

Praised for his intelligent playing, formidable technique and powerful interpretations, Ryan Drucker is a Belgian-born concert pianist currently based in Manchester. Since performing at the Wigmore Hall at the age of sixteen, Ryan has played in many distinguished venues throughout the UK and abroad in Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain and Switzerland. His performances have also been broadcasted live on BBC Radio 3 and Medici TV. Ryan graduated with an Artist Diploma and MMus with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a first-class BMus (Hons) from the Royal Northern College of Music where he was awarded the Alfred Clay Scholarship for achieving the highest mark in an undergraduate final recital. He won the RNCM Concerto Competition, subsequently playing Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No.1 (Op.23) with the RNCM Symphony Orchestra in the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester. Previous tutors include Ronan O’Hora, Martin Roscoe, Helen Krizos and Seta Tanyel.

​More recently, Ryan performed Prokofiev Piano Concerto No.3 with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall and was a quarterfinalist in the Leeds International Piano Competition. Ryan received first prize in both Brant International Piano Competition and the piano category of the Tunbridge Wells International Young Concert Artists Competition, and was awarded the Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Scholarship and the Carnwath Scholarship. Ryan was also a recipient of the Yehudi Menuhin English Speaking Union Scholarship, enabling him to attend the prestigious Piano Masterclass International Series at Banff Arts Centre in Canada. He has also studied alongside Michel Beroff, Jonathan Biss, Nelson Goerner, Richard Goode, Noriko Ogawa, Murray Perahia, Pascal Rogé and Kathryn Stott.

​Alongside his solo successes, Ryan is an avid chamber musician and in recent years has collaborated with Nicholas Daniel, Philip Higham, Matthew Jones, Alice Neary, Krysia Osostowicz and Rohan de Saram. He is a member of the Jumis Ensemble and has a duo partnership with Akito Goto. He has received coaching from Julius Drake, Ralph Kirshbaum, and from members of the Castallian and Elias string quartets.