Cellist and viol player Jonathan Manson was born in Edinburgh and received his formative training at the International Cello Centre in the Scottish Borders, later going on to study at the Eastman School of Music in New York. A growing fascination for early music led him to Holland, where he studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken. For ten years he was the principal cellist of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, with whom he performed and recorded more than 150 Bach cantatas and, together with Yo-Yo Ma, Vivaldi’s Concerto for two cellos. Jonathan is now principal cellist of Dunedin Consort and and often appears in this role with other leading early music groups. As a concerto soloist, he has appeared at the Wigmore Hall, the Carnegie Hall and the South Bank Centre.
Jonathan is also a founding member of the viol consort Phantasm, which has toured worldwide and won three Gramophone Awards, and the cellist of the London Haydn Quartet, whose latest recording, of Haydn’s Op. 64 quartets, has just been released on the Hyperion label. A long-standing partnership with the harpsichordist Trevor Pinnock has led to critically acclaimed recordings of the Bach sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord, amongst many others. Jonathan is a professor for baroque cello and viola da gamba at the Royal Academy of Music.
Jonathan Manson is one of Europe’s leading performers on both cello and viola da gamba. Born in Edinburgh to a musical family, he received his formative training at the International Cello Centre under the direction of Jane Cowan, later going on to study with Steven Doane and Christel Thielmann at the Eastman School of Music in New York. A growing fascination for early music led him to Holland, where he studied viola da gamba with Wieland Kuijken at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.
Thomas Hobbs Scroll to top 
