GABRIEL
FRANCIS-Dehqani
CELLO
Gabriel has performed extensively throughout the UK, Europe and Asia including venues such as Wigmore Hall, The Arnold Schönberg Center, St Martin-in-the Field’s, The Princess Alexandra Hall, Snape Maltings Concert Hall, The Holywell Music Room, The Barbican Hall, The Sage Gateshead, St James’s Piccadilly, Milton Court Concert Hall, The National Gallery, Café OTO and St John Smith’s Square. He has been invited to attend festivals across the UK and Europe such as the International Summer Academy of the MDW in Vienna, Santander Encounter of Music and Academy, the Aldeburgh Festival, Brussels Cello Festival, Schiermonnikoog and IMS Prussia Cove. He has performed recitals, given masterclasses and sat on competition juries across seven cities in China, including recitals at Bechstein Concert Halls in Shanghai and Beijing.
In 2024, Gabriel was awarded First Prize at the Muriel Taylor Cello Competition and the Irish Heritage UK competition, held at Wigmore Hall. He also won First Prize at the 4th Edition of the International Contemporary Music Interpretation Competition (adjudicated by Giovanni Sollima) by the Flavio Vespasiano Foundation and was subsequently invited to perform a recital at the Accademia Filarmonica Romana, including a world premiere of a piece written for him by British composer Deborah Pritchard. Gabriel is a 2024-25 Britten Pears Young Artist. Gabriel has won numerous awards from The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, Help Musicians UK, The Stephen Bell Scheme and the Essex Foundation supporting his studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama with Louise Hopkins, where he is currently on the Artist Diploma course. Gabriel also read Music at Durham University where he performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician, graduating in 2021 with the Eve Myra Kisch Prize for musical excellence. Gabriel has performed masterclasses for renowned performers and pedagogues such as Gary Hoffman, Steve Doane, Frans Helmerson, Guy Johnston, Ilya Poletaev, Alasdair Tait, David Waterman, Christoph Richter, Rebecca Gilliver and Adrian Brendel among others.
Winning the Hall Memorial Prize at the Essex Young Musician Competition and the 2022/23 musician in residence at St James’s Church, Piccadilly, Gabriel has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio 4 numerous times as a soloist (Including solo performances of Kaija Saariaho works and Luigi Dallapiccola’s Ciaccona, Intermezzo e Adagio), chamber musician and with his award winning piano trio – Trio Casella. His piano trio won first prize at the Piano Trio Society’s Intercollegiate competition, the Ivan Sutton and the St James’ Chamber Music Competitions in London. They were also awarded third prize at the 2024 Renzo Giubergia International Competition. As a founding member, Gabriel enjoys work with the Komuna Collective and looks forward to continue bringing lesser known and well loved works into unusual spaces for fresh, eclectic audiences.