Rebecca Welham

Rebecca is a former pupil of Chetham’s School of Music and the Purcell School. She was a scholar at the Royal College of Music, where she studied cello with Leonid Gorokhov, graduating in 2003. Rebecca has performed extensively across East Anglia, including solo recitals at the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, The Fisher Theatre, Bungay and many churches. She has performed concerti by Elgar, Saint-Saens and Haydn, Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations & Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. She is honoured to have a cello concerto written especially for her, by Suffolk composer Peter Creswell. She has also performed the Capuzzi Concerto on Double Bass. In May 2020 she performed the Lalo Cello Concerto live from her living room on You Tube, raising over £1,000 for the NHS. She recently performed the Dvorak Cello Concerto with St. Botolph’s Orchestra, Colchester. As a composer, Rebecca has written many songs, ensemble works, pieces for cello and piano and also delights in writing and performing her own poetry. Her aim is to break down the barriers which sometimes make classical music unapproachable, and infuse a sense of wonder and fun. Since the pandemic, she has had more time to focus on composing, and has found great inspiration in bird song and the music of nature. Her recent ‘Song of the Wood Pigeon’ was featured on BBC’s Look East, and BBC Radio Suffolk produced a film of her playing the piece in her local meadow to promote Suffolk Day. Michaela Strachan of BBC Springwatch described the piece as ‘absolutely beautiful’. Another recent composition for cello and piano was her ‘Prayer’, dedicated to the people of Ukraine. This was also featured on BBC Radio Suffolk. The piece evokes sentiments of stillness, desperation, and tenderness, mixed with hope in a God who cares, and walks with us through suffering and grief. Rebecca teaches the cello in two local schools, and has a busy home teaching practice. Rebecca plays regularly in her local church with husband, Simon. She is commited to using her music to glorify God, opening hearts and minds up to His beauty and love.