Catherine Rimer

MMus, GRNCM, ARAM

Historical Cello professor

Catherine Rimer is an experienced and versatile cellist and teacher who performs internationally with leading ensembles on both period and modern instruments.

She currently plays principal cello in Sir John Eliot Gardiner's newly-formed Constellation Orchestra which toured Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream & Walpurgisnacht in September 2025, (including a live recording at the Vienna Konzerthaus) and she has been a member of his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique since 1996, playing co-principal cello on numerous 19th Century symphonic, operatic and choral projects. Highlights have included Beethoven symphony cycles in Vienna, Barcelona, Chicago and NYC, operas by Berlioz, Bizet, Chabrier & Debussy in annual residences at Théâtre du Châtelet and Opéra Comique, Paris, 'Brahms Roots and Memories' and 'Schumann Revealed'.

She has also played with the English Baroque Soloists since 2000, as continuo for Bach's John Passion (recorded live for Deutsche Grammophon at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, 2021) Handel's Dixit Dominus and Bach's Cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 (televised from the BBC Proms, and on live web stream from Château de Versailles and Berlin Philharmonie) as well as at the Aldeburgh Festival and in Buckingham Palace. Other memorable occasions as guest principal of E.B.S. include Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Isabelle Faust and Antoine Tamestit (Vienna Musikverein and live recording in St Martin in the Fields), Bach Motets at the BBC Proms and Mozart Requiem at the Alhambra, Spain. She took part in the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage throughout 2000 and in the pre-service Magnificat for the Coronation of King Charles III in 2023.

As a guest principal with Les Siècles and François-Xavier Roth, Catherine played on a live CD of Beethoven's "Symphonie Héroïque" in France and for their 'Quatre Siècles de Ballet' programme (repertoire from Lully, Rameau, Delibes, Massenet, Debussy & Ravel to Stravinsky's Sacre de Printemps) at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie and Köln Philharmonie during 2020. The previous season she joined them in the Paris Philharmonie for a live webcast of Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique and Lélio in 2019 and for a 'Concert Scolaire' featuring Debussy La Mer in 2018.

She accompanied Cecelia Bartoli and ten other opera stars as continuo cello in 'Farinelli & Friends' - a marathon gala performance with Les Musiciens du Prince at the Salzburg Festival 2019. Other continuo invitations have included Monteverdi Vespers with Harry Christophers and The Sixteen, Handel's Acis and Charpentier's Actéon with Christian Curnyn's Early Opera Company (Sicily), Purcell with John Butt & Dunedin Consort (Scotland & Mexico), Handel with Harry Bicket and English Concert (tours of Europe & USA), Charpentier Medée at English National Opera, Nicola Benedetti's Baroque concerto disc 'Italia' with Scottish Chamber Orchestra and various performances and recordings with Avison Ensemble, Classical Opera, Ex Cathedra, Gabrieli Consort, Hanover Band, The King's Consort, and Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Catherine has also been a member of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for 30 years, playing guest principal on occasion, including four new commissions based on Fanny Mendelssohn's Das Jahr (Queen Elizabeth Hall 2025) and for several digital concerts for OAE Player: 'Strings Reunited' (Grieg, Elgar), 'Embers of Romanticism' (chamber arrangements of Wagner and R. Strauss), Schumann Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust at the Royal Festival Hall and Handel's Messiah with Christian Curnyn. Other principal work with O.A.E. includes Haydn Nelson Mass (Pushkin State Museum, Moscow), Beethoven Pastoral Symphony (Adám Fischer, Beethoven Fest, Bonn), Bach St Matthew Passion (John Butt, Valletta Festival Malta), Glyndebourne Opera Cup (Sky Arts), Haydn 'Return of Tobias' (Sir Roger Norrington, Mezzo TV), 'Celebrating the CounterTenor' (Andreas Scholl, European tour), and Handel Belshazzar (Sir Charles Mackerras at the BBC Proms.)

Chamber music has always featured strongly. She toured Europe and the USA as step-in 'cellist with the Skampa Quartet for six months and recorded two discs with the Florin Ensemble, including Mozart Divertimento K. 563 to critical acclaim ('a fine intense performance that bears witness to the mastery of the three players' - Gramophone magazine) as well as commissioning the late Hugh Wood to write a string trio, Itháka which they performed at the Swaledale and Cheltenham Festivals 2016.

Catherine has taught on the Historical Performance Faculty at the Royal College of Music since 2003. She was Cello Professor at 'FEMUSC' Festival of Music in Brazil 2022 and has coached the continuo team for the Britten-Pears Young Artists' Programme, Snape, co-led workshops for the Monteverdi Apprentice Scheme and given masterclasses on solo Bach at the University of North Carolina and at the Eastman School of Music, NY (2025).

She was born and raised on Tyneside and studied the cello with Emma Ferrand at the R.N.C.M., Alexander Baillie at the R.A.M., Steven Doane at the Eastman School, NY and with Steven Isserlis at Prussia Cove, with the aid of numerous scholarships. As an undergraduate she had inspiring chamber music coaching from Eli Goren, William Pleeth and members of the Amadeus, Bartók, Skampa and Smetena Quartets, while as a graduate student in the U.S. she pursued her new interest in performance practice with Paul O'Dette, Christel Thielmann and Malcolm Bilson, winning the Graue Fellowship for her Master's. She was awarded the A.R.A.M in 2009.

Faculties / departments: Historical Performance