Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 4 days ago
Premiered 22 June 2026, Bled Festival Hall, Bled, Slovenia
Full concert available here: youtube.com/watch?v=fXmsbJsW2kQ
Axelle Bruyne, violin
Yauheni Skrypnikau, viola
Jacob Tesarczyk, cello
Ethan Blackburn, piano
Fuundraising page for the Christian Elliott Legacy project: gofundme.com/f/christian-elliott-legacy-project-a-posthumous-recording
Photo and biographical information courtesy of Christian's website, where you can read more and listen to his playing: christianelliottmusician.com
Christian Elliott (1984-2025) was a Canadian cellist, composer, and arranger. A soloist with orchestras across the UK and cellist of the acclaimed Zehetmair Quartet, Christian was a champion of contemporary music and of engagement with local communities, giving concerts and workshops in schools, hospitals, care homes, meditation centers, and food banks. He passed away tragically in April 2025 after a battle with the illness ME/CFS.
I met Christian in the summer of 2024 as part of the Cumnock Tryst composers’ workshop in Scotland, when he played in the ensemble that premiered my Highlandscapes for contrabass clarinet and string trio – my first work to fully explore silence and space both musically and notationally. Christian not only made a deep impression on me with the intrepidness, delicacy and sensitivity of his playing, but also with his kindness and generosity of spirit, both in rehearsals and in our many hours of late-night conversations.
This work is a brief tribute to Christian’s memory – containing not only echoes of pain and loss, but a distant warmth that remains when I remember getting to know him. I am deeply grateful to every performer of the premiere for taking up such a personally meaningful and interpretationally challenging work on limited rehearsal time.
The Christian Elliott Legacy is a project to release an album of Christian’s compositions and arrangements; you can support it at the link above. Any excess proceeds will go to a charity dedicated to ME/CFS research chosen by Christian’s parents.
Premiered 22 June 2026, Bled Festival Hall, Bled, Slovenia
Full concert available here: youtube.com/watch?v=fXmsbJsW2kQ
Axelle Bruyne, violin
Yauheni Skrypnikau, viola
Jacob Tesarczyk, cello
Ethan Blackburn, piano
Fuundraising page for the Christian Elliott Legacy project: gofundme.com/f/christian-elliott-legacy-project-a-posthumous-recording
Photo and biographical information courtesy of Christian's website, where you can read more and listen to his playing: christianelliottmusician.com
Christian Elliott (1984-2025) was a Canadian cellist, composer, and arranger. A soloist with orchestras across the UK and cellist of the acclaimed Zehetmair Quartet, Christian was a champion of contemporary music and of engagement with local communities, giving concerts and workshops in schools, hospitals, care homes, meditation centers, and food banks. He passed away tragically in April 2025 after a battle with the illness ME/CFS.
I met Christian in the summer of 2024 as part of the Cumnock Tryst composers’ workshop in Scotland, when he played in the ensemble that premiered my Highlandscapes for contrabass clarinet and string trio – my first work to fully explore silence and space both musically and notationally. Christian not only made a deep impression on me with the intrepidness, delicacy and sensitivity of his playing, but also with his kindness and generosity of spirit, both in rehearsals and in our many hours of late-night conversations.
This work is a brief tribute to Christian’s memory – containing not only echoes of pain and loss, but a distant warmth that remains when I remember getting to know him. I am deeply grateful to every performer of the premiere for taking up such a personally meaningful and interpretationally challenging work on limited rehearsal time.
The Christian Elliott Legacy is a project to release an album of Christian’s compositions and arrangements; you can support it at the link above. Any excess proceeds will go to a charity dedicated to ME/CFS research chosen by Christian’s parents.
