Cellorhythmics is the collaborative effort of British cellist James Hessford and Kazakh cellist Alfia Nakipbekova.

James Hesford began performing in his early teens as a blues and soul guitarist, touring the UK and Europe. At the age of 19 he moved from South Yorkshire to London where he established himself as a leading jazz musician. In 1980 he won the Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award with his own Quartet Channel 9 (Pete Jacobson - piano, Steve Shone – bass, Colin Wilkinson – drums) and soon after moved to New York. In the two years that followed he performed all styles of jazz from bebop to free atonal improvisation as well as becoming involved in the loft scene and playing in punk bands. After a period of experimenting with new ideas for the cello James formed Cellorhythmics

Alfia Nakipbekova was born in Central Kazahkstan and studied at the Moscow Conservertoire with Mistislav Rostropovich. She also received masterclasses from Daniel Shafran and in 1980 was awarded the "Special Prize for Outstanding Mastery of the Cello" at the Casals Competition in Budapest. In 1981 she defected to the U.K. where she established herself as a leading soloist and chamber musician. At this time she was also one of the last masterclass students to work with Jaqueline du Pre. She is a member of the Bekova Trio which has won worldwide acclaim for their performances and recordings for Chandos Records. Their recording of Martinu's chamber works was chosen as one of the best CDs of 1998 by the BBC Classical Music Magazine. Their latest recording of music by Charles Ives and Rebecca Clarke was a Gramophone Magazine Critics Choice for the Year 2000. Alfia frequently performs recitals of solo cello works from J S Bach and Paganini to Gubaidullina, Vasks and Hesford and has a keen interest in new music and free improvisation. Her recent "Bach Marathon" series in London, Oxford, Aldeburgh, Melbourne and Brussels received high critical acclaim.

Their latest project is called the Cellorhythmics Acoustic Project. Hesford writes a new composition every month based on found objects. They also add a new musician to the original quartet for each subsequent gig in the twelve-part series. By the last piece and concert they plan to have 16 musicians plus a 25 piece choir

www.cellorhythmics.com