Cellist Lionel Handy specializes in the music of his native Britain, including newly commissioned works. He is also an important educator whose students have often gone on to international-level careers. Handy attended the Royal Academy of Music in London on a scholarship. While there, he won all of the school's prizes for cello and chamber music, including the Principal's Prize and the Moir Carnegie Recital Diploma Prize. He went on to win first prize in the Muriel Taylor Scholarship Fund Competition, judged the year he entered by Jacqueline du Pré, and he earned several other scholarships that enabled him to pursue further studies with cellists Pierre Fournier and János Starker. In 1982, Handy joined the faculty of the Royal Academy of Music; as of the early 2020s, he was still active there and also served as a cello tutor at the Birmingham Conservatoire. For ten years, Handy was the principal cellist of the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, touring widely with the group in Europe and the U.S. He went on to a position as solo cellist with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, performing a range of concertos from those of C.P.E. Bach to modern works. Handy made his recording debut in 2009 on the Cadenza/Zebralution label with an album of cello music by Messiaen, Martinu, Elliott Carter, and Joe Cutler (Music for Parakeets). He has served as guest principal cellist with many of Britain's leading orchestras and has served as artist-in-residence with the Nova Foresta Classical Players. An enthusiastic chamber music player, he is a member of the London Music Phoenix Ensemble and Trio Eluard, performing often in festivals around continental Europe as well as Britain. Handy has focused on British repertory from the 20th century to the present and has commissioned nine new works for the cello. In addition to Cadenza/Zebralution, he has recorded for the Sleeveless label and, since 2016, for Lyrita Records. On that label, in 2019 and 2023, he issued two volumes of British music for cello and piano. ~ James Manheim, Rovi