Peter Dixon, who was born in 1962 and studied at the Royal Academy of Music with David Strange, made his Purcell Room debut in 1981. He held the post of Associate Principal of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1986 until 1990 when he joined the BBC Philharmonic as Principal Cello. In 1991 he made his debut as soloist at the Royal Festival Hall in Walton’s Cello Concerto.

For BBC Radio 3 he recorded James MacMillan’s Cello Concerto, a piece he also performed with the BBC Philharmonic at the Royal Northern College of Music in March 2002, both performances conducted by the composer. He was the soloist in a live broadcast of Elgar’s Cello Concerto on BBC Radio 3 from City Hall, Sheffield, and also performed the concerto in Bahrain with the BBC Philharmonic. He gave notable performances of Bach’s six cello suites at Chester Cathedral. In October 2003 he was invited to Japan to give the world premiere of Yoshimatsu’s Cello Concerto, written specially for him, with the Kansai Philharmonic Orchestra of Osaka and the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra of Tokyo conducted by Sachio Fujioka.

Peter Dixon is a regular adjudicator of BBC’s Young Musician of the Year and a coach for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain.