Since studying at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music with John White, Martin Outram has enjoyed a wide-ranging career as quartet player, soloist and teacher. In addition to his busy career with the awardwinning Maggini Quartet, he appears frequently as a soloist. His repertoire embraces the major works for viola, but also includes rarely heard pieces, particularly by British composers. Several works have been written for him, notably concertos by Adam Gorb and David Gow. His solo appearances have included concertos in London, Liverpool and major festivals throughout Britain. Having given the broadcast première of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s Strathclyde Concerto No. 5 in 1995, he gave the first concert performance of Britten’s Portrait No. 2 at St John’s, Smith Square, London, a year later and went on to tour the work in Russia. In addition, he was the soloist in the first European performance for 75 years of York Bowen’s Viola Concerto. His solo performances with the Britten Sinfonia have included Britten’s Lachrymae in Belgium, many performances of Ulysses Awakes by John Woolrich and a British tour featuring the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Tasmin Little. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he has been a professor since 1984, and is also an Honorary Fellow of Canterbury Christ Church University and Brunel University. Martin Outram plays on a very fine viola made by Hieronymus Amati in 1628.
