Photo: Wolf James

Gregor Riddell plays the cello and writes music.

He has been a member of the Solstice Quartet, Living Room in London, KGB, Tre Voci and Odysseus Piano Trio with whom he performed and toured across Europe at venues and festivals including the Wigmore Hall, Union Chapel, Southbank Centre, Edinburgh Festival, Musikverein (Vienna), Musée d'Orsay (Paris), among others.

Alongside his own projects, he’s written music for Galya Bisengalieva, Duo TÖ, the BEAST (Birmingham University), Asamisimasa and Cikada. Having written for the London Contemporary Orchestra, Gregor is also a principle player and has collaborated with artists including Radiohead, Hildur Guðnadóttir, Sarah Davachi, Actress and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch.

In 2022, he arranged a solo modular synthesizer work by Qasim Naqvi for string ensemble, piano and dancers premiered at Podium Festival followed by a Cikada Ensemble performance at Ultima Festival in September.

He is a member of duo project Tlön with violinist/composer Sara Övinge and will release their debut album 'Reality' on Jazzland Records in early 2025. They will perform a 19 piece string orchestral arrangement of the record with DNK at Ultima Festival in September 2025.

Following the release of debut album UNDA (2019) and reworks (2021) on Focused Silence, duo project BirdWorld made their Edinburgh Fringe debut in August 2024 and will release of their second album ‘Nurture’ on Norwegian label Dugnad in spring 2025.

In April 2024, alongside Shana Mathai, he co-hosted a Gaza relief concert at Victoria National Jazzscene where all ticket proceeds went towards Norwegian charity Redd Barn that supports vulnerable children in the region. Performing with Shana, Bugge Wesseltoft, Sanyu and Javid Afsari Rad, the concert also featured renowned Oslo-based artists Ibou Cissokho, Harpreet Bansal, Trio Djup and Pål Hausken.

He co-runs an Oslo-based online platform with Torkjell Hovland called SVS broadcasting adventurous music from the Nordics. 

He recently set up a versatile Oslo-based session orchestra called OBO which will perform their debut concert with Sigur Rós at Oslo Spektrum on 28th November 2024.

Gregor will write the music for a new clown theatre project based on trolls with Anne Marie Synstad Simonsen, Cecily Audrey Nash and Marie Kallevik Straume which will premiere in 2025.

Gregor was born in London, studied music at Cambridge University and composition at the Royal College of Music. He works mostly between Norway and the UK and lives with his family in Oslo.

© 2024 Gregor Riddell