Bartholomew LaFollette has a rich and varied career as an international solo cellist and chamber musician. His debut CD of Brahms’s Sonatas for Cello and Four Serious Songs, with pianist Caroline Palmer, was released to great critical acclaim on the Champs Hill label. He made his BBC Philharmonic debut (on 6 hours notice) with a live radio broadcast of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto.

Born in Philadelphia, Bartholomew LaFollette has lived in Britain since the age of 13. He trained at the Yehudi Menuhin School, and later the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he received two first class degrees. At the age of twenty-six he was appointed Professor of Cello at the Yehudi Menuhin School.

Bartholomew is Artistic Director of the Marryat Players Chamber Music Festival, now in its sixth year, which takes place in Wimbledon Village and welcomes internationally renowned artists.

As a YCAT artist (Young Classical Artists Trust) Bartholomew gave numerous performances at the Wigmore Hall, Barbican Centre, Royal Festival Hall, and Bridgewater halls. He went on to win first prize at The Arts Club's and Decca Records’ inaugural Classical Music Award. Bartholomew was also the first recipient of the Irish Chamber Orchestra's prestigious Ardán Award.

Bartholomew's highlights with orchestra include performances of Dvořák's Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Walton and Elgar Cello Concertos in the Barbican Hall, as well as appearing as soloist with the City of London Sinfonia. He has also performed Brahms’s Double Concerto with Daniel Stabrawa and the Poznań Philharmonic in Poland, Elgar's Cello Concerto at the Sibelius International Music Festival in Helsinki and Shostakovich 1 with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.

In great demand as a chamber musician, he has frequently worked with the award-winning Doric String Quartet with whom he recorded Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s String Sextet for the Chandos label. He also joined the Danish String Quartet on tour across the USA and Canada, as well as the Sitkovetsky Trio on tour throughout Australia and New Zealand. He has been invited to join Anthony Marwood’s Peasmarsh Festival, Lars Vogt’s Spannungen Festival in Heimbach, Benjamin Grosvernor and Hyeyoon Park’s Bromley and Beckenham International Music Festival, Open Chamber Music: Prussia Cove on multiple occasions (including the distinguished OCM Tour) and many others. In these settings he has also collaborated with artists including Steven Isserlis, Christian Tetzlaff, Ferenc Rados, András Keller, Philippe Graffin, Jennifer Stumm, Roman Simovic and Nicola Benedetti amongst others.

A dedicated educator, he has travelled across the world to teach, coach and give cello masterclasses on various courses and festivals including Jennifer Stumm’s ‘Ilumina’ in Brazil, Mark Messenger’s ‘The Thinking Musician’ in Italy, ‘La Mariette’ in France, ‘7 Lagos’ in Argentina as well as giving cello masterclasses at the Royal Northern College of Music in the UK.