CHRISTIAN GARRICK – violin, darbuka
MURRAY GRAINGER – accordion
KELLY CANTLON – double bass
ADRIAN ZOLOTUHIN – guitar, saz, balalaika, domra
In 2009 Christian Garrick established the refreshingly unconventional and snappily attired Budapest Café Orchestra with the intention to present a broad range of music from all over the world in the most entertaining and fun way. BCO perform all their music from memory. Combined their trademark wit and charm, audiences are left tingling with warmth, delight and amazement.
BCO are one of the very busiest acoustic groups for me today playing an average of 75 shows per annum. Since their inception they have recorded one album every year and in January 2025 made their 16th waxing Goulash Supernova. BCO are frequent guests to BBC Radio 3’s In Tune.
Each member of the orchestra is a freelance musician in their own right. Adrian teaches school-age musicians of all standards and is curator of the fabled Imperial Balalaika Orchestra of Overton. Christian is a professor of jazz violin at Guildhall School of Music, Royal Academy of Music, and Royal College of Music in London. Murray is one of UK’s most in-demand accordionistas often working with Opera North and The Haar. Kelly is a veteran bassist who was once a Vagabond of Northern Soul icons Jimmy James & The Vagabonds.
From a musical family with jazz and classical learnings Christian Garrick is musical director of BCO and his influences run far and wide. He first discovered Hungarian and Romanian folk and gypsy music listening to Sandor Lakatos and Taraf du Haidouks. Christian’s arrangements for BCO of Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky and Greig - the so called ‘squeezebox concertos’ - are rooted in BCO folklore. His arrangements of traditional Gaelic tuneson the album The Gaelic Chronicles was met with critical acclaim with the likes of Cerys Matthews and Mark Radcliffe both championing the disc on
their respective radio shows. Christian is influenced by a range of fiddlers from Grappelli to Stuff Smith to Indian virtuosos L Shankar and L Subramaniam. Nigel Kennedy, a sometimes collaborator with Christian on stage, described him as “one of my favourite violinists”. Christian’s own unique hybrid playing style, sheer emotional passion and extraordinary improvisational abilities thrills audiences everywhere.
Christian Garrick studied at London's Royal Academy of Music between 1989 and 1994 gaining first-class honours in his performers' degree and winning the DipRAM in his post-graduate year. Among the many influential resident and visiting staff at the RAM were Hugh Fraser, Martin Speake, Nick Ingham, Steve Coleman, Jack De Johnette, Chucho Valdez, Arturo Sandoval, Gary Peacock and Kenny Wheeler. Christian was subsequently made an Associate of the Royal Academy.
He has worked with artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Nigel Kennedy, Julian Joseph, Bireli Lagrene, Dolly Parton, All About Eve, Van Morrison, Luka Bloom, Martin Taylor, Bryan Ferry, the Danish Radio Band & Caro Emerald. He has made tours of the Far East and Australia with guitarist John Etheridge in a tribute to Stephane Grappelli and in 2001 he toured Israel with Dame Cleo Laine and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.
He performed twice for the late Princess Diana. In a separate royal event he played for the Queen, Queen Mother and relations at Buckingham Palace for Prince Charles' 50th birthday celebrations. On receiving a solo fiddle rendition of Happy Birthday Prince Charles asked Christian to rewrite ‘that horrible old tune’, a request Christian met some twenty years later much to the Royal heir’s pleasure.
"Not so much a band name as a whole genre of its own, Budapest Café Orchestra embraces an encyclopaedia of music and
mischief." SCOTSMAN
“Your music is really great.” Helena Bonham Carter
"Their arrangements are brilliant, their improvisations inspired. Their humour and, on occasion, sheer silliness hides a real brilliance of execution. In every bit of the material the charming irony hides really serious and focussed music-making. This is entertainment of a high order." Sir Roger Norrington
“The music is magic in their hands.” Sean Rafferty BBC Radio 3
“Absolutely acoustically electrifying!” Time Out
