Garfield’s earliest lessons were with Beryl Morreau, she had been a viola student of Lionel Tertis and a founder member of the McNaughten String Quartet between the wars. Under her guidance Garfield made rapid progress and after eighteen months was accepted as a pupil at the then recently formed Yehudi Menuhin School. His memories of Mrs Morreau were of happy musical times, and he particularly remembers playing violin-viola duets with her and the sound of her wonderful old viola.
A scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music enabled him to study viola with Peter Schidlof and Stephen Shingles.
In 1978 he became a founding member of the Endellion String Quartet and remained with them for 42 years. The quartet toured extensively worldwide and recorded for EMI, Virgin Classics, and Warner Classics. The recording of their complete Beethoven cycle (including the viola quintets) was met with high acclaim. For over 28 years they were quartet in residence at Cambridge University where they coached chamber music as well as giving regular performances. During this time, they were presented the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award.
Garfield has also performed chamber music with many established international groups, including the Amadeus, Chillingirian, Skampa and Kuss Quartets, and the Nash Ensemble. Since 1979 he has regularly attended Open Chamber Music at Prussia Cove including concerts with Sandor Vegh, Andras Schiff and Ferenc Rados. He has enjoyed collaborating with many international artists including Atar Arad, Bruno Guirana, Thomas Riebl, Tabea Zimmerman, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell, Norbert Brainin, Sir Stephen Hough, and Steven Isserlis.
As a soloist, Garfield has performed at the Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Barbican Centre, and has also broadcast several times for the BBC.
Garfield has held teaching positions at Cambridge University, Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal Northern College of Music and Chamber Studio. He has has also held visiting teaching positions at the Yehudi Menuhin School, Yale and Bloomington in the USA, and music academies in Hong Kong and Singapore.