Biography

I started taking violin lessons aged seven at my local primary school, having been inspired by watching the older pupils in previous years play in school concerts. My parents had originally wanted me to play the piano, but I was firmly set on the violin. I fell in love with the violin pretty quickly, greatly helped by my teacher Jayne Lodge. She cultivated my love for music and without a doubt played a huge part in my wanting to become a musician at an early age.

When I was 11, I joined the junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. It was incredibly exciting to be surrounded by so many budding musicians and peers who felt similarly about music as I did. This was my first real opportunity to play in a variety of ensembles and orchestras and I realised how much fun it was to make music with other people. I also started playing the viola during this time, mostly in my school’s orchestras, which was a great way to get used to playing on a bigger instrument and reading a different clef.

It was only in my second year of my undergraduate degree at the Royal College of Music that I started to take the viola more seriously and to receive formal lessons. My first piece that I played was Stamitz’s Viola Concerto, which I found really fun and cheerful during quite a difficult time of trying to navigate studying during a pandemic. It was with this piece and Penderecki’s Cadenza that I won RCM’s Viola Prize 2021, which gave me a huge boost in confidence that playing the viola was something I could pursue long-term.

I was fortunate enough to be able to study at the Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna as part of the Turing scheme. Studying in Vienna felt like a dream come true in many ways; I very much appreciated the change in language and pace from London, as well as the stunning architecture and the friends that I made. This prompted my applications for Masters abroad and I ended up studying at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater, Hamburg, which became another beautiful city to explore.

I have also been working more recently with the charity Raised by Music, whose mission is to improve access to high-quality music education for families from underrepresented backgrounds. It has been a joy to work with the children on this programme and to see first-hand the difference that music education has on all aspects of their lives.

In my free time, I have gotten extremely nerdy about bread baking, which brings me a lot of happiness and my loved ones a surplus of free loaves. I also really enjoy learning languages – I have German and Russian under my belt and am hoping to get Polish and Bengali to some sort of conversational level in the near future!

I am incredibly excited to start my year at Sinfonia Smith Square and cannot wait to start making music with my fellow musicians!