Biography

I came to the violin and music relatively late; it was only in Year 4 in primary school that I first picked up a violin, and only then because my friend started first! I soon fell in love, and began singing lessons around the same time too. After five years of secondary school, where I didn’t study music on the curriculum, I was awarded a place at the Purcell School for sixth form, supported by the Music and Dance Scheme. It was here that I could fully immerse myself in all things music. Particular highlights include performing at the Royal Festival Hall with the school orchestra, and singing in the chorus (and once, as the male lead!) in school operas.

To continue my studies, I moved to Birmingham in 2017 to focus on violin performance at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. It was there that I formed the Saorsa Quartet with my friends, and played all sorts of music from Haydn and Mozart, to 20th-century Arab music and collaborations with composers. I also discovered a passion for historical performance, and was a member of Ensemble la Notte, recording an album and performing live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune programme.

I graduated from my Bachelors at the end of the pandemic with honours and a First Class, and continued my Masters at RBC, studying on the Orchestral Performance course. This allowed me to play alongside, and study with, the CBSO. A lot of my orchestral craft I learnt sitting alongside my mentors in the section, and it’s still one of the highlights of my degree that I performed with the orchestra in concert.

After graduating with distinction in 2023, I had the wonderful opportunity to study in Budapest at the Liszt Academy of Music (Liszt Ferenc Zeneakadémia Egyetem), generously enabled by the Joseph Weingarten Memorial Trust. Moving to such a beautiful city and studying somewhere so prestigious was definitely a little daunting at first, but I fully welcomed the new setting, and throwing myself into lots of chamber music and solo projects. I soon learnt how to survive an orchestral rehearsal taken fully in Hungarian! I still vividly remember my final orchestral concert at the Academy, performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Gábor Takács-Nagy and broadcast on national television for its 200th anniversary. It was slightly ironic that my final orchestral concert living in the EU was its anthem!

Outside of playing the violin, I enjoy composing and arranging other pieces of music. I think it’s important to not be restricted to just your instrument, and that being a well-rounded musician is more important than being only an instrumentalist.

To unwind, I enjoy almost anything culinary-related—both cooking and eating—and getting out in nature. A beach, a mountain, some countryside, anything to keep me feeling grounded when life gets busy.