FLORENCE COOKE

violinist

Florence Cooke (violin) is internationally recognised as a chamber musician and soloist, and has performed

extensively in Europe, the US, Canada, China, South America and Australia.  She is the winner of many prizes and awards, including the Myra Hess award, Nigel Brown Prize, Razumovsky Trust award, Leverhulme Fellowship, and awards from the Countess of Munster Trust and Musicians Benevolent Fund, and she graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with the highest honours.  Her main teachers were Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno.  A recent review in the Observer described her playing as ‘taut, precise and atmospheric.. appeared flawless’.

An avid chamber musician, Florence has performed wiht the Aronowitz and Razumovsky Ensembles, the Jigsaw Players and Chroma Ensemble, and is a member of Ensemble Cymru.  Appearances at international festivals include Sommerklaenge Festival Zürich, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele in Germany, Wye Valley Festival, IMS Prussia Cove, Haaglanden International Festival in Holland, Kerry International Festival in Ireland, Domaine Forget and Banff Summer Festivals in Canada, “Etchings” contemporary music festival in France, and Obertoene Festival Austria.  She has collaborated with international artists such as the Maggini and Endellion Quartets,  Christoph Richter, Hariolf Schlichtig, and Isabelle Faust.  She also founded and directed a chamber music festival in France for three years. 

Florence playes regularly with Aurora Orchestra, including leading and principal work, and has played as principal with the Northern Sinfonia, Britten Sinfoia and European Camerata.  She led the Theseus Ensemble, Orchestra of St Pauls and the LPO ‘Future Firsts‘ concert, and plays with Arcangelo and Spira Mirabilis.  She is a guest teacher of violin and chamber music at the Yehudi Menuhin School and the Junior Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

“boldly projected playing” - the strad

“impressive reading” - the times