Florence Cooke - violin

Florence Cooke studied at the Purcell School and at Cambridge University, and currently holds a Fellowship at the Guildhall School of Music. She has given numerous solo and chamber music concerts in Europe, the USA, Canada and Israel; highlights of the past year include a performance in the 'Composers' Portraits' series at the Proms, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, quartet concerts in the Barbican and LSO St. Luke's and leading the LPO 'Future Firsts' concert of contemporary music in the Royal Festival Hall. She has participated in masterclasses with Gerhard Schulz, Andras Keller, the late Lorand Fenyves, Zvi Zeitlin, Howard Davis, and the Endellion Quartet, and has given several live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Radio Cambridge.

Florence is a keen chamber musician, and for the past two years she has participated in the masterclasses and Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove. She has performed in the Paxos International Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Summer Festival in Canada and the Wye Valley Festival, as well as touring to Sweden with the Capriccio Piano Quartet. She is currently a member of the Chagall Quartet, which this summer was one of the resident ensembles at the Festival Alchimie Sonore in Rimini, Italy. Over the next year the quartet will return to Italy for several further concerts, as well as touring to China and recording a CD with Enarmonica. Florence was recently invited to perform with the Razumovsky Ensemble for a series of concerts in France. Since 2002 she has also participated in several tours with the European Union Chamber Orchestra in the UK, Europe and South America.

Florence is the recipient of numerous awards including the Myra Hess Award (2005), English Speaking Union Scholarship (2006), Countess of Munster Scholarships (2004 and 2005), Razumovsky Trust Award (2006) and Nigel Brown Prize (2003). Her main teachers have been Krzysztof Smietana and currently David Takeno.

September 2006