Laura Rickard

Acclaimed British violinist Laura Rickard is crafting a multifaceted international career as a highly sought-after chamber musician and soloist, festival director, and passionate teacher. In demand as a concerto soloist, she regularly appears with orchestras across the UK, with recent performances at Royal Festival Hall and the Purcell Room. She has been featured on BBC Radio 3, Classic FM, and NBC, and was also recently elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in recognition of her remarkable contributions to the field.

As a founding member of the Mila Piano Trio, Laura has performed on many of the world’s renowned stages. Recent successes include winning first prize at Verao Classico, debuts at St Martin-in-the-Fields and St. John's Smith Square, and appearing at many of the UK's leading festivals. As a chamber musician and orchestral principal, Laura is regularly invited to play at festivals including Winchester, Montesinho (Portugal), San Miguel de Allende (Mexico), Atlantic (USA) and Presteigne.

A keen proponent of contemporary music, Laura has commissioned and premiered works by some of the leading composers of her generation. Recent premieres include Robert Peate’s Concerto for Violin and Double Orchestra and Cydonie Banting’s Alpha for solo violin.

Laura is the founder and Artistic Director of the Romsey Chamber Music Festival, one of the UK’s leading festivals of its kind, which brings world-class artists to her hometown each Spring, featuring an imaginatively curated and diverse programme of chamber music. Praised by Classical Source as "a little gem" and by Seen and Heard International as "remarkable", the festival’s activities continue throughout the year. It has an ambitious education programme which has reached over 3000 children in Hampshire which covers first access in primary schools, coaching young musicians, side-by-side projects and masterclasses. Other activities include regular residencies and concerts, and commissions of new works by composers. "The atmosphere of camaraderie and joie de vivre has characterized the festival since its inception in 2018" - The Hampshire Chronicle. For more information about RCMF please visit www.romseychambermusic.com

Laura studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, where her teachers included Erich Gruenberg, Remus Azoitei, Alex Redington. Her studies were generously funded by the Academy and the Craxton Memorial Trust, she was awarded a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and the Doris Faulkner Prize for her studentship. She was then appointed as Meaker Fellow in Violin and now continues teaching violin and chamber music at the Academy and King’s College London.