Laura Rickard
Artistic Director and Violin
British violinist Laura Rickard studied at St John’s College, Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music and now enjoys an active performing career as a soloist and chamber musician. She has recently performed concertos by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Elgar, and Sibelius and she gave her international debut with the Michoacan State Symphony Orchestra. Recent highlights include performing as a soloist at Royal Festival Hall, the Purcell Room and giving the world premiere of Robert Peate’s Concerto for Violin and Double Orchestra in 2018. As a founding member of the Mila Piano Trio, Laura has performed at major venues around the UK and further afield. Recent successes include winning first prize at Verao Classico, reaching the finals of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields competition and performing at St. John’s Smith Square. In demand as a chamber musician and orchestral principal, Laura is regularly invited to play at festivals including Buxton, Winchester, Montesinho, San Miguel de Allende, Atlantic (USA) and Islington.
Laura has a keen interest in historical performance, she studied baroque violin with Nicolette Moonen and she regularly performed with the Academy Baroque Soloists, including on a tour with the Juilliard School and Rachel Podger. More recently Laura has toured Europe and Asia with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. ​
Laura completed her Professional Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in 2020 which was generously funded by the Academy and the Craxton Memorial Trust and was was awarded a DipRAM for an outstanding final recital and the Doris Faulkner Prize. She is currently the Meaker Fellow in Violin at the Academy and a violin teacher at King's College London.
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Laura grew up in Romsey and attended Romsey Abbey Primary School, she led Hampshire County Youth Orchestra and was on the Hampshire Specialist Music Course at Peter Symonds, so is proud to be Artistic Director and founder of the Romsey Chamber Music Festival.
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