Eve Kennedy began playing the violin at seven years old and was awarded the Ernest Boden Erskine Orr scholarship to study at the Junior Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS). Eve continued her studies at the RCS, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in 2013. In 2014, Eve was awarded a scholarship from the Sir James Caird Trust which has enabled her to pursue her studies with renowned violinist and teacher Simon Fischer.
Eve has led the RCS Symphony Orchestra, the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland (NYOS), NYOS Futures Orchestra and Camerata Scotland, as well as participating in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme in 2014 and 2015. Eve has toured Europe with both the Wiener Jeunesse Orchester and l’Orchestre Français des Jeunes and in 2012, was made an Orchestral Fellow of the Texas Music Festival Orchestra. Other orchestral projects include apprenticeship work with the orchestra of Scottish Opera, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and London Sinfonietta. Most recently, Eve was invited to Amiens in northern France to work with professional chamber orchestra, l’Orchestre de Picardie.
Eve is an experienced chamber musician, performing extensively throughout Scotland as a founding member of the Astrid String Quartet. The ensemble were recipients of the 2012 Mable Glover String Quartet Prize and in 2013, gave a number of concert performances in Saudi Arabia. The quartet gave their Usher Hall debut in September 2013 in association with Live Music Now.
Eve has enjoyed playing alongside well-known musicians from both the classical and pop music spheres such as Nicola Benedetti, Michael Bublé, Ben Folds and Rod Stewart.
Eve plays a French violin made in 1891 by Paul Bailly.
What is your most embarrassing or amusing musical moment?
When I was about nine years old, I was performing in the local music festival in my hometown. I played my piece, thanked my accompanist and bowed to the audience. I started to descend the stairs, but they slid away from under me and I fell right off the stage, flinging my arms up in the air so that I wouldn’t fall on my violin! All the parents watching the competition gasped and I was so mortified.
Tell us something about yourself that might surprise us
I used to do figure-skating. Not to a competitive level or anything, but I did really enjoy it.
What do you love about classical music?
I love how a single piece of music contains a whole society and history of the time in which it was written and how that can be brought into the present day by playing the piece. Two hundred years ago, composers felt the same emotions that we do and music still communicates these same emotional messages. I love the way that you can experience music: paintings or sculptures must be admired from a distance and there is only ever one of each, but as a musician, you can explore a piece in all its dimensions, interpreting the same work in different ways and recreating the masterpiece.