Music has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up in a small but very musical town in the south of England, and my family have always been involved in community music-making.
When I was a baby my mum ran a music group for toddlers and their parents, of which I was an extremely active and disruptive participant. When my older brother reluctantly began having piano lessons, I couldn’t stand to be left behind, and against her better judgement my mum agreed to let her strong-willed four year old have lessons as well. Two years later, my primary school offered a free trial of Suzuki violin lessons. My dad, who often suffers from tinnitus, struggled with the high-pitched E string of the violin so you can imagine his relief when at the age of 11 my ears and heart were taken by the deeper, more mellow sound of the viola.
I first picked up a viola in my youth orchestra, where all violinists were encouraged to give it a go. I fell in love straight away - not only with the sound but also with sitting right in the belly of the orchestra, where you could hear all the different voices around you.
I decided not to go straight to music college at the age of 18 and instead studied music at the University of Oxford. My degree completely changed the way I thought about music. The subject was much broader than my world of music-making had ever been, from medieval motets to global hip hop, psychology of musical experience to sociological/psychological angles. It made me appreciate how powerful music is in so many different areas of life, as well as reaffirming in me that this was the career I wanted. I continued to study viola with Robert Turrell alongside my degree.
I then had two amazing years at the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Jon Thorne. There I found three incredibly talented and inspiring women with which to form the Bloomsbury Quartet. This group combines my two loves of chamber music and community outreach, as we are currently the Wigmore Learning/Open Academy fellowship ensemble.
When I’m not making music, I love to unwind with cooking at the end of a long day. I recently learnt how to make fresh pasta on holiday in Italy, which was delicious.
Royal Academy of Music
London, UK
University of Oxford
Oxford, UK
What’s on your playlist right now?
I could listen to Norah Jones for hours on end
If you could reinvent the way we experience classical music, what would you change?
I love to attend concerts where the audience is free to experience it in a truly comfortable way - for example performing in spaces where people can eat/drink and lie down or walk around.