Violin: Florence Cooke

Florence Cooke is much in demand as a chamber musician and has performed extensively in the UK and abroad.  She studied at Cambridge University, where she held an academic scholarship, and the Guildhall, where she held the Leverhulme Fellowship. 

She is the winner of many prizes and awards, including the Myra Hess award, Nigel Brown Prize, Razumovsky Trust award and Park Lane Group award.

Florence is a member of the Kreisler String Quartet and Ensemble Cymru, and has performed as a guest artist with the Aronowitz and Razumovsky Ensembles, the Jigsaw Players and Chroma Ensemble.  Appearances at international chamber music festivals include the Wye Valley Festival, Sommerklaenge Festival Zürich, Ludwigsburg Schlossfestspiele in Germany, Haaglanden International Festival in Holland, Kerry International Festival in Ireland, Domaine Forget and Banff Summer Festivals in Canada, “Etchings” contemporary music festival in France, and Obertoene Festival Austria.  She also founded and directed a chamber music festival in France for three years.

In March 2011 she took part in a series of four recitals at Kings Place celebrating the music of Heinz Holliger, which were received to great critical acclaim.  She leads the contemporary music ‘Theseus Ensemble’,  and she has also led the LPO ‘Future Firsts’ in the Royal Festival Hall and played as principal in the European Camarata for a tour of France.  Aside from her performing, she also teaches chamber music at Junior Guildhall.  Florence has received annual invitations to IMS Prussia Cove since 2005, and her main teachers were Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno.

Watch Florence performing with Ensemble Cymru during the 2016-17 Season.