Florence Cooke Violin

Florence CookeFlorence Cooke (violin) was born in London in 1982. She has performed in all the major London halls, as well as in Europe, the USA, Canada and Israel, performed at the BBC Proms, and featured live on BBC Radio 3. She studied at Cambridge University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where gained a distinction in all three years at the Guildhall, and held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship.

Recent performance highlights include a 'Composer Portraits' series concert at the Proms broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, quartet concerts in the Barbican and LSO St. Luke's and leading the LPO 'Future Firsts' concert of contemporary music in the Royal Festival Hall. Florence has participated in masterclasses with (among others) Ferenc Rados, Andras Keller, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Gerhard Schulz, the late Lorand Fenyves, the late Howard Davis, and the Heine, Endellion and Takács Quartets.

Florence is a keen chamber musician, and since 2005 she has has participated in the masterclasses and Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove. She has performed at many festivals including the Wye Valley Festival, the Banff Summer Festival in Canada, Haaglanden International Chamber Music Festival, Holland, and Kerry International Chamber Music Festival, Ireland, the Obertoene Festival in Austria, Festival Alchimie Sonore in Rimini, Italy. She has a regular duo partnership with pianist Daniel Tong, and has been a guest performer with the Razumovsky Ensemble and the Fidelio Piano Quartet. She is also a Young Artist of the Razumovsky academy.

Florence teaches Chamber Music at the Junior department of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Florence is the recipient of numerous awards including the Myra Hess Award (2005), Leverhulme Fellowship (2006), Gordon Clark Memorial Scholarhip (2007) English Speaking Union Scholarship (2006), Countess of Munster Scholarships (2004 and 2005), Razumovsky Trust Award (2006-8) and Nigel Brown Prize (2003).

Florence's main teachers have been Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno.