Florence Cooke

Florence Cooke, violin

Florence Cooke 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 where she held an academic exhibition, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where she gained a distinction in all three years and held the prestigious Leverhulme Fellowship. She enjoys an active career of chamber music, solo performances, orchestral playing and festivals, and teaches chamber music at the Junior department of the Guildhall.

Florence's main teachers have been Krzysztof Smietana and David Takeno, and she has attended the masterclasses and Open Chamber Music at IMS Prussia Cove since 2005, as well as summer masterclasses in Domaine Forget and Banff, Canada, studying with Andras Keller, Ference Rados and the late Lorand Fenyves.

She is frequently invited to perform at international festivals, including the Haaglanden International Chamber Music Festival in Holland, Kerry International Chamber Music Festival in Ireland, the American East Coast Composers Festival in France, Obertoene Festival Austria, the Wye Valley Festival, the Bedford Chamber Music Festival and the Windrush Festival.

She has perfomed as a guest with the Aronowitz and Razumovsky Ensembles, and the Fidelio Piano Quartet, and is a frequent performer with Ensemble Cymru and the Jigsaw Players. Florence is the artistic director of the Sainte-Mère Festival in the south of France, which took place for the first time in summer 2009.

www.florencecooke.com