Leora Cohen - Royal College of Music - violinist

Dear Mrs Grahame and Members of the Honourable Society of Knights of the Round Table,

I would like to introduce myself and extend my gratitude to you and your society for the generous donation you have made to the Royal College of Music. This prestigious scholarship awarded to me has given me the financial means to study for an artist diploma postgraduate degree in the academic year 2022-2023.

After two fairly abnormal years at the RCM, I am delighted to return for a final year to study with my teacher Prof. Alexander Gilman, who I have studied with for the past year, and also get involved with a number of orchestral and chamber music opportunities which the RCM has to offer. Although my two years of masters were greatly affected by the pandemic, I was lucky to be recognised as an orchestral leader and reliable musician to undertake some of the biggest projects at the College, such as the Symphony Orchestra projects with Sir Antonio Pappano (including Vaughan Williams’s Fifth Symphony) and the opera ‘Flight’ scored for single string parts. Over this past summer, I have experienced the Mozarteum Summer Academy in Salzburg, and six tours with LGT Young Soloists. A particular highlight for me was staying at the Scandinavian Cello School and playing Handel’s Passacaglia (arr. Halvorsen) on the beach in Rødvig, Denmark.

It is exciting to be back in the UK and prepare for my upcoming autumn recital series, more tours with the LGT Young Soloists and leading the Sea Symphony under Adrian Partington in the Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall at the RCM. I am very much looking forward to the variety of projects I will undertake during this upcoming academic year.

Yours sincerely,

Leora

Biography

Leora Cohen is an artist diploma student holding the Knights of the Round Table Award at the Royal College of Music as a violin student of Alexander Gilman. In 2022, Leora graduated with a distinction in the Master of Performance degree at the RCM holding the Robert McFadzean Whyte Award after completing her undergraduate degree in Music at Cambridge University in 2020, where she graduated with first-class honours, scholarships and prizes. Leora made her solo debut at 16, performing Lalo’s Symphony Espagnole at St John’s Smith Square, and has since performed with many ensembles in concert halls and on radio stations world-wide. Just before the pandemic, she performed Beethoven’s Violin Concerto at West Road Concert Hall and competed as a finalist for the Sir Karl Jenkins Music Award. During the pandemic, Leora performed Shostakovich’s first Violin Concerto in masterclass with Michael Vaiman live-streamed on the Violin Channel. She currently performs many recitals nation-wide, often for societies, trusts and as part of distinguished recital-series such as the Yorke Trust, the Tilford Bach Society and Music at Bray. Leora also performs internationally as a soloist in high-profile events, festivals and concerts with LGT Young Soloists.

Leora has played chamber music in masterclasses, on BBC Radio 3, at Kings Place, at the Wigmore Hall and held an Instrumental Award for chamber music at Cambridge University. A prominent concertmaster of her generation, she currently leads many RCM projects, including the Symphony Orchestra, after having led orchestras such as the National Youth Orchestra of GB, the Cambridge University Orchestra and all RCM junior department orchestras. She has led under the baton of many renowned conductors including John Wilson, Sir Mark Elder, Sir Antonio Pappano, Jac van Steen and Thomas Adés at the BBC Proms and has collaborated as concertmaster with soloists such as Tamara Stefanovich, Tom Poster, Sheku Kanneh-Mason and Guy Johnson. Leora has also had experience playing alongside the

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia, BBC Symphony Orchestra, English National Ballet, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Chamber Orchestra of Europe and Chineke!.

Leora plays a c.1720 Turin school violin kindly on loan from the Harrison-Frank Family Foundation, she is an artist for Talent Unlimited and has been supported by Help Musicians UK, The Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Stephen Bell Trust.