Tamsin Waley-Cohen

Tamsin Waley-Cohen (violin)

Angels & Demons

Matteis 

Fantasia in A minor

Tartini / Waley-Cohen

The Devil's Trill Sonata

Paganini

Caprices - selection

Biber

Guardian Angel

Ysaye

Sonata no 4

JS Bach

Partita in E major

British American violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen is known for her visceral and deeply expressive performances in repertoire spanning six centuries. With musical storytelling central to her approach, she has gained a reputation for her “undeniably-fabulous playing” (Classical Source) and poetic performances that go straight to the heart. In addition to concerts with the Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, Hallé, Liverpool Philharmonic, Czech Philharmonic, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony, Manchester Camerata, Royal Northern Sinfonia and BBC orchestras, amongst others, she has twice been associate artist with the Orchestra of the Swan and worked with conductors including Andrew Litton, Vasily Petrenko, Ben Gernon, Ryan Bancroft and the late Tamás Vásáry.

Her duo partners include James Baillieu, Huw Watkins, Cordelia Williams and George Fu. She continues to work with innovating harpsichordist Mahan Esfanhani, performing the complete Mozart Violin Sonatas over the next few seasons. She is delighted to be a Signum Classics Artist, for whom she has recorded over 10 albums to great critical acclaim “her interpretation is technically beyond reproach and musically imaginative” (Gramophone). Future recordings include ‘Lullabies and Dreamscapes’ and the complete Bach Violin & Keyboard sonatas with Cordelia Williams and the Haydn Sonatas with James Baillieu.

Her interest in working with living composers and the music of today has led to premieres of works written for her by composers including Oliver Knussen, Huw Watkins, Dobrinka Tabakova, Richard Causton, Joseph Phibbs, Richard Blackford, and Deborah Pritchard amongst others. Recent projects include premiering new works by Erkki-Sven Tüür, Gavin Higgins, Nick Martin and Freya Waley-Cohen as well as celebrating 40 years of Kurtag’s ‘Kafka Fragments’ with a number of performances with soprano Claire Booth. Forthcoming works include a new jazz violin concerto by Misha Mullov-Abbado at Wigmore Hall and further performances of her sister Freya’s Violin Concerto no 1 “The Dreamer”, premiered this year at Aldeburgh Festival with Kevin-John Edusei and the BBCNOW.
She was the UK recipient of the ECHO Rising Stars Awards, touring all the major concert halls of Europe. She has also toured Japan, China and New Zealand and made her North American New York, San Francisco and Washington debuts. She was a founding member of the Albion string quartet, and appeared regularly with them at venues including Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh Festival, and the Concertgebouw.

She is Artistic Director of the Two Moors Festival and has previously been Artistic Director of the Music Series at the Tricycle Theatre, London, and the Bargello festival in Florence. Her love of chamber music led her to start the Honeymead Festival 20 years ago, from which all proceeds go to support local charities. She studied at the Royal College of Music and her teachers included Itzhak Rashkovsky, Ruggiero Ricci and András Keller.

She writes the Substack “A Musician’s Life”.