13/06/2024
Meet our soloist for our upcoming concert!
Layla Ballard is a cellist based in London, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland. She began her studies at St Mary's Music School with teacher and member of the Maxwell Quartet, Duncan Strachan and also studied composition with Tom Wilson and Jazz Piano with Chick Lyall.
Her cello studies have continued at the Royal College of Music in London with teacher Melissa Phelps where she is awarded as the Leverhulme Arts Scholar supported by the Geoffrey Boyes Memorial Scholarship and is also supported by the Dewar Arts Award and the Talent Unlimited Foundation. She has previously been awarded by the Cross Trust and Beatrice Huntington Award.
She has debuted as a soloist and chamber musician at the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe as well as in high profile venues such as the Royal Albert Hall, Konzerthaus in Berlin and Queens Hall in Edinburgh as both an orchestral player and soloist. She has been lucky enough to have played in masterclasses with Steven Isserlis, Nicolas Aldstadt, Gautier Capuson, Leonid Gorokhoy, Marc Coppey and Torleif Thedรฉen to name a few.
Her cello is an English, Kennedy School make kindly donated by a private owner.
