Laura van der Heijden

Laura van der Heijden is recognised as one of the leading cellists of her generation. Recipient of the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award, she continues to captivate audiences and critics alike with her deeply perceptive interpretations and engaging, imaginative programming.

Highlights of Laura’s 2024/25 season include concerto performances with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, recitals at the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall with pianist Jâms Coleman, and collaborative chamber projects including Serios Festival, Helsinki, Her Ensemble at London’s Milton Court, and the Pierre Boulez Saal, Berlin alongside Alina Ibragimova and Ben Goldscheider. An increasingly prominent voice on the classical music scene, Laura recently appeared on Jess Gillam’s podcast This Classical Life and Tom Service’s Saturday Morning show on BBC Radio 3 as well as featuring as a cover article for The Strad’s June 2024 publication.

Since winning the BBC Young Musician competition in 2012 aged 15, Laura has enjoyed a thriving and varied international career. Highlights of recent seasons include being Artist in Focus at King’s Place, concerto appearances with the London Philharmonic, CBSO, Aurora and Scottish Chamber Orchestras, a play/direct programme with the Britten Sinfonia and a collaboration with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as part of their George Walker Total Immersion project. Laura’s 2023/24 season included concerto and chamber performances at the BBC Proms, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall, Cheltenham Music Festival, St George’s Bristol, Lammermuir and Bad Kissingen Summer Festivals. Laura has worked with many distinguished conductors including the late Sir Andrew Davis, Alpesh Chauhan, Nick Collon, Richard Egarr, Gemma New, and Karl-Heinz Steffens.

Having given the World Premiere of Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s Earth, Sea, Air in 2023 with the BBC Scottish Symphony, Laura performed the work again with the orchestra and conductor Ryan Wigglesworth at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2024 BBC Proms. A Chandos artist, Laura’s latest release on the label includes the premiere recording of Frances-Hoad’s new work alongside Bridge’s Oration and Walton’s Cello Concerto.

Laura’s 2018 debut album 1948 won the 2018 Edison Klassiek Award and the 2019 BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year Award. Since signing with Chandos Records, her discography has grown with numerous releases on the label. Released in 2022, Pohádka, her first album with pianist Jâms Coleman, features works by Janáček and Dvořák and received widespread critical acclaim. This was followed in 2023 by Mozart – Piano Quartets with chamber partners Francesca Dego, Timothy Ridout, and Federico Colli and in 2024 with Path to the Moon with Jâms Coleman featuring works inspired by William T. Horton’s captivating image of the same name. Laura also features on many Chandos albums with Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, the most recent including Hahn’s Piano Quintet, Songs and Piano Quartet, Volume I and II of Brahms and Contemporaries, Transfigured featuring works by Schoenberg, A. Mahler, Webern and Zemlinsky, and Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn – Chamber Works.

A passionate chamber musician and collaborative artist, Laura is a member of the critically acclaimed Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, who perform a wide variety of captivating repertoire across the UK and beyond. She has performed chamber recitals collaborating with many celebrated musicians including Timothy Ridout, Antje Weithaas, Max Baillie, Misha Mullov-Abbado, Hélène Clément, the Doric Quartet, the Redon Quartet, and the Brodsky Quartet.

A graduate of Cambridge University and Hanns Eisler Berlin, Laura has studied with renowned tutors including Antje Weithaas and Leonid Gorokhov. She plays a late seventeenth century cello by Francesco Ruggieri of Cremona, on generous loan from a private collection.

Artist Website: www.lauravanderheijden.org

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