Elizabeth Layton | violin
Biography:
Elizabeth studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School where, aged twelve, she was invited to join Hephzibah and Yehudi Menuhin in a chamber music concert to celebrate the latter’s Golden Jubilee, broadcast by the BBC from the Royal Festival Hall, London. From here, Elizabeth was invited to continue her studies at the Juilliard School, New York with Dorothy DeLay and Masao Kawasaki.
As winner of the UK Concert Artists Trust Competition, Elizabeth made her UK concerto debut with the Philharmonia and appeared as soloist with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Bournemouth Symphony, English Sinfonia, Calgary Philharmonic, City of Barcelona Symphony, Lahti Symphony and many others. Festival appearances include Bath, Edinburgh, Harrogate, Cheltenham, Valencia, Gstaad and numerous music societies.
Elizabeth has appeared as guest concertmaster with the symphony orchestras in Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Queensland, Tasmania, Auckland and Wellington and in chamber music with Selby & Friends, the Australian and Flinders String Quartets, and the Australia Piano Quartet.
Broadcasts for the ABC, including recitals for Sunday Live and a performance of Raymond Hanson’s Violin Concerto with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra.
She has toured chamber music worldwide with the Nash Ensemble and Trio Zingara, and CD recordings include the complete Beethoven piano trios (nominated for a Gramophone Award) and violin and piano works by Schubert (Daily Telegraph ‘CD Choice’). Other recordings include chamber music by Ravel, Schubert, Brahms, Fauré and Shostakovich for DG, Hyperion, Naxos, BIS and Chandos.
Elizabeth was Associate Leader of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Concertmaster of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (1997-2010). She has broadcast regularly for the BBC as soloist and director and appeared as guest director of the Scottish Ensemble, Manchester Camerata and Ambache Ensemble. Numerous performances of contemporary solo violin music include a critically acclaimed CD of Jonathan Harvey’s ‘Scena’ with the BBC SSO under Ilan Volkov.
Other recent concerts include George Town Festival, Penang, Coriole Festival, Coramba Festival, Music by the Springs, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra Series and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville. She performs regularly in the University of Adelaide Concert Series at Elder Hall.
Elizabeth performs regularly for the University of Adelaide Concert Series at Elder Hall.