Ella Hodgson-Laws is a 20-year-old violinist in her second year at the Royal College of Music, studying under Jennifer Pike. She previously studied at Junior RNCM with Cath Yates, where she was awarded the Rohi Gazder Prize for Violin and the Director’s Prize. As a soloist, Ella has performed numerous concerti including Mozart’s Violin Concertos nos. 3 and 4 (both with her own cadenzas), performing the latter on tour in Germany in the summer of 2024. She also performed Bartok’s Romanian Folk Dances in Selby Abbey with string orchestra and has given various recitals over the years – most recently, a programme of largely contemporary music for York Late Music. She also enjoys chamber music and has played in various groups throughout her time at school, the Junior RNCM and RCM.
A keen orchestral player, Ella has played with the National Youth String Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra, with whom she was a string leader, and was leader of the JRNCM Sinfonia in her final year. She has played in prestigious venues across the UK including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Barbican Centre, Bridgewater Hall and Snape Maltings, among many others. Last summer she travelled to Italy after being accepted to take part in the Virtuoso & Belcanto Festival, performing in the beautiful city of Lucca and taking part in masterclasses throughout the festival.
In the last couple of years, she has enjoyed success in numerous competitions – most excitingly, making it to the televised rounds of BBC Young Musician 2024, in which she played for a panel including Alison Balsom, Alexis Ffrench and Hannah Catherine-Jones, before completing an interview with Jess Gillam. She is also the winner of East Coast Young Musician 2024, and is delighted to be back to play in the festival this year.
As well as the violin, Ella is a keen conductor and is taking the discipline as a second study at the RCM, taught by Howard Williams and Toby Purser. She also enjoys singing, and plays in a viol consort.
