User:Tourgis/sandbox/Sophie Langdon

Sophie Langdon FRAM (born 26 August 1958) is a British classical violinist.

Early life and education
Langdon was born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, to an Italian father and a Scottish mother. She started learning to play the violin at the age of four. At age eight, she became the leader of the National Children's Orchestra of Great Britain. By the age of nine, she had already passed the eight grades of musical examinations while attending the independent Wellington School, Ayr, and in September 1997 began to study at the Yehudi Menuhin School for young musicians under Lord Menuhin and Natasha Boyarskaya in rural Surrey, England.

Langdon’s studies began at the Royal Academy of Music, continued in New York at the Juilliard School, then the Curtis Institute, Philadelphia, finishing with advanced solo studies at the Guildhall School. All studies were scholarship funded and Langdon was awarded many prizes for outstanding performances. Her major violinistic influences have been her studies with Ivan Galamian, Gyorgy Pauk and Carmel Kaine.

Career
The first ten years of her career saw Langdon much involved with contemporary music performance, as soloist; ensemble player with the London Sinfonietta, Lontano and the Composer’s Ensemble, and leader of the Contemporary Chamber Orchestra, playing many new commissions. As a soloist, Langdon also commissioned new works and performed premiers at London’s Purcell Room and Wigmore Hall. Other new commissions were performed on lecture tours of the USA, notably a new work for solo violin written by Odaline de la Martinez.

In 2010 Langdon was appointed leader of the Southern Pro Musica, working closely with conductor Jonathan Willcocks. Another leadership appointment was the London Jazz Sinfonia with John Jansson, performances have been with Guy Barker, Alan Barnes and Dame Cleo Laine, in which Langdon embraced jazz and improvisation on both acoustic and electric violins. 2012 saw the inauguration of Langdon’s Enhanced Performance Techniques workshops.

Teaching posts are currently at Wellington College and the Royal Academy of Music.

EPT
In spring 2003, Benede

Trio
Aside from solo performances, Benedetti performs in a trio with the German cellist Leonard Elschenbroich, and Russian pianist Alexei Grynyuk.