Laura Jellicoe

In 2006, Vernon Handley appointed her Principal Flute with the English Symphony Orchestra, and she has since divided her time between playing as Guest Principal Flute and 2nd Flute with many of the British Orchestras, including BBC Symphony Orchestra, Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Halle, BBC Philharmonic, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Opera North and Manchester Camerata. She has played on over a hundred orchestral recordings and many Radio 3 broadcasts.

Laura has performed as soloist with the City of London Sinfonia, English Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and gives several duo recitals each year with pianist Paul Janes. She also very much enjoys playing chamber music with friends. Over the years these have included collaborations with pianist Steven Osborne, cellist Bernard Gregor-Smith (Lindsey Quartet), baritone Roderick Williams, pianist Peter Donahoe, and the Halle Wind Quintet.

Laura studied at the RNCM with Clare Southworth, Peter Lloyd, Rachel Brown and Richard Davis, and had private lessons with Michael Cox and Kate Hill. Competition successes include winning the 1992 British Flute Society’s International Young Artist competition, chaired by James Galway, as well as being a finalist in both the BBCTV and Radio 2 ‘Young Musician of the Year’ competitions.

As well as being a professor at the Academy, she also teaches at Chetham’s School of Music, was Head of Flute at the RNCM for many years, and has taught an array of players who are now in orchestral jobs. Over the years she has developed her own style of teaching, bringing together techniques from the many different flute players who have inspired her, with her own way of developing each individual students’ expressive and musical qualities, and with a big focus on breathing and posture.

Laura has coached many orchestral wind sections, including the National Youth Orchestra, Chetham’s School of Music and the RNCM, and she has been on the panel for competitions including BBC Young Musician of the Year, British Flute Society Young Artist, the Feis Coel in Dublin and the Hong Kong Schools Music Festival. She has given masterclasses throughout the UK, has featured as a Guest Artist for British Flute Society days, and has more recently given online classes, including as a regular guest for a flute course in New York, and in Hong Kong, Australia and China.

She is currently writing monthly articles for the online American flute magazine Flute View, and is working on a new tutor book.

Laura is an examiner for the ABRSM, and is also Chair of Tattenhall Music Society, with whom she set up the Ken Griffin Flute Prize.