| Biography | At the age of 15, cellist Laura van der Heijden was awarded the title of BBC Young Musician 2012, performing Waltons Cello Concerto with Kirill Karabits and the Northern Sinfonia at The Sage, Gateshead.
Born in England as the youngest daughter of a Dutch father and a Swiss mother, Lauras musical studies started on recorder at the age of four. After learning with Marina Logie on cello, Laura had grade 8 distinctions on both cello and piano by the age of ten.
In 2005 Laura joined the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, where she learns piano with Emily Jeffrey and participates in many ensembles. Since 2008 Laura has been a student of the renowned British-Russian cellist Leonid Gorokhov. In 2011 they performed together at the Brighton Festival and in Germany.
In 2010 she won Erster Preis mit Auszeichnung (full marks) and a special prize in the final of the Swiss National Youth Music Competition, which led to her performing the Boccherini Cello Concerto in G with the Zurich Kammer Orchestra at the Zurich Tonhalle in January 2011. She was also the 2011 winner of the Marjorie Humby competition at the Royal College of Music, 2011 Beckenham Musician of the Year and 2012 Woking Young Musician of the Year.
Laura's first public performance as a cellist was at the age of 9 with the Jupiter Chamber Orchestra. Since then, she has given many recitals and played with various orchestras. Recent performances include Elgars Cello Concerto with Worthing Philharmonic Orchestra and Dvoraks Cello Concerto with Somerset County Youth Orchestra.
Future engagements include performances of Waltons Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Cadogan Hall) and Guernsey Symphony Orchestra, Dvoraks Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Colchester, Worthing and Woking Symphony Orchestras, Elgars Cello Concerto with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (Royal Festival Hall) and the London Mozart Players, alongside recitals in London (Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall) as well as chamber music (Hampstead Music Festival with Stephen Kovacevich Quintet, Ashdown Music Festival).
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