Madeleine Mitchell

Performer

Madeleine Mitchell has been described by The Times as “one of the UK’s liveliest musical forces [and] foremost violinists”. She has performed as solo violinist and chamber musician in 50 countries in a wide repertoire, frequently broadcasts for radio and TV, and performs in major festivals including the BBC Proms. She recently recorded live with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales the Grace Williams Violin Concerto for BBC Radio 3 and Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending. Her “Century of Music by UK Women” (1921-2021) for International Women’s Day with the London Chamber Ensemble (which she founded) was widely featured in the national media. In 2022 she won a Royal Philharmonic Society Enterprise Award to make a short film with the V&A Fabergé exhibition. She has performed concertos with the Czech and Polish Radio Symphony orchestras, Wurttemberg and Munich Chamber, Kiev Radio/TV, St Petersburg Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and other London orchestras, Orchestra of the Swan, Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Orchestra de Bahia Brazil, and for the BBC. She has been invited to tour Japan, performing Bruch Violin Concerto in Tokyo.

As a recording artist with a wide discography, Madeleine has been nominated for both Grammy and BBC Music Awards. Many well known composers have written works for her, including Sir James MacMillan. Her popular albums include “Violin Songs” and “Violin Muse” (with Guto Puw Violin Concerto written for her, with BBC NOW conducted by Edwin Outwater and the first recording of Michael Berkeley’s Veilleuse) as well as “FiddleSticks” with Lou Harrison Violin Concerto and Percussion Orchestra and companion pieces as part of a major award by Arts Council England for her collaboration with ensemble bash. Her Naxos recording of Grace Williams Chamber Music with the London Chamber Ensemble was number two in the Classical Charts. Her recording of the Suite written for her by Robert Saxton, premiered at Three Choirs Festival with Clare Hammond, was released in September 2022. Her next album, “Violin Conversations”, will be released by Naxos in June 2023 and features premiere recordings of works mostly by living UK composers including Thea Musgrave, Errollyn Wallen, Martin Butler, Richard Blackford, Howard Blake, Douglas Knehans, and Kevin Malone.

In recital Madeleine Mitchell has represented Britain in the Canberra International Music Festival, UKinNY at Lincoln Center, at the Queen’s Jubilee in Rome and “Great British Week” in Kuwait. She has given recitals at Sydney Opera House, Seoul Center for the Arts (as part of a three-month world tour), and in cities such as Vienna, Moscow, and Singapore, as well as at The Wigmore Hall and London’s Southbank Centre.

Amongst many awards, Madeleine won the Tagore Gold Medal as a Foundation Scholar at the Royal College of Music, where she is now a Professor, followed by the prestigious Fulbright/ITT Fellowship to study in New York for a Master’s Degree at the Eastman and Juilliard schools. She frequently returns to tour the USA, receiving standing ovations for her recitals in San Francisco and Texas in January 2023 and a return invitation in October.

A highly creative personality, Madeleine devised the eclectic “Red Violin”, the first international festival celebrating the violin across the arts, with Founder Patron Lord Menuhin. She gives master classes worldwide and is on the faculty of the Orfeo Music Festival in the Dolomites and Language & Music for Life, performing and teaching in the summer. In June she leads the London Chamber Ensemble in a concert for the Schubert Society of Great Britain at St James, Sussex Gardens, in a programme including Schubert’s Cello Quintet.