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Fantasia Feature - Tamsin Waley-Cohen
3
June
2025
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We’re looking forward to returning to the Northern Aldborough Festival next week. Ahead of the concert, we caught up with our soloist Tamsin Waley-Cohen to talk about The Lark Ascending and the musical influences that have shaped her journey.
When did you first start playing the violin, and who has inspired you along the way?
I started when I was 3 years old. I saw a televised Prom aged two and asked my parents for a year until they relented, realising that perhaps it was not a passing phase.
So many people inspire me - as a teenager a listened to a lot of Roby Lakatos and he’s still one of my heroes - a career highlight was sharing the stage with him! I was also obsessed with old recordings and collected them - Szigeti remains a great favourite as does Kreisler, Thibaut and the Amadeus and Borodin quartet recordings with Kopelman. I also love listening to singers of all genres and vocalists give me a lot of ideas in general.
Vaughan Williams is often described as capturing the English landscape in music. How do nature and music come together for you in The Lark Ascending?
I’m not sure music and nature can really be separated! After all, the shape of a sea shell is the same as a sound wave. But in the Lark, Vaughan-Williams brilliantly evokes the heat of an english summer’s day, the grass smouldering in the sun, the insects buzzing, the sense of clarity and of course, the soaring Lark. There’s a sense of timelessness, and at the same time, an aching nostalgia for something that’s just out of reach.
Finally, what music do you like listening to beyond classical music?
I love listening to jazz singers like Billie Holliday, and I’m a massive Queen fan as well, and Fleetwood Mac, Florence and the Machine, that’s all my jam. I’m also a big fan of Alice Zawadski’s work, blending folk, jazz and classical. I also really love old French singers like Aznavour, Americans like Pete Seeger, and Fado - there’s so many other worlds that we can glimpse through magical musical doors.
Tickets are on sale for our programme at Northern Aldborough Festival on Thu 12 Jun 2025, 6:30pm.