Elizabeth Porter

Elizabeth started learning the cello aged 4 with Penny Heath. She made her solo debut performance when she was six years old in the Royal Festival Hall. After obtaining her grade 8 with distinction in 2011 Elizabeth joined the Junior Department of the Royal Academy of Music, where she learnt with cellist and conductor Robert Max. At the Junior Academy, Elizabeth was selected to perform her first concerto movement with the Sinfonia Orchestra in 2014. Later that year, she performed the Haydn Cello Concerto in C with the Reading Symphony Orchestra as a result of her success in their Young Musician Competition. She is now in her second year of study at the Royal Academy of Music, where she was awarded the Mary Stuart Harding Entrance Award for her audition. She is in the class of Josephine Knight Elizabeth has won several awards at music festivals and competitions, including the award for most promising musician at Maidenhead Music Festival three years running, winning the age 16-18 cello class at North London Music Festival, and winning the under-10 string category at Farnham Music Festival. In 2011 she was the winner of the south-east regional final of the Rotary Club Young Musician competition and progressed to the national finals. Elizabeth has also won awards performing duets with her sister Catherine, including the Tyson Challenge Cup for Intermediate Duet at the Maidenhead Music Festival. Elizabeth also has a range of experience of orchestral playing. She was a member of Surrey County Youth Orchestra for seven years, in her final year of which she was the principal cellist. Since beginning her studies at the Royal Academy of Music, Elizabeth has led the cello section of the String Orchestra and also performed with the Symphony Orchestra under Mark Elder. She has also performed with the Royal Orchestral Society, the In Tune Orchestra and the London Euphonia Orchestra. Elizabeth has had masterclasses with many reknowned cellists such as Nathalie Clein, Joely Koos, Jo Cole and Julian Lloyd Webber.