Emily Richards
Emily Richards began to learn violin at the age of seven and studied with Rosemary Fraser until she was eighteen. She also began the viola at the age of sixteen under the tuition of Cathy Stevens. She was a member of the Dorset and Wessex Youth Orchestras and founded a string quartet, Quattuor Amici, whilst still at school. Emily then went on to read Music at the University of Birmingham and graduated in 2005 with a BMus Honours degree.
She spent the following year working as a graduate music assistant at Wells Cathedral School in Somerset. Emily then went on to gain her postgraduate diploma in performance from Trinity College of Music where she studied with Elizabeth Turnbull and participated in masterclasses with Ivo-Jan von der Werff and Garfield Jackson. Emily was a finalist in the 2008 Vivian Joseph Classical Concerto competition at Trinity College of Music.
She has played with many groups, both chamber and orchestral, including the National Youth Music Theatre, Trinity College of Music Symphony Orchestra, Trinity College String Ensemble, Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of St. Pauls (Convent Garden), Wessex String Quartet and Dovetail Quartet. Following her time at Trinity, she taught and freelanced in London and worked on cruise ships with the Dovetail Quartet. Her most recent solo performance was of Bach’s concerto for oboe and violin in D minor with the Parry Ensemble at Boveridge House, Cranborne, in aid of the NHS Poole Music Therapy unit. Emily currently teaches the violin and viola in the Dorset area.
