Outstanding British-violinist Tamsin-Waley Cohen – described by the late Ruggiero Ricci following a masterclass as "the most exceptionally gifted young violinist I have ever encountered" – performs a fittingly prodigious work by Felix Mendelssohn.

The Violin Concerto in D minor was composed when Mendelssohn was just 13, and has remained popular since its rediscovery in the middle of the 20th century by Yehudi Menuhin. The work is paired on this disc with Mendelssohn's Concerto for Violin & Piano, where Waley-Cohen is joined by British pianist Huw Watkins, all alongside the enthusiastic accompaniment of the Orchestra of the Swan under David Curtis.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen will perform at the Wigmore Hall and King’s Place in London, as well as concerto and chamber music concerts in Austria, France, Spain and Sweden. For the 2012-2013 season she is Associate Artist with Orchestra of the Swan.

In demand as a recitalist, Tamsin’s partners include Huw Watkins, Tom Poster and Simon Crawford-Philips. She also regularly plays with cellist Gemma Rosefield, and has worked with artists such as Andreas Haefliger, Heinz Holliger and Anssi Kartonnen. She has premiered works by composers including Torsten Rasch, Joseph Phibbs, and Richard Causton; in 2011 she gave the premiere of a new “Concertino” written for her by Huw Watkins.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen was born in London in 1986. She became a Foundation Scholar, studying with Itzhak Rashkovsky, at the Royal College of Music where she won all available awards, including – twice – the concerto competition, and was their String Player of the Year in 2005.

From 2011-2012 she was the Artistic Director of London’s Tricycle Theatre’s Chamber Music Series, and of Music at the Bargello Chamber Music Festival in Florence, Italy. Since 2007 she has played the 1721 ex-Fenyves Stradivarius violin. One to watch…