About...

Canadian cellist Valerie Welbanks is currently based in London, where she appears regularly with the Marsyas Trio, one of the few flute, cello and piano trios in the world, and the Ligeti Quartet, which specializes in contemporary music. She also plays in several operas each year as part of the Dionysus Ensemble. Valerie completed a Masters in Music Performance in 2008 at the Royal Academy of Music in London, graduating with distinction. During her two years in Philip Sheppard’s class, she developed her interest in cross-disciplinary arts. In the 2008-2009 season, Valerie produced and appeared in the play La Suggia - Velvet and Steel, a new production she initiated in collaboration with Bulgarian dramaturge Miryana Dimitrova. More recently, Valerie was seen in Mahdi Yahya’s play The Emperor Self.

She first started the cello with Julian Armour at the age of eleven in Ottawa, after initial studies in piano. She then moved to Québec City where she studied with Leslie Snider at the Conservatoire de musique de Québec, where she obtained a collegiate music diploma in 2003 and an undergraduate diploma in music interpretation in 2006. Thanks to several generous scholarship awards, Valerie has taken summer courses at the Toronto Summer Music Academy and the Orford Arts Centre under the tutelage of Janos Starker, the West Dean College, the Lake District Summer Music Academy, and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Valerie has appeared as a recitalist in Canada, South Africa and the UK and has performed concertos with the Orchestre Symphonique de Quebec and the Sinfonia de Quebec. Valerie has started the PhD course at Goldsmiths College in September 2010 under the supervision of Russian cellists Alexander Ivashkin and Natalia Pavlutskaya.

She plays on a modern instrument made by Canadian luthier Ivo Loerakker.