Violist, educator, researcher and philanthropist Louise Lansdown is currently Assistant Head of Strings (viola) at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) and Professor of viola at the Yehudi Menuhin School (YMS).
Prior to this, Louise was Head of Strings at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (2012-2023) after holding the position of Senior Lecturer at the RNCM (2001-2012). Louise is the founder and Artistic Director of the Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competition and Festival and is now Executive Artistic Director of both the Lionel Tertis and Cecil Aronowitz International Viola Competitions that were held at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music, Gateshead from 19-25 January 2025. https://tertisaronowitzviolacompetitions.org.uk/
She is the founder and President of the British Viola Society https://www.britishviolasociety.co.uk/
Louise is also the founder of The BIG Viola Project (2023). In September 2023 the project was launched in schools and hubs across the UK, with plans to expand exponentially. The project is being supported by the Royal Northern College of Music, Stringers of London and Edinburgh and the British Viola Society.
She is a trustee for the Quartet of Peace and directs the Aronowitz Viola Course based at Blisland, Cornwall.
Louise, along with her viola students is the founder of a major cross-continental collaborative string teaching project called “ARCO”. ARCO Soweto was founded in July 2015 in Soweto, South Africa in partnership with the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, UK where Louise was Head of Strings. ARCO was nominated for a guardian internationalization award in 2018 and a BASA22 Award in 2019 (Business and Arts South Africa). Louise Launched ARCO India in 2021, in collaboration with KM Music Conservatory, AR Rahman Foundation and the Sunshine Orchestra. ARCO is now working in partnership with the Royal Northern College of Music and a new branch of the project has just been initiated in Prince Albert, a small Karoo town in South Africa. Louise, along with partner Anthony Alcock has founded an annual music festival “Kaleidoscope: Prince Albert Kamermusiek Fees” in Prince Albert which will be held from 22-24 August 2025.
Louise plays on a French Viola c.1750 and 1890 Sartory bow, both previously belonging to the South African violist Cecil Aronowitz. She has recently commissioned a copy of her French Viola from luthier Antoine Gourdon. Louise plays mostly chamber music and solo concerts, collaborating with violists and other musicians across the world. She commissions new music for the viola and concocts hair brain schemes to perform music by Paul Hindemith and much unknown viola music, bringing the viola to many unsuspecting and innocent people. She is a member of the South African “Ubuntu Ensemble” and Principal Violist of the Mzansi National Philharmonic Orchestra.
Louise will soon release her first solo album on Meridian Records “Mzansi Viola” with pianist Charles Matthews. A complete disc of world premieres of unpublished, unknown music for viola by South African composers including Joubert, Reddy, Stephenson, Rainier, Hofmeyr and Masebe. The second album also of South African music for viola will also be recorded in 2025. Thus will include music by Hofmeyr, Klatzow, Bell, Swanson, Zaidel-Rudolph, Feder and Grové.
Louise hails from Cape Town where she studied with the late Prof Jack De Wet and Eric Rycroft at the University of Stellenbosch. She was awarded an ABRSM Overseas Scholarship for postgraduate study at the Royal Northern College of Music in 1998. Louise was awarded a PhD from the University of Manchester in 2008 on the early music of Paul Hindemith. She has published many articles in academic journals, music magazines, books and other publications over the years, and finally Louise’s dream to write a book on Hindemith and his music for the viola has come true. Schott will be publishing her book “Hindemith and the Viola”. Watch this space!
