Kate Gould

“It has been an aspiration of mine to play with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe since attending concerts when I was a student and being struck by the level of each individual player and the excitement created by that many big musical personalities coming together. Once given the chance to play with them, I discovered that it really is like playing in a monster chamber ensemble. Blending of tone, subtlety of nuance, intonation, and all the qualities of musical interpretation that one usually only expects to find in the realms of chamber music, are actually achieved by this orchestra. That's why, for me, it is the perfect job to have alongside my career in the Leopold String Trio, and I'm truly addicted to it!”

Kate Gould joined the Chamber Orchestra of Europe in 2000. She is one of the outstanding chamber musicians of her generation, appearing regularly at Wigmore Hall, on BBC Radio 3 and at major international concert halls and festivals worldwide. She is a member of the London Bridge Ensemble, whose members include pianist Daniel Tong and violinist Laura Samuel, and the Leopold String Trio, with violinist, Isabelle van Keulen and violist, Lawrence Power. In 2008, Kate founded the Winchester Chamber Music Festival, which has become a thriving, annual event featuring the London Bridge Ensemble alongside many eminent guest artists. Kate enjoys giving duo recitals with piano, having won the Tillett Trust Young Artists Platform and the BBC Radio 3 Young Artists’ Forum with Viv McLean in 1997. In recent years she has appeared in recital with pianists, Martin Roscoe and Alasdair Beatson.

In 2005 the Leopold String Trio won the Chamber Music category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards and, in 2004, won a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award. In 2001, the Trio represented Wigmore Hall at various major international concert halls (such as Carnegie Hall and Musikverein, Vienna) as part of the ECHO Rising Stars series and, in the same year, was selected for the inaugural BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artists scheme. The Trio records for Hyperion, on occasion with guest artists such as pianists Paul Lewis and Marc-André Hamelin. All of their discs have received immense critical acclaim and two nominations for Gramophone Awards. Their most recent release is Bach's Goldberg Variations arranged for string trio by Sitkovetsky. The 2011/12 season includes a Wigmore Hall recital, and concerts in Switzerland and Holland. In October 2012, the Trio will perform the Tippett Triple Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre.

Kate has played as guest principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Northern Sinfonia, City of London Sinfonia and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. Kate has recently acquired a Carlo Guiseppe Testore cello of 1711, which she is hoping to purchase through an investment scheme run by Nigel Brown and the Stradivari Trust.