LAURA VAN DER HEIJDEN

Laura van der Heijden is recognised as “a shining role model to musicians of her generation” (The Guardian). Recipient of both the 2025 Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist Award and the 2024 Critics’ Circle Instrumentalist Award, she continues to captivate audiences and critics alike with her deeply perceptive interpretations and imaginative, engaging programming.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season included concerto debuts with the London Symphony Orchestra (Bosmans No. 2), Ulster Orchestra (Saint-Saëns No. 1), Philharmonie Zuidnederland (Walton), and Pilsen Philharmonic (Elgar). Other highlights included return appearances with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, a performance of Britten’s Cello Symphony with Britten Sinfonia at the Aldeburgh Festival, Artistic Residencies at Lammermuir and Ryedale Music Festivals, a play/direct project with Sinfonia Cymru, and Manchester Collective’s newly commissioned Papillons project, which received its world premiere at London’s Southbank Centre in May 2026.

In the 2026/27 season, Laura makes her debut with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra as part of the 2026 Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, alongside returning for concerto engagements with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She has also been announced as a 2027/28 ECHO (European Concert Hall Organisation) Rising Star, with performances throughout the season in some of Europe’s leading and most prestigious concert halls.

Since winning BBC Young Musician in 2012 aged fifteen, Laura has built a thriving and varied international career, working with distinguished conductors including the late Sir Andrew Davis, Alpesh Chauhan, Nick Collon, Richard Egarr, Gemma New, and Karl Heinz Steffens. Increasingly recognised as a prominent voice in the classical music world, she has appeared on Jess Gillam’s This Classical Life podcast, Tom Service’s Saturday Morning on BBC Radio 3, Woman’s Hour on BBC Radio 4, and BBC Music Magazine’s All the Right Notes podcast, as well as featuring as a guest panellist and performer for EMPOWER: Women Changing Music, NTR’s Podium Klassiek, and VRT’s Queen Elisabeth Competition. She was also featured on the cover of Gramophone’s Young Artists edition in January 2026 and The Strad in June 2024.

A committed advocate for new music, Laura has premiered works by composers including Lara Weaver and Gavin Higgins and looks forward to the world premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’ Cello Concerto with BBC NOW in the 2026/27 season. She notably gave the world premiere of Cheryl Frances Hoad’s Earth, Sea, Air in 2023 with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, reprising it at the 2024 BBC Proms with conductor Ryan Wigglesworth. A Chandos artist, her debut concerto disc features the premiere recording of this work alongside Bridge’s Oration and Walton’s Cello Concerto.

Laura’s 2018 debut album 1948 won the Edison Klassiek Award and the BBC Music Magazine Newcomer of the Year Award. Her Chandos discography has since flourished. Pohádka (2022), her first duo album with pianist Jâms Coleman featuring works by Janáček and Dvořák, was met with critical acclaim. This was followed by Mozart: Piano Quartets (2023) with Francesca Dego, Timothy Ridout, and Federico Colli, and Path to the Moon (2024) with Jâms Coleman, inspired by William T. Horton’s evocative image of the same name. The duo’s next disc of French works, Lumière, will be released in November 2026.

A sought-after chamber musician, Laura is a proud member of the critically acclaimed Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Wigmore Hall’s Associate Ensemble, with regular tours throughout the UK, Europe, and the US, and features on all of their Chandos recordings. She collaborates regularly with celebrated musicians including Timothy Ridout, Max Baillie, Misha Mullov-Abbado, Hélène Clément, the Doric Quartet, the Redon Quartet, and the Brodsky Quartet. Recent and forthcoming performances include Wigmore Hall, Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s, the Leoš Janáček International Music Festival, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw and Muziekgebouw, Helsinki’s Sérios Festival, Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal and Spiegelsaal, and Kissinger Sommer Festival.

A graduate of Cambridge University and Hanns Eisler Berlin, Laura studied with renowned tutors including Antje Weithaas and Leonid Gorokhov. Passionate about music education, community engagement, and equal opportunity, Laura regularly leads masterclasses, with recent and upcoming examples including The Menuhin School, National Children’s Orchestra, Edinburgh Youth Orchestra, Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Royal College of Music, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, as well as community workshops with organisations including NW Live Arts and the Camberwell Incredibles.