Fenella Humphreys

Violinist Fenella Humphreys combines versatility with lyrical, graceful playing. Her repertory includes several works written especially for her by leading British composers. Humphreys was born in London. Her first teacher was Sidney Griller, leader of the Griller Quartet, with whom she studied beginning at age ten. Humphreys attended the Purcell School, studying there with Itzhak Rashkovsky as well as Griller, and winning two of the school's prizes. Winning a scholarship, she studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with David Takeno and went on for further work at the Hochschule für Musik Robert Schumann in Düsseldorf with Ida Bieler. Humphreys has also taken an unusually wide variety of master classes with, among others, Krzysztof Penderecki. Her career has been balanced between chamber music and solo work. As a chamber musician, she has collaborated with Pekka Kuusisto, Alec Frank-Gemmill, and Martin Lovett, among many others, and she has given world premieres of works by composers including Peter Maxwell-Davies, Sally Beamish, and Adrian Sutton. Her repertory also includes violin concertos by Thomas Adès, Peteris Vasks, and Max Richter (The Four Seasons Recomposed). Humphreys has been heard on major radio networks in Britain, Germany, and Korea. Several of her recordings have gained wide attention and become strong sellers although they were released on small labels. The second of her two Bach 2 the Future albums, featuring solo music by Bach, won a BBC Music Magazine Instrumental Award in 2018. Her first concerto album, of Christopher Wright’s Violin Concerto with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under Martin Yates, appeared on Dutton Laboratories in 2012. Humphreys has also recorded for the Champs Hill, Lyrita, and Rubicon Classics labels, issuing a recording of The Four Seasons Recomposed together with works by Vasks and Arvo Pärt on Rubicon Classics in 2019. ~ James Manheim