Kate Birchall

Kate has been a member of the LPO's Second Violin section since 2003. She was elected Vice-President of the LPO Board of Directors in May 2024 and is a Vice-Chair of the LPO Player Director Committee.

Kate was awarded a scholarship to study violin at The Purcell School before going on to read Music at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where she was an Instrumental Award Holder. She completed her Diploma of Advanced Studies at the Royal Academy of Music in 1996 whilst studying with Sophie Langdon, and has participated in masterclasses with Igor Ozim, Mauricio Fuks and Joseph Silverstein.

She was a founder member of the Killian String Quartet, with whom she attended IMS Prussia Cove in 1998. Kate previously worked for the BBC National Orchestra of Wales for three years. Her other orchestral work has included the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic  and Britten Sinfonia.

Recently Kate has appeared as a soloist with the Lancashire Chamber Orchestra and given chamber music recitals with harpist Emma Ramsdale. In 2003 she played the Haydn Violin Concerto in C major and she has performed Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and concertos by Bach, Handel and Corelli at the Purcell Room and St Martin-in-the-Fields.