Elise started playing the violin when she was four years old. She attended Havering Music School before joining the Royal College of Music Junior Department at fifteen to study with Iwona Boesche. A keen orchestral player, she became a member of Essex Youth Orchestra in 2002 and led the orchestra in 2007 for EYO’s 50th Anniversary in Cadogan Hall. Following her A-levels, Elise continued both her performance and academic studies in music at the University of Manchester, studying violin with Julia Hanson. She attained a first in her final recital before securing a place at the Royal Northern College of Music.
During her postgraduate years at the RNCM, Elise studied with Steven Wilkie and Pavel Fischer, a former member of the Škampa Quartet. She gained experience of leading different groups, including the opera orchestra in a production of Janacek’s Katya Kabanova, the Concert Orchestra and, in a performance of Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks, the Postgraduate Ensemble. She also took part in a leading masterclass with LSO Leader Gordan Nikolich and has worked with Sir Mark Elder, Gianandrea Noseda and Gábor Takács-Nagy.
In September 2009, Elise gained a place on the Manchester Camerata Professional Experience Scheme and has since performed with them in concerts at the RNCM, Bridgewater Hall and The Lowry. She has has also been successful in extra work auditions with Opera North and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. As well as orchestral music, Elise enjoys playing the violin in bands and has supported Mercury Award-winning group Elbow, as well as I Am Kloot, singer-songwriter Stephen Fretwell and other artists.
