Helen LaGrand | Cello

Helen LaGrand recently earned her MMus from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, where she studied modern cello with Alison Wells and baroque cello with David Watkin. She graduated with a Bachelors in cello performance from the University of Michigan, where she studied with Richard Aaron and was winner of the undergraduate concerto competition. 

She has appeared as soloist with the University of Michigan Philharmonia Orchestra, the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra, the Kent Philharmonic, and the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony. An avid chamber musician, she has been coached in chamber settings by the Cavani, Jupiter, Escher, Brentano, and Calidore Quartets. In 2022, she participated in a residency with the Dover String Quartet. 

Her UK based piano trio, the Lark Piano Trio, recently won first prize in the Cavatina Intercollegiate Chamber Competition in Wigmore Hall. They took third prize in the Piano Trio Society Competition in London, and received the Governor’s Chamber Prize at RCS. They perform around the UK, and were part of Chamber Studio’s Hans Keller Forum at Cambridge University for 2023-24. They regularly take part in improvisation workshops with Anto Pett and David Dolan and have been selected to play in masterclasses for the Fidelio Trio and Joseph Swenson. Helen has performed with accordionist Sofia Ros since January 2023, and they have been invited to appear in Edinburgh, Manchester, and in many public lunchtime concerts at RCS.

Helen performed with Nicola Benedetti in the 2023 Edinburgh International Festival, and has toured with the Scottish Ensemble, has played with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the new music group the Hebrides Ensemble. In July 2023 Helen was selected to play for King Charles III’s Scottish Coronation Ceremony, the “Honours of Scotland.” 

Helen joined Plymouth Chamber Players in 2023.