Flora McNicoll

Flora was born in London and started learning the cello at the age of eight, and has since received invaluable musical training during her studies at the Royal Academy of Music junior department (2011-2016). Flora graduated in 2020 with BMus(Hons) after studying with Matthew Sharp at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. During her undergraduate studies she earnt a place on both the CBSO and Birmingham Royal Ballet side-by-side schemes, playing in notable symphonies and ballets with the two renowned orchestras under top conductors such as Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and Christian Macelaru. She followed this by studying postgraduate performance under the tutelage of Eduardo Vassallo. During her studies, Flora has won places studying with renowned orchestras, performing in masterclasses with renowned cellists, and most recently has been awarded 1st Prize in the RBC Strings Competition (2021). In her orchestral career, most recently Flora has played with the Manchester Concert Orchestra in Manchester and Liverpool. Throughout her time studying the cello at RAM and RBC, Flora has benefitted from invaluable chamber music coaching from many established musicians such as Jian Wang and ensembles including the Castallian, Heath, Lindsay, and Kus Quartets, and the Schubert Ensemble. Flora is a founding member of the Lumos String Quartet and the Hestia String Quartet (soon to have their debut at the Wigmore Hall in May 2021). She has explored a wide array of chamber music - most recently, putting on a concert of Messiaen's 'Quartet For the End of Time'. In addition to her classical cello work, Flora has been an artist at numerous folk festivals, performing at top venues such as Green Man and Shambala.