Lucy Russell is among the most distinguished of international violinists who have achieved eminence on both historical instruments and their ‘modern’ counterparts, performing and recording music from Monteverdi to the present day with equal distinction and authority. She became leader of the Fitzwilliam String Quartet in 1995, having first joined as second violinist following her graduation from York University seven years previously. With them she has performed all over Europe, North America, the Middle East and South Africa, as well as making recordings for Linn Records, Divine Art, the BBC and various foreign radio stations. As a Baroque and Classical player she has recorded for Channel Classics, Hyperion, DG and Decca. Russell has been leader of Florilegium, Dunedin Consort, Concerto Caledonia, Classical Opera Company, Retrospect Ensemble and the King’s Consort, as well as a director of the Scottish Early Music Consort and a solo violinist in the New London Consort. When time allows she still leads such groups as the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, and she has been invited to guest lead for the City of London Sinfonia. Russell has been associate leader of the Southern Sinfonia, and has also directed the Danish group Ensemble Zimmerman.

Russell has taught and given masterclasses all over the world, including the Czech Republic, the United States, Canada, South Africa and Russia. Closer to home, she has worked at the Royal Academy of Music with the Modern Instrument Baroque Orchestra, and at Trinity College of Music, Royal Holloway College, London; Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge; Birmingham Conservatoire, York University, the Royal Northern College of Music, St Mary’s Music School, Edinburgh; Pro Corda, Dartington Summer School and Benslow Music. She is Professor of Baroque Violin at the Royal College of Music and Visiting Professor of Violin at the University of St Andrews.

Although born in Germany, of Scottish-Norwegian origin, Russell has lived mainly in London. Her studies began as a Junior Exhibitioner at the Royal Academy of Music, and she went on to take music degrees at York, where she gave the first British performance of the Norwegian composer Alfred Janson’s violin concerto Forspil, based on Hardanger violin traditions. Her violin was made by Ferdinando Gagliano in Naples, c.1789.