London-based New Zealand cellist and pianist Lucy Gijsbers graduated top of her class in 2018 with an Artist Diploma from the Royal College of Music, London. She completed her Bachelor of Music in cello and piano performance with first-class Honors in 2014, and in 2015 completed her Master of Music at the New Zealand School of Music.
Lucy plays with with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, English National Opera, New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Oxford Philharmonic, Nordic Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestra of the Swan, amongst others.
She has been concerto soloist with the Wellington Youth Orchestra playing Elgarʼs cello concerto, and has also performed as soloist with the Michael Monaghan Young Musicianʼs Foundation Orchestra and the Tawa Orchestra. In 2018 she was a prizewinner at the RCM Cello Competition.
She has performed in venues throughout the UK, Italy, Estonia, United Arab Emirates, Australia and New Zealand. Lucy performed in the 2018 Lincolnshire International Chamber Music Festival, and also the Swansea International Festival, Windsor Festival, Adelaide International Cello Festival and the Canberra International Music Festival. In September 2015 she was invited to attend the Melbourne Cello Festival, where she performed Ligeti’s Solo Cello Sonata in the Rising Stars Concert.
She has participated in masterclasses with Lynn Harrell, Wolfgang Schmidt, Philippe Muller, Richard Aaron, Marko Ylonen, Alisa Weilerstein, Narek Hakhnazaryan, Georg Pedersen, Leonard Elschenbroich, Alvin Wong, Rowena Calvert, John Myerscough, Andrew Joyce, Shmuel Magen, Michael Klinghoffer, Susan Blake, Euan Murdoch, James Tennant, Michael Haber, the NZ String Quartet, the NZ Trio, the Cavaleri Quartet, Michael Houston, Peter Nagy, Sofya Gulyak and John Chen, amongst others.
Whilst still in high school, she gained DipABRSM cello performance, and DipABRSM and LTCL in piano performance, both with distinction. She received the Hedy King Robinson award twice for excellence in music theory exams, and was been awarded many scholarships.
She is the founder of London Strings and London Cello Studio.
Publications: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10063/4923/thesis.pdf?sequence=1
Lucy has had years of teaching experience and loves teaching adults and children alike. She tailors her teaching style to suit each pupil’s needs, and has had fantastic reviews from her students. Many of her students have sat Trinity and ABRSM exams, all with a 100% pass rate. She taught and examined keyboard and music theory to first and second year university students at the New Zealand School of Music for two years.
Lucy may be able to travel to your home for lessons for an extra fee.
Lucy has introduced me to cello for the first time this year and it’s been a pretty amazing experience!
As an adult leaner, I have found Lucy’s lessons to be really enjoyable and also challenging. She very quickly picks up areas where I can improve and almost straight away I have found a real improvement in my ability. She’s really friendly and approachable and gives clear direction and comments.
I work long awkward shifts at work, but Lucy has proved to be incredibly flexible around these, we just text or email when to fit the lessons in. And she has even come straight to my house for each lesson, is never late. Considering she also has a busy schedule, I have really appreciated it.
I had a wee cello recital with my family after 6 months of lessons, and they were very impressed with the way my playing has improved from nothing to recognisable music!
It’s been an incredible few months and I thank you Lucy for all your hard work and commitment. Cheers for making the cello an achievable dream. – Lisa
Lucy has been teaching my three children (ages 11,10, and 8) since mid-2013. All three enjoy their lessons and get on well with Lucy. She is has a lovely manner with the children and is patient, calm and very encouraging. We have found Lucy to be reliable and consistent. Over the course of the lessons my eldest child has been preparing for her first piano exam and Lucy has coached her through this with confidence and skill. Since beginning lessons with Lucy we have seen a marked improvement in all three children’s musical knowledge. We look forward to many future lessons. – Helen, mother
Lessons with Lucy have been amazing. Shes so easy to learn from, from the smallest things like being able to not be afraid to speak my mind or the biggest of actually getting me to understand my music theory. She makes learning such a relaxed environment, and pushes me to actually achieve well. Since starting to work with Lucy, Ive been getting stronger and stronger with my music in a general sense, as I understand what I am actually playing, and the language and logic behind it. Im very glad to have started lessons with her, they have definitely been more than what I could of asked for. – Jessica
Please give a minimum 48 hours’ notice for cancellations, otherwise the fee must still be paid. Lessons are to be paid for on the day.
