Kate Gould is a highly versatile cellist, best known for her extensive careering the world of chamber music, principal cello orchestral work and her longstanding membership of the Chamber orchestra of Europe.

She formed the Leopold String trio at the Royal Academy of Music in 1991. They recorded extensively for Hyperion Records, including discs of Schubert, Mozart and Brahms in partnership with pianists Marc Andre Hamelin and Paul Lewis. They were inaugural BBC New Generation Artists and collected many prestigious accolades including a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award and the RPS Award for Chamber Music.

The final line up with Isabelle van Keulen and Lawrence Power gave their last performance in 2012 at the Barbican, playing Tippett’s Triple Concerto with the BBC Symphony Orchestra., live on Radio 3. After this time Kate turned her focus to piano trios with the London Bridge Trio, recording chamber music by Frank Bridge, Schumann and Fauré.

Kate is Artistic Director and cellist of the flourishing Winchester Chamber Music Festival in her hometown, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2027. She is co-artistic director of the Ironstone Chamber Music Festival and is often invited to other festivals, playing regularly in Penarth, Corbridge and Peasmarsh as well as at the Festival de los Site Lagos, Argentina.

Her frequent guest principal cello engagements have recently included London Mozart Player, BBC Philharmonic, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Orchestra Révolutionaire et Romantique.

Kate often gives classes and adjudicates prizes and exams at the London music colleges. She has coached on many chamber music and national youth orchestra courses and will be teaching at the Virtuoso International Music Academy in August 2026, held at Winchester College

Kate Q&A

* Daily life of a Musician -structure of the day

Structure?! Most days are different to the previous one but I find that quite appealing. I’m not sure my boys or dog would agree, and it’s probably more exhausting this way, but it’s never boring.

* How do you cope with being on the road, or the time between?

I try to stay as relaxed as possible while travelling. I might use the time for admin or listening to music for programming research. I often read and then treat myself to a drama I’ve downloaded onto the iPad.

* How do you cope with having all your focus and adrenaline at the end of the day when the rest of the world is winding down?

I try to have an easy day before a concert - a power nap in the afternoon is ideal. It can feel like being in a different time zone - I’ll try to wake up a bit later in the morning if the situation allows.

* What ignited the Chamber Music spark for you?

Partly, listening to the cassette tapes my uncle used to record for us from great broadcasts on Radio 3 (eg, Amadeus Quartet’s Death and the Maiden) but I guess I was always the right personality mix to crave playing music that involved team work at the same time as having a personal voice.

* What do you consider a good balance of Contemporary music and music of an earlier era in programmes, or in your workload load?

I’ve experimented with this in Winchester and respect that, in order to keep the punters happy, you need a good balance of ‘humdingers’ as well as the less known or contemporary works. The performers need to have new experiences and challenges though and I love both old and new in all areas of art and design.

* Venues: intimate venues versus huge concert hall?

I’d go for intimate every time as it’s more natural not to think about projection and I love the detail you can share in a small space.

* Drive/motivation/what keeps you wanting to play music?

The quality of the compositions and the never-ending challenge of becoming a better cellist.