Musician and former CEO and Artistic Director of ChamberStudio
London, UK
Richard Ireland is a celebrated chamber musician with an international career as a performer, mentor and violin professor. In a split second in Autumn 2022, he was knocked off his pedal-bike, and ‘knocked off’ his life trajectory. His gradual recovery has brought with it a silver lining and an enthused vision for a different next chapter.
Richard is a Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and is sought after as a performance coach by musicians at all stages of their careers.
He was founder, CEO and Artistic Director of the London-based nonprofit, ChamberStudio, which provides year-round specialised coaching and support to emerging professional chamber musicians in the UK, and is now the portal to a career for all aspiring UK chamber ensembles. In recognition of his teaching and his work creating ChamberStudio, Richard was awarded the 2014 Cobbett Medal by the Worshipful Company of Musicians. Previous recipients include Pablo Casals, Yehudi Menuhin, and even Sir Edward Elgar in 1928!
Richard holds a First-Class Honours degree in Pure Mathematics from the Open University which he studied part time in his 30s purely out of love for the subject.
In the Summer of 2024, together with his wife, Richard walked for two months across the Pyrenees mountain range all the way from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean to celebrate the good fortune of his recovery after all the uncertainty. They have two grown up children who both live and work nearby in London.