Initially trained in London with David Martin, Lorraine McAslan moved to New York at the age of seventeen on the recommendation of Isaac Stern to study with Dorothy Delay at the Juilliard School. Since then she has shared the concert platform with many of Britain's greatest orchestras, including the London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Royal Scottish National, Royal Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool, Scottish Chamber Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra, and with conductors including Andrew Davis, Raymond Leppard, Jerzy Maksymuik, Libor Pesek, the late Alexander Gibson and Jukka Pekka Saraste.
Her European debut with the Bern Symphony Orchestra in 1987 under Eliahu Inbal was broadcast live on Swiss Radio. In addition to playing regularly on British network radio her much acclaimed television appearances include performances with the BBC Welsh and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras and recitals on BBC 2's Music in Camera series.
Lorraine is in great demand as a concerto soloist worldwide. In addition to an extensive standard repertoire, she has given performances of the concertos of Howard Blake and Lionel Sainsbury. Internationally she has toured Japan with the London Chamber Orchestra and appeared with the Royal Oman Symphony Orchestra. In 2002 she returned to the Singapore Symphony Orchestra to give a performance of the Bruch Violin concerto No. 2 to great critical acclaim. A committed chamber musician, Lorraine performs in recital with John Blakely, Nigel Clayton, John Lenehan and Piers Lane. She has become a popular performer at festivals throughout the U.K. including Aldeburgh, Bath and Cheltenham. In 2006 Lorraine was appointed first violin to the Maggini String Quartet. She now pursues a busy concert and recording schedule with the quartet, including the premiere of the tenth Naxos Quartet by Peter Maxwell Davies at the Wigmore Hall in October 2007.
Lorraine's recordings for ASV, Collins and Naxos include concertos by Mozart and Hoffman, and chamber works by Elgar, Walton, Beethoven, Debussy, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, and Britten. Her critically acclaimed recording of the Britten Violin concerto with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1990 was re-released in September 2005 on Naxos label, and the 1985 ASV disc of Elgar and Walton sonatas was re-released in 2006 on the renamed Sanctuary Classics/ASV label. Her interest in neglected British composers has led her to record numerous discs for Dutton Epoch Label. Among them are chamber works and violin sonatas by Frank Bridge, Kenneth Leighton, Arthur Benjamin, Sir Granville Bantock, Dorothy Howell and two discs of duets and sonatas by Rebecca Clarke. The latest Dutton disc features Lorraine in the violin concerto by York Bowen, in collaboration with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Vernon Handley.
Lorraine pursues a busy teaching career at the Royal Academy of Music, and plays on an Andreas Guarneri violin of 1691, on kind loan from the Academy. She was awarded an Honorary Associateship of the Academy in 2007.
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