Inez Karlsson began playing the cello at the age of 6 with Maryan Balkwill at the Colourstrings Music School. Since the age of 10 she has been studying at the Royal College of Music Junior Department. For five years she studied with the late Michal Kaznowski, and from autumn 2023 she has started to study with Professor Melissa Phelps from the Royal College of Music. She is a music scholar at the Godolphin and Latymer School.
She made her solo debut in a performance of the Rococo Variations by Tchaikovsky with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Delyana Lazarova, at the beginning of 2023 when she had just turned 15. She was awarded first prize in the Nordic Edition Polstjärnepriset 2023, which is the biggest competition in the Nordic countries for under 19. After winning this competition she has been invited to perform as a soloist with major Swedish orchestras at the major concert halls in Sweden such as the Gothenburg Concert Hall, Berwaldhallen in Stockholm and the Stockholm Concert Hall.
One of the concerts she was invited to after winning the competition was the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra’s annual Swedish National Day outdoor concert in June 2023 where she and Barbara Hannigan performed as soloists with the orchestra, conducted by Johannes Gustavsson, in front of an audience of 25,000.
In August 2023 she performed with Polstjärnepriset Symphony Orchestra in Berwaldhallen in Stockholm at the Baltic Sea Music Festival. Her performance was live-streamed on Swedish classic radio P2 and she was invited to multiple radio P2 live interviews during the Festival.
In September 2023 she performed at the Swedish Parliament's Opening Festive Concert at Stockholm Concert Hall together with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Mika Eichenholz. She performed in front of Swedish King and Queen and other members of the royal family, the Cabinet, Parliament members, and foreign ambassadors. Her performance was live broadcasted on Swedish National TV SV2.
Inez has frequently participated in local music festivals from an early age and won many prizes. Among them are the Premier Cup at the North London Festival, and Kingston Young Musician of the Year 2023. She is also a chamber musician and orchestra member. In 2022 Inez was a member of the National Youth Orchestra.
She has received masterclasses from Colin Carr, Raphael Wallfisch, Alexander Baillie, Richard Lester, Joely Koos, Jakob Koranyi and Andreas Brantelid.
Inez plays on the cello of the late Michal Kaznowski, made in 1745 in Genoa by Jacobus Philippus Cordanus, kindly on loan from the Kaznowski family.
Inez has been awarded the 2023 Hans Dalborg Young Artist Music Scholarship in Sweden. She has been generously supported by the Christine Brown Trust and the Wrightson Trust.
See: Inez Karlsson at Breinton in the 2024 Local Young Performers Soirée on Saturday 10 February