London Philharmonic Orchestra Announces New Co-Leader

American violinist Alice Ivy-Pemberton will assume the role as of February 2023

This week, the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) welcomed violinist Alice Ivy-Pemberton as an associate concertmaster. In the 2022/23 season, the 25-year-old will debut on Merkin Concert Hall’s Tuesday Matinée Series and lead the LPO at Royal Festival Hall and in concerts around the UK.

“Truly over the moon to be joining [LPO] as their new Co-Leader!” Ivy-Pemberton wrote on Facebook. “I could not ask for a warmer, more spectacular group of musicians and people to work with, and I’m so thrilled to make London my home. 

“Thank you (x100000) to my dear mentors, friends, and family who have supported me so unconditionally through all the twists and turns of musical life — even when it meant moving an ocean away,” she continued. “Cheers to this new adventure.”

A former student of Nurit Pacht at New York’s Kaufman Music Center, Ivy-Pemberton recently completed her master's degree at The Juilliard School, studying with Itzhak Perlman and Catherine Cho. 

At age 10, she performed as a soloist and with Gil Shaham on the PBS series “From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall,” and two years later, she became the youngest candidate in the International Menuhin Competition, where she was selected as one of eight finalists. 

Throughout her undergraduate studies, she won Juilliard’s Violin Concerto Competition, performed at Alice Tully Hall, gave the world premiere of Marc Migó’s Nocturne for Violin and Piano with the Juilliard Orchestra, and was awarded the Prix du Directeur at the Conservatoire Américain de Fontainebleau, and the 2019 Benzaquen Career Advancement Grant. In 2022, she was awarded Juilliard’s Joseph W. Polisi Prize.

Ivy-Pemberton has performed with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra as a guest musician and has performed at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Music@Menlo, and Yellow Barn’s 2020 season.

She has since received invitations to the Tippet Rise Arts Center as Artist-in-Residence, and to be Visiting Artist at Brown University, where she collaborated on and performed seven world premieres for solo violin. 

Additionally, her social impact projects have included an audiovisual work, Drowning Monuments, which unites five newly-commissioned pieces for solo violin by Juilliard composers — each reflecting a part of New York City that will be threatened by climate change before the end of the century.