Leo Appel, violin (Oxford, UK), performs as a soloist and chamber musician across Europe. He enjoys regular appearances with the Esbjerg Ensemble, a Danish chamber collective, as well as with the Oxford Bach Soloists and Arcangelo. His most recent concerto performance was Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante with Kammerorchester Basel. He also held an Academist position with the orchestra for the 2022–2023 season. Leo is a graduate of St John’s College, University of Cambridge, and during his time there he studied violin with David Takeno. He is currently continuing his studies on the Soloist Masters course at the Musik Akademie Basel with Barbara Doll and Baroque Violin with Amandine Beyer. At Cambridge, Leo directed a performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion from the violin. In 2019, he formed an ensemble and went on to conceive and direct two concert series of Judeo-Spanish and Judeo-Arabic music. Since then, he has collaborated with composers on a series of performances of new chamber music on Jewish themes at Kings Place, London. He is looking forward to future concerts in venues such as the Wigmore Hall. Leo has upcoming engagements at festivals including IMS Prussia Cove (UK), Marlboro (USA), Schiermonnikoog (Netherlands), and Chalosse (France). He has participated in masterclasses with Maxim Vengerov, Leonidas Kavakos, Steven Isserlis, Philippe Graffin, and Tabea Zimmermann, Robert Levin, and Andreas Staier. Leo is generously supported by Rahn Kulturfonds and Stiftung Lyra and has been awarded the Julius Isserlis prize by the Royal Philharmonic Society. He plays on a violin by Joseph Gagliano.