BIOGRAPHY     ^back to top

Luba Tunnicliffe is a versatile performer and enjoys a varied musical career playing both viola and violin. She has performed solo recitals across the UK and abroad, including at London’s Royal Festival Hall and St John's Smith Square, and made her debut as concerto soloist with the Philharmonia Orchestra in June 2016. 

From 2022 - 2024 Luba was Principal Viola of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, working alongside Gordan Nikolić and performing regularly in the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. As a guest Principal, she has done freelance work with the Aurora Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia. As Principal Viola of the 12 ensemble, Luba has performed at the BBC Proms, the Barbican, the Wigmore Hall and End of the Road Festival and alongside artists from a variety of genres such as Nick Cave, Jonny Greenwood, Kojey Radical and Laura Marling. 

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In 2011 while studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she formed the Pelléas Ensemble; the dynamic flute, viola/violin and harp trio perform much of their music from memory and have been praised for their compelling performance and intimate connection with audiences. As strong advocates for this unusual combination of instruments, they have commissioned four new pieces and produced many of their own arrangements. 

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Luba has been a member of the Ruisi Quartet since 2016. They have performed extensively across the UK and abroad, participated in the prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition, IMS Prussia Cove and the Britten-Pears Young Artists Programme. In November 2022 they gave the première of Növények by Thomas Adès in the Wigmore Hall, London, working closely with the composer in the process. 

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Luba is regularly invited to play in chamber music festivals; she performed alongside Steven Isserlis in the 2023 Cervo International festival and appeared at South Downs Summer Music, Alfriston in July 2024. She regularly attends the Open Chamber Music sessions at Prussia Cove and will participate in their 2025 tour around South West England. Alongside the Brodsky Quartet, she has performed in the Nourish and Swaledale festivals. 

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A keen teacher, Luba has given many school workshops and masterclasses with both her chamber groups, as well as children’s concerts working alongside animateurs. She is the co- director of Clun Valley Music, an organisation which carries out educational work and presents high-quality chamber music in Shropshire. They are currently preparing for their 2025 festival on the theme of Rivers, which will feature a new commission by Florence Anna Maunders, and involve local school children and local visual artists. 

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Luba features on various critically acclaimed albums. The Pelléas Ensemble’s debut, ‘Nature and the Imagination’ was released on Linn Records in 2021 and garnered praised from Planet Hugill and Gramophone magazine. In February 2024 they recorded Misha Mullov-Abbado’s Three Meditation Songs alongside Luba’s own arrangements of Barbara Strozzi Madrigals, which will be released on the Italian music label Tactus in 2025. The Ruisi Quartet recorded their second album in June 2024, which features Thomas Adès’ Növények, as well as works by Haydn, Oliver Coates and Ligeti and will be released on Platoon in 2025. Their interpretations of Haydn quartets on their 2023 album ‘Big House’ have been praised by The Strad for their “compelling spontaneity” and “breath-taking clarity”. Luba also features on Mary Bevan’s Visions Illuminées and 12 ensemble’s 2020 and 2024 albums - Death and the Maiden and Metamorphosis. 

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