Thirteen-year-old Leora Cohen from Highgate Synagogue made her debut as a violinist with the National Youth Orchestra at the weekend, playing concerts in Leeds on Saturday night and at the Barbican the following day.
A music scholar at Channing School who also attends the Royal College of Music, Leora was accepted for the orchestra last year.
“It was her first attempt,” said her mother, Dr Cindy Nonoo Cohen. “We didn’t expect it as they usually take older teenagers from 16. There are very few at 13.
“Leora was very musical from nine months old — she’d be conducting classical music in the car, moving her arms in two time and three time.
“As soon as she picked up a violin when she was nearly six, she took to it.”
The Leeds concert will be broadcast on Radio Three on Sunday.
Dr Cohen is herself a talented violinist, who travels with the World Doctors’ Orchestra.
She is also one of the British delegates to the European Jewish Parliament set up last year.
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