Italian violinist Lucilla Rose Mariotti Banwell, born in 2001, is a renowned soloist praised for her captivating presence and rich, warm tone which resonates with depth and emotion. With enviable technical mastery, her playing blends profound musicality with striking technical precision.
Most recently, she had the honour of performing for Their Majesties, King Charles III and The Queen Consort, at Highgrove House and Gardens during an event organized by the Italian Embassy in the UK. In 2024, she toured Australia with Vivaldi Gala Night – Journey to Italy performing as a soloist at Winthrop Hall in Perth, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, and the Sydney Opera House. She is a recent First Prize Winner & Audience Award Recipient of the Violins & Soul Salon Music Violin Competition at the 2023 AMADEUS Festival in Vienna, where she was awarded a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin from the Goh Family Collection on a two-year loan. Additionally, she received the Daniele Gay Award, established by violinist Francesca Dego in collaboration with Musica con le Ali Association and supported by Musica al Tempio Association.
From an early age, she has performed as a soloist with esteemed orchestras worldwide. In 2023, Lucilla represented Italy at the European Festival of Soloists in Venezuela, performing with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar under Maestro Rodolfo Saglimbeni. This event was organized by the European Union Delegation in Venezuela and El Sistema. That same year, she performed as a soloist with the RCM Chamber Orchestra during a live-streamed orchestral masterclass led by Maxim Vengerov. She later joined Vengerov to perform Navarra by Sarasate at his 40-year stage career celebration with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall.
In 2022, Lucilla captivated audiences as a soloist with the New English Concert Orchestra at the Battle Proms Concerts, held at iconic UK venues such as Blenheim Palace, Burghley House, Hatfield House, and Highclere Castle. The previous year, she brought to life Thomas Linley Jr.'s Violin Concerto in F Major in its Italian premiere. She has also performed with numerous other orchestras, including the Kensington Philharmonic Orchestra, the Haydn Chamber Orchestra, the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz, the Bohuslav Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra Pardubice, the Harlow Symphony Orchestra, the Eastbourne Symphony Orchestra, the Francigena Chamber Orchestra, the Nuove Assonanze Orchestra, the Strings of Maderna Orchestra, the Note Future Chamber Orchestra, the Florence Symphonietta, and the Orchestra Classica di Alessandria, among others.
As a recitalist, she has appeared at prestigious venues such as Wigmore Hall, the Sale Apollinee of La Fenice Theatre in Venice, the Pitti Palace in Florence in collaboration with Musica con le Ali, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Giardini La Mortella in Ischia supported by the William Walton Foundation, the Villa Lante in Rome with Musicaimmagine and Institutum Romanum Finlandiae, the Italian Institute of Culture in Budapest as a prizewinner of the Campus delle Arti 2017 Prize, the Brera Museum in Milan during EXPO 2015, and the Piaggio Foundation Museum. Among her festival appearances are the Lerici Music Festival, the Amadeus Festival in Vienna, the Animando Festival, and the Francigena International Arts Festival in Lucca, as well as the Bloomsbury Festival in London.
Other notable performances include Weill Recital Hall of Carnegie Hall in New York, where she performed as a prizewinner at the New York International Artists Competition, and the Royal Palace of Gödöllő in Hungary, premiering works by Alfredo D’Ambrosio. She has also performed on multiple occasions aboard Royal Caribbean International cruise ships in the series Cruising with the Classics. Her performances have been broadcast on Vatican Radio, Czech Radio, and Venice Classic Radio.
A passionate chamber musician, Lucilla Rose was awarded a scholarship to participate in the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove in Cornwall in 2023 as well as in the 2024 Keshet Eilon Summer Mastercourse in Altea, Spain, on a full scholarship. During the Amadeus Festival in Vienna, she also took part in the Janoska Ensemble Workshops, exploring innovative approaches to ensemble performance. A recent highlight includes her role as the lead violinist in Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht at Wigmore Hall in London in 2024.
Among her other achievements, she won the Absolute First Prize at the 59th Kocian International Violin Competition in Ústí nad Orlicí, Czech Republic, the Josef Muzika International Violin Competition in Nová Paka, receiving the prize for the best performance of the contemporary Czech piece Dža More, Gypsy ballad for solo violin by Silvia Bodorova, and the ESO 32nd Young Soloist Competition in Eastbourne, where she also received the St Cecilia Bequest Award for the best performance by a musician under 18. In 2019, she was awarded the Maura Giorgetti scholarship by winning the Young Musicians Competition organized by the Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala.
Lucilla Rose is currently studying in the Solo Class at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover under Prof. Krzysztof Węgrzyn. Previously, she completed an Artist Diploma under Prof. Itzhak Rashkovsky at the Royal College of Music (RCM) in London, supported by a full scholarship as a 2023/24 Carne Trust Junior Fellow. She also earned a Master’s in Performance with distinction from RCM, supported by the Anne & Brian Wadsworth Scholarship, the Help Musicians’ Ian Fleming Award, and the Albert Cooper Music Charitable Trust. She was named a 2023 Boise Scholar. Additionally, she studied with Salvatore Accardo at the Stauffer Academy in Cremona and the Chigiana Academy in Siena. In 2020, she graduated summa cum laude with a special mention from the State Music Conservatory Bruno Maderna in Cesena, Italy, having studied privately with Marco Fornaciari since the age of 8. She attended the Vaclav Hudecek Academy in Luhakovice under the guidance of Vaclav Hudecek and Jiří Fišer.
Lucilla Rose is currently performing on a 1709 Antonio Stradivari violin from the Goh Family Collection.
