Violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen has always pulled the strings

As a small child, Waley-Cohen insisted her parents book music lessons for her, says Jo Kerrigan

SOME people know their future career almost from the cradle, and that was true of Tamsin Waley-Cohen. “I was just two when I saw a violin being played on the Proms, on television, and I was utterly fascinated by the sounds it made. It was so expressive, like a voice,” she says.

She began pestering her parents (theatre-manager father, sculptor mother), who, at first, didn’t take her seriously, but who eventually realised that their daughter was serious and so they arranged lessons. She hasn’t looked back, but she had a normal childhood, too.