Violinist Jack Liebeck Joins St Mary’s Music School Edinburgh

Liebeck will be teaching violin and viola students at the school

Over the coming year, the London-based violinist Jack Liebeck will be visiting the St Mary’s Music School in Edinburgh to give one-to-one lessons and group classes. 

Liebeck is currently the Emile Sauret Professor of Violin at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he has been on the faculty since 2020. 

The national music school of Scotland, St Mary’s Music School is open to young instrumentalists aged nine to 19. Liebeck will begin working with 13 first study violin and viola students. 

Liebeck’s relationship with the school “has evolved very naturally” in the last five years, says Head of Strings Dr. Valerie Pearson in Edinburgh News, adding that they both “saw an opportunity” while the former was visiting the school for masterclasses. 

In his new role, Liebeck also joins the school’s violin faculty including Kana Kawashima, Rachel Smith, and Allison Stringer. 

“This is an incredible opportunity both for the school and for the pupils,” Dr. Pearson expressed. “They already have exceptional tuition at the school, and bringing in someone like Jack Liebeck adds that bit of stardust and complements perfectly the work we already do. It was clear that pupils were motivated by Jack's expertise and advice, and Jack enjoyed working with our responsive pupils.

“The obvious progression was to have him work with us regularly, pushing our young pupils' learning forward. He also helps pupils to feel more connected to the musical world beyond Scotland, and helps to raise awareness of the school, and its profile, further afield. Jack is an exceptional player and teacher and is a natural fit with the department's exceptional teachers.”

“I am very excited to start working more regularly with the talented young musicians at St Mary’s Music School,” Liebeck added. “Having always enjoyed my previous visits to this wonderful school, the prospect of a closer involvement in helping to mold the next generation of young players is very intriguing and a great responsibility.

“So far I have found that the students are extremely responsive to our time together and I feel that we can make a palpable difference to their long term progress,” he continued. “I look forward to seeing how our work together evolves.”