Clare Hayes studied the violin at the Royal Academy of Music with Winifred Roberts and Erich Gruenberg and received chamber music coaching from the Amadeus Quartet on a Leverhulme Scholarship.
She has been a member of the Grammy nominated Emperor String Quartet since the group was formed in 1992. Following its success as the first British quartet to win the Evian/Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition, it has performed at all the major festivals in the UK and at numerous festivals abroad including the Prague Spring Festival, “Mostly Mozart” New York, Flanders, Monte Carlo, Montpellier/Radio France and Kuhmo in Finland. The quartet has released critically acclaimed CDs of the music of Britten, Martinu and James MacMillan as well as a recording of the Walton string quartets for which it received its Grammy nomination. It has also performed on several film tracks, notably There Will Be Blood and Norwegian Wood (both written by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead).
Clare has a busy and varied freelance career working regularly with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the London Mozart Players and the City of London Sinfonia. She lives in rural Hertfordshire.
