Elliott Perks

Elliott grew up in Surrey, UK where he was home educated with his siblings until the age of nine. In 2001 he was awarded a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, where he studied with Suzie Meszaros, Rosemary Warren-Green and Loutsia Ibragimova on the violin until 2008, when he changed to first study viola. Elliott was a foundation scholar at the Royal College of Music in London where he studied with Andriy Viytovych.

On graduating from the RCM, Elliott joined the Maxwell String Quartet with whom he won both First Prize and Audience Prize at the Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. Since then the quartet has toured internationally at major festivals and halls, mainly in North America and Europe. Its debut tour of the USA in January 2019 garnered critical acclaim from the New York Times ("eloquent performers who bring the same sense of charisma and sense of adventure to their programming"). They have since played in over 30 states. The two CDs released by Linn Records, featuring string quartets by Haydn alongside the quartet's own compositions, based on Scottish traditional folk music, received glowing reviews from international press.

Elliott performs as a soloist and chamber musician in venues around the UK, including The Wigmore Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert hall, Southbank Centre, Snape Maltings, and The Sage. Whenever possible, Elliott joins forces with his brother, Oscar to perform under the banner of 'the Perks Ensemble'.

Elliott is the professor of chamber music at the Yehudi Menuhin school and has a viola class at the Royal Birmingham Conservatory.

Elliott plays a J.B Vuillaume viola from 1852 and E. Sartory Bow on loan from a very generous benefactor, to whom he is incredibly grateful.