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Maxine started learning the cello at the age of six and the piano at the age of five. Cello quickly became her main instrument and she won a County Scholarship at the age of ten and received an ABRSM Gold Award for the highest marks in the country for her Grade 8 at the age of seventeen. As a teenager Maxine learnt with Florence Hooton MBE and she went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London, learning with Michael Evans and Joan Dickson. At the RCM Maxine studied cello as her first instrument and piano as her second.
During her freelance career, Maxine has played for the Queen and has also played alongside Mstislav Rostropovich, Jose Carreras, Hayley Westenra and ‘All Angels’. She has also toured with Castleward Opera in Northern Ireland, played with the Ulster Orchestra and in the West End musical “CATS” in Zurich. She now works as a freelance player and teacher in and around the Midlands where she manages, and plays in, her string quartet, “4tissimo”, whilst being a full-time mum to her two boys.