Our Spring 2022 soloist - Layla Köhler Baratto oboist.

Born in Brazil, oboist and ABRSM scholar, Layla Köhler Baratto won her first award at the age of 11 in the Municipal Music School of São Paulo Young Soloists Competition. She has also won the São Paulo Symphony Young Soloists 2017 in first place, the Ernani de Almeida Machado Prize and the Eleazar de Carvalho Prize, the most prestigious prize of Brazil. In London, she won the Grimaldi Cor Anglais Competition in first place, and the Royal College of Music Concerto Competition in third place, performing the Richard Strauss oboe concerto, having a mark of 92% in the first round.

Winning the São Paulo Symphony Young Soloists gave her the opportunity to perform three concerts accompanied by the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra as a guest soloist in the 2018 season. With the same orchestra she has taken part in a CD recording in their Villa-Lobos series.

Layla currently studies at the Royal College of Music of London holding a full ABRSM scholarship and is under the tuition of Olivier Stankiewicz and Fabien Thouand. In 2021 she had her Erasmus+ mobility at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris under Jacques Tys. Before coming to the UK Layla studied at the São Paulo Symphony for 2 years with the professor Joel Gisiger.

Layla has participated in masterclasses with Heinz Holliger, Albrecht Mayer, Christian Wetzel, Jacques Tys, Washington Barella and Cristina Gòmez.

She has played in several youth orchestras in Brazil and toured to many countries like Germany, Switzerland, USA, France, Netherlands and Italy with soloists such as Martha Argerich and Maria João Pires. Layla had the opportunity of being conducted by Marin Alsop, Giancarlo Guerrero, Neil Thompson, Robert Trevino, and Alexander Liebreich. She has performed at some important concert halls such as Philharmonie de Paris, Konzerthaus Berlin, Victoria Hall, Barbican Centre, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts, Alice Tully Hall, and Sala São Paulo.

Layla is performing with the KPO as part of an exciting new partnership with the Royal College of Music under which the orchestra will provide at least one concerto opportunity for an outstanding RCM student each season.