Born in
Middlesbrough, Caroline Dale studied at the
Royal Academy of Music in London with
Florence Hooton, and later with
Pierre Fournier in Geneva. In 1978, at the age of 13 she won the String Final of the
BBC's
Young Musician of the Year in 1978. At fifteen she was the youngest ever recipient of the
Isserlis Scholarship. She was a member of the
Nigel Kennedy Quartet and the
Balanescu Quartet, was a founder member of the Apollo Piano Trio in 1997, and played cello with the
Scottish Ensemble and the
London Chamber Orchestra. As well as her current position as principal cellist of the English Chamber Orchestra, Dale has appeared as a soloist with a number of orchestras including the
London Philharmonic and
Royal Philharmonic orchestras. Working with Nigel Kennedy in his quartet was a turning point for Dale. "He encouraged me to be a total musician who enjoys playing everything". A follow-up,
Interview with the Angel, was released in 2001. She played with David Gilmour during his 2002 solo tour dates, and on his album
On an Island. She appears on the
David Gilmour in Concert DVD which was recorded at
Robert Wyatt's
Meltdown concert and the
Royal Festival Hall concert, both in 2002. Also in 2002, Dale released
Such Sweet Thunder, an album of classical music with performances of
Handel's Sarabande from the D-minor harpsichord suite, and the Largo from
Vivaldi's E minor Cello Sonata. In 2008, she appeared, playing solo cello, at
Ron Geesin's two performances of the "
Atom Heart Mother Suite", with
Pink Floyd Italian tribute band Mun Floyd, the Royal College Brass Ensemble, and the choral group Canticum. David Gilmour made a guest appearance on the second night. She performed with David Gray during the "Live in Slow Motion" tour and again in 2014, and she contributed and played on his album
Skellig, released in February 2021. Since the mid-1990s and up until as recently as 2007, she was Sinéad O'Connor's touring cellist. She often sang with O'Connor and her band on the song "In This Heart", from the 1994 album
Universal Mother. Dale plays cello on a number of tracks on U2's 2009 album
No Line on the Horizon. She often collaborates with film composers
Klaus Badelt,
Ilan Eshkeri and
Dario Marianelli. Scores featuring her playing include
Truly, Madly, Deeply,
Hilary and Jackie (about the life of
Jacqueline du Pré),
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, as well as the 2005 adaptation of
Jane Austen's
Pride and Prejudice and 2007's
Atonement, in which she plays the solo cello part in Marianelli's
Elegy for Dunkirk. ==References==