Cora Venus Lunny

Who is Cora Venus Lunny?

Cora Venus Lunny is an Irish violinist. Her father is the musician Dónal Lunny and she is the niece of Manus Lunny.

Established as one of Ireland's leading classical musicians since her teens, Cora Venus Lunny is active as a soloist, chamber musician, interpreter of contemporary classical music, improvising violinist and composer.

Born into a musical family of Irish and German parents in Dublin, Cora Venus was given her first violin at the age of three, immediately showing a natural aptitude and love for the instrument. She was classically trained in the Suzuki Method. A brief fling with movie acting failed to distract her, and a life in music became her goal. From the age of thirteen she studied intensively with highly respected violinists around Europe, including Rimma Sushanskaya, Joji Hattori, Alexander Arenkov, Arkady Futer, Lara Lev and Vladimir Spivakov.

In 2002, Cora was a guest musician on Sinéad O'Connor's album of traditional Irish songs, "Sean Nos Nua", her first excursion into the truly "non-classical" world. This inspired her to improvise more and experiment with other genres of music. A few months in Vienna among the classical establishment became an unintentional sabbatical, and confirmed for Cora that despite her love for classical music, she needed to broaden her musical horizons.