At the age of ten, Andrew Watkinson became one of the first pupils at the Yehudi Menuhin School and when sixteen, began four years of foreign study, first in Switzerland and then in Leningrad.
Andrew’s teachers included Joseph Szigeti and Franco Gulli. In 1976, Andrew won 2nd prize in the Carl Flesch Competition and started a frantic life of solo playing and freelancing in London. This became even more chaotic when the Endellion Quartet started in 1979.
For the first twenty years of the quartet’s existence Andrew also led and directed the City of London Sinfonia, as well as guest directing many of the London chamber orchestras, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, and continuing to play as a soloist.