Penny performs as recitalist and chamber musician in festivals and series throughout Europe and the UK. With Ostara Chamber Players she plays regularly in a series in London collaborating with musicians such as Richard Lester and Sacha Rattle. She performs all over the world with a wide variety of ensembles and orchestras and has had a long association with the London Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Earlier in her career she was Co-Principal with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of London Mozart Players. Penny has recently recorded Bach suites 1-3.

Penny teaches at Wells Cathedral School, one of the UK’s five specialist music schools, attracting students internationally. Many of her students go on to win scholarships to the major conservatoires in London, Europe and the USA.  She is regularly invited to give Performance Classes to undergraduate and masters students at the Royal Academy of Music in London and was for many years Professor of Cello at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff. She coaches on the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Academy scheme for young professional musicians.

Penny is also a dedicated chamber music teacher, both as part of her work at Wells and in London where she co-directs con spirito chamber music Sundays (www.conspirito.co.uk) together with pianist Tamar Andrusier.

Penny studied the cello with Ralph Kirshbaum, whilst taking a degree in Russian at Cambridge University, and as a postgraduate at the Royal Northern College of Music.  She was awarded a Countess of Munster scholarship to study with Marc Johnson of the Vermeer Quartet in the USA where she was a finalist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s concerto competition.  She completed her studies in Moscow with legendary Russian teacher Natalya Shakhovskaya.