Ed Cervenka studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England, and graduated in 1998 having gained the GRNCM and PPRNCM with Distinction. For the past 20 years has freelanced with orchestras all over the UK, including BBC Symphony Orchestra, CBSO, BCMG, BBC Philharmonic, RLPO, Royal Northern Sinfonia, LPO and Manchester Camerata. He has also worked with many of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Vasily Petrenko, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Sakari Oramo and Valery Gergiev and his playing has taken him all over Europe, to the USA and the Far East.

Ed has also become established as the leading cimbalom player of his generation. He has performed the solo cimbalom part in Kodaly's Hary Janos Suite on some 40 occasions including with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Hallé Orchestra at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales at the 2011 BBC Proms. He has also worked as a cimbalom player with the London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BCMG, and RTÉ Symphony Orchestra. Recordings include Dutilleux's Mystere de L'Instant with the BBC Philharmonic and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and Stravinsky's Ragtime with the European Solosists Ensemble under Ashkenazy. Increasingly in demand as a session musician, Ed has played cimbalom and dulcimer for numerous film soundtracks including The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Dracula Untold, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Captain America Civil War, Pete’s Dragon, Captain Underpants and Mary Poppins Returns. He is also featured in Robbie Williams album Party Like A Russian.