I had a great time recently working for Children's Classic Concerts at their Percussion Station as part of the Big Music for Minis weekend here in Glasgow. We had a 'Percussion Free-for-all' where the children could try all the different percussion instruments - many for the first time - from djembes to gathering drums and much, much more! 

We then had 'Playing Together' sessions where we did call & response, starts & stops, created massive rain storms, and generally made as much noise as possible! 

Here we are doing 'Creepy, creepy spider' with actions and drums.

I am very pleased that after a successful interview in the summer I have been added to the Extra Musician list at the Big Noise project at Raploch in Stirling (bassoon & oboe!). Raploch is the home of the first Big Noise Orchestra - the first orchestra of its kind in the UK, modelled on, and working closely with, El Sistema from Venezuela. 

Big Noise in Raploch operates from the Community Campus on Drip Road with children from the nursery, Our Lady’s Primary, Raploch Primary, Castleview Primary, Wallace High and St Modan’s High. The orchestra is also open to Raploch children who attend school elsewhere.

I have been in working with these children on numerous occasions now and I am finding it very rewarding. I also benefited from working closely with Simon Rennard, their excellent double reed tutor, during my training. 

I look forward to working more with these children and this exciting project in the future.

Update: I am delighted to announce that I have received funding from The Loan Fund for Musical Instruments and The Flax Trust! Both have been very generous and I cannot thank them enough. I have just finished playing Beethoven's 5th Symphony with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and I cannot wait for further engagements like this. (March 2014)

I am very excited to be trying what I hope will be my very own contrabassoon! 

I have had this lovely Mollenhaüer since September and I am really enjoying playing it in professional ensembles in Scotland. 

This Mollenhaüer contrabassoon has a bit of a mysterious background; made in the 1940s it seems to have been bought first by Indiana University in America. It was inherited by a clarinettist here in the UK from their grandfather but very little is known about it. The contrabassoon, however, is in very fine fettle and plays beautifully despite its old age. 

Since September I have been playing bassoon & contrabassoon with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra as well as with the Red Note Ensemble in Scotland. In January I was also asked to play contrabassoon with the Young Musicians' Symphony Orchestra in London at St. John's Smith Square. 

I am really enjoying playing contrabassoon with these ensembles and I look forward to many more engagements like this in the future. This Mollenhaüer contrabassoon is perfect for me and I hope I will soon be able to secure the funding required to make it my own!

The Clandeboye Festival was a great success for me, I benefited from a week of expert tuition from Michel Lethiec and I also really enjoyed playing in the 'Young Musicians of the Future' concert as part of the festival. I performed Heitor Villa-Lobos' Ciranda das Sete Notas with up-and-coming Northern Irish pianist, Michael McHale. 

The concert was reviewed in the Belfast Telegraph by Andrew Johnston: 'Musical Youth Enrapture Audience'. Andrew was very complementary of all the musicians, describing my playing as "characterful".

After the Clandeboye Festival things kept improving as I was asked to join Camerata Ireland on their tour to Mexico! Barry Douglas would be performing all of Beethoven's Piano Concertos including the one for violin arranged for piano in concerts in Mexico City, Léon, and in Guanajuato as part of the 'Festival Internacional Cervantino'. Irish President Michael D. Higgins, joint patron of the orchestra, was also in attendance at our concert in Mexico City. 

Myself and Leonie Bluett are mentioned in this article in the Journal of Music as being two of the young musicians from the Clandeboye Festival taking part in the tour: http://journalofmusic.com/listing/20-10-13/camerata-ireland-mexico. 

While in Mexico we played to thousands of people and were very warmly received, we even made it onto Time Out México:

I had a really great time touring and playing with Camerata Ireland and I hope it will be the first of many! I'll leave you with some of the photos I took while in Mexico: 

I'm delighted to announce that I will be playing as part of the 'Hot Chocolate at 10' series in Old Saint Paul's Episcopal Church at the Edinburgh Fringe again this summer. With many of the players from last year we will be performing an exciting and varied programme: 

• Muczynski, "Fragments" for Trio 
• Poulenc, Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon 
• Caplet, Quintet for Piano and Winds 

"Finish your day relaxing to music by candlelight in the surroundings of this historic and aesthetically sensuous church". Our concert is on Friday 9th August and creamy hot chocolate is served from 21:30 to 21:55 - not to be missed!

A full list of all the concerts taking place at Old Saint Paul's during the Festival and ticket booking can be found here: http://www.osp.org.uk/index.php/calendar/hot_chocolate. Our clarinettist and pianist also have a concert on the 6th.

At the end of this summer I will also be taking part in the Clandeboye Festival again. I am very excited to be working with Michel Lethiec once more as well as playing in the 'Young Musicians of the Future' concert on Thursday 22nd August. Full details of the festival and the international artists performing can be found here: http://www.camerata-ireland.com/clandeboye.html.

Above is a recording from rehearsals of the Poulenc which I will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival and which I am hoping to persuade Michel Lethiec into playing during the Clandeboye Festival!

This year I have been playing with a newly-formed wind quintet from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Sirocco Winds. The wind quintet is comprised of Masters students at the RCS; Matthew Howells - flute, Sinziana Mugea - oboe, Charlie Sheppard Vine - Clarinet, Samantha Wright - horn, Russell Porter - bassoon. 

Throughout the year we have been coached by David Hubbard (Principal Bassoon, Royal Scottish National Orchestra) and have been finalists in the Govenors' Chamber Recital Prize as well as performing new works written for wind quintet by Oliver Newman in Plug, the Contemporary Music Festival at the RCS.

We have taken part in educational sessions this year introducing the wind quintet to school children in Glasgow. We also give children the chance to compose for wind quintet in our educational workshop Music Makers. 

Next year will be very exciting; we have our first public recital as part of the Bearsden Cross Church's 'Coffee Concert Series' and a potential tour to Romania!

Above is a recording from our first studio sessions in April 2013. More music from Sirocco Winds can be found on my website here or on SoundCloud.

So it's nearly a year since I last posted here - how did that happen? Time certainly has flown. 

Well, I have now finished my Masters at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and I will be graduating at the start of July. But let me try and round-up a very successful year, however late, for prosperity's sake. 


I took part in an exciting project with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera this year after successfully auditioning for a place on their Apprenticeship Scheme. Under the baton of Francesco Corti I played with the Orchestra of Scottish Opera at the City Halls, Glasgow, in a concert celebrating Verdi's anniversary performing La Forza del Destino overture and scenes from Simon Boccanegra with soloist from Scottish Opera.

I also successfully auditioned for the Apprenticeship Scheme with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra this year. As part of the scheme I participated in three rehearsals: 

1. Strauss - Don Juan, Tchaikovsky - Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture, conducted by Christian Kluxen (Assistant Conductor). 
2. Adams - Doctor Atomic Symphony, conducted by Peter Oundjian (Music Director RSNO). 
3. Stravinsky, Petrushka, conducted by Thomas Søndergård (Principal Guest Conductor). 
   

Playing with this professional orchestra under these world-class conductors was such an amazing experience and something I hope to do again soon - but no longer as an apprentice! 

Other concerts I have played in this year with the Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra include:

• Stravinsky - Jeu de Cartes, Brahms - Symphony No. 3, conducted by Christopher Adey.
• Bax - Tintagel, Britten - Sinfonia da Requiem, Holst - The Planets Suite, conducted by Garry Walker.
• Nielsen - Helios overture, Prokofiev - Symphony No. 5, conducted by Christian Kluxen.

This year at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland I was also lucky enough to have masterclasses with Nick Reader (former Principal Contrabassoon, RSNO) and Ben Hudson (Hallé Orchestra, Ensemble 360).




I finished this year with my Final Recital in the Stevenson Hall. I choose some challenging works and I was very pleased with the performance. 

• Grovlez, Sicilienne Et Allegro Giocoso
  
• Villa-Lobos, Ciranda das Sete Notas
• Poulenc, Sonata for Clarinet and Bassoon
• Hurlstone, Sonata in F major for Bassoon and Piano

Thanks must go to Charlie Sheppard Vine (clarinet) and especially to Scott Mitchell (piano) for their hard work and tremendous musicality.