Biography
I WAS born in 1975 and spent my formative years in Edinburgh. Despite failing a basic musicianship test at primary school, at the age of eight I was offered a cello, in a largely futile attempt to keep me out of trouble. Studying first with Margaret Iverson at Juniper Green Primary School, I then moved to the renowned Edinburgh teacher Eleanor “Kitty” Gregorson MBE in 1986. In the same year, I was awarded a Ferguson Music Bursary to attend George Watson’s College, where I also studied piano, first with Stephanie Hughes and later with Gillian Gray. It was at Watson’s also that I first discovered chamber music and I joined a string quartet which — under the guidance of teacher Cecilia Cavaye — went on to be winners at the National Chamber Music Competition of Great Britain for two years running.
I joined the Edinburgh Youth Orchestra at the age of fifteen and enjoyed
it so much that I stayed with them for seven years. I participated in
tours to both Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, during which the
orchestra won accolades such as the Best Orchestra and Best
Radio Performance awards at the Vienna International Youth
Music Festival. In 1996 I was appointed as Principal Cellist, a
position I retained until I left the orchestra. I met many lifelong
friends and colleagues at EYO and it was there that I formed No. 86,
an amateur string quartet which went on to become an established
name in Edinburgh’s musical society.
At the age of sixteen I joined the Junior School of the Royal Scottish
Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, where I continued my studies
with Patricia Hair, achieving Distinction in my Grade 8 cello exam in the process.
I left the RSAMD and George Watson’s College in 1993, having won several school music awards, and went to York University to pursue a BA in Music. Here I developed a particular interest in contemporary music, playing with the University’s New Music Group, whilst continuing my cello studies with Anna Shuttleworth in Leeds.
After completing my undergraduate studies, I went on to attain a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. My cello tutor, Jennifer Curtis, quickly ironed out many of the niggles in my playing and prepared me for life as a professional musician. Whilst at the RNCM, I also participated heavily in chamber music and continued to pursue my interest in contemporary music with the college’s New Ensemble and the emerging Manchester-based ensemble eleven. I was also awarded a place on the BBC Philharmonic’s Professional Access Scheme, participating in a series of rehearsals and recordings throughout my final year at college.
Since my graduation, I have remained in Manchester, where I enjoy an active freelance career, performing regularly with my piano trio (the Ryebank Trio) and with professional orchestras and ensembles throughout the UK and abroad, including the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, Opera North, Manchester Camerata, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Skipton Camerata, to name but a few.
I also perform regularly as a soloist in recitals and concertos, including performances of the Haydn C major Concerto with Skipton Camerata, the Schumann Concerto with Alderley Edge Orchestra, the Beethoven Triple Concerto with Liverpool Mozart Orchestra and, most recently, the Brahms Double Concerto with St Helens Sinfonietta.