Musicians of the RSAMD

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, YMF 2003

Amy Cardigan (violin) is completing her BMus (Performance) course at the RSAMD this year and currently studies with Simon Fischer, having previously studied with Sally Bell, Richard Deakin and Kyra Humphreys. During her time at the Academy, Amy has performed with distinction, leading Academy orchestras and taking part in a range of chamber music activity. She has won a number of prizes, including the Robert Highgate Scholarship for violinists, the Keldwyth Award competition for young Cumbrian musicians, and reached the regional finals of the Shell LSO Scholarship in 2002. Amy has appeared in masterclasses with Felix Andrievsky, Levon Chilingirian, Sylvia Rosenberg, Rachel Podger, the Allegri, Alberni and Henschl Quartets, the Leopold String Trio and with members of Divertimenti. A former leader of Cumbria Youth Orchestra, she has been a member of the first violin section of the European Union Youth Orchestra for the last two years.

Jenny Strachan (violin) graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2002, and is currently working towards a postgraduate diploma at the RSAMD. She has toured Europe and the UK, playing in such venues as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Royal Albert Hall in London with Camerata Scotland and was leader of the orchestra from 2000-2002. Jenny's solo performances include Bruch's Scottish Fantasy with Edinburgh Schools Symphony Orchestra at the opening of the Scottish Parliament. Her chamber music experience includes performances at the Mendelssohn on Mull Festival and a contemporary music collaboration with musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal College of Art. Jenny plans to return to London in the summer to undertake some follow-up work on this project.

Beverley Parry (viola) hails from Merseyside and began studying the violin at the age of nine with Sally Bleasdale and later with Gillian Bradley. She transferred to the viola at the age of eighteen and played with the Merseyside Youth Orchestra. Beverley is currently in her fourth year at the RSAMD and studies with the Russian violist Lev Atlas. She has taken a full part in the orchestral life of the Academy, leading various viola sections and has also appeared in masterclasses with Philip Dukes and Roger Chase on the viola and in classes given by the Allegri and Alberni Quartets and by members of Divertimenti.

Elizabeth Webster (cello) was born in Fife in 1981 and has been playing for twelve years. She is in her fourth year at the Academy on the BMus (Performance) course studying with Kim Bak Dinitzen and William Conway, both members of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She was taught originally by Fiona MacLeod under whose guidance she won the Fife Festival Concerto Class which led to appearances around Scotland. Elizabeth is a former member of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland and associated NYSOS and at present is awaiting final round auditions for EUYO. She has appeared at many masterclasses at the Academy under the direction of Robert Cohen, Malcolm Martineau, the Allegri and Alberni Quartets.

Susannah Hallas (clarinet) has been playing the clarinet since she was eight, although until age eighteen she primarily studied the recorder under Michaela Petri and Walter Van Hauwe. The clarinet became her principal study whilst at New College, Oxford, where she graduated with an English degree in 2000. She held principal positions with several leading Oxford orchestras, including the Oxford University Philharmonia and Oxford Sinfonietta. As a soloist she has appeared in Ripon Cathedral and Harrogate's Royal Hall and will perform Weber's first Clarinet Concerto with the Glasgow Orchestral Society in March. She is currently completing an MMus in performance at the RSAMD studying with Yann Ghiro, principal of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and in 2002 was the recipient of the Olive Young Memorial Award.

Alan Bacchetti (clarinet) studied the clarinet with Lawrence Gill, sub-principal of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera at the RSAMD and then was awarded RSAMD and Caird Trust scholarships to study with Fabrizio Meloni (La Scala Orchestra) in Milan. Alan returned to Glasgow and the Academy where he is now on the MMus (Performance) course under the tutelage of John Cushing, principal of the RSNO. He recently won the Academy Governors' Recital Prize and has been working with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Christine Smith (horn) was born in Dunfermline and has been playing the horn for nine years. She is completing her BMus degree this year at the RSAMD, studying with David McClenaghan, principal in the RSNO. Christine has been principal horn of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland for the last four years and has been involved with Camerata Scotland and the Britten-Pears Orchestra. Christine has also appeared with the RSNO, Orchestra of Scottish Opera, Scottish Concert Orchestra and the Birmingham Royal Ballet Orchestra. She has been engaged by Scottish Opera to play for their complete Wagner Ring Cycle, a wonderful experience for any aspiring horn player (and one that might only be possible to students studying at the RSAMD!) and she is on trial with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Anano Gokieli (piano) was born in 1983 in Tblisi, Georgia. From 1992 until 2001 she studied at the Central Music Gymnasium in Tblisi with Veka Svanidze and then came to the RSAMD where she is now studying with Philip Jenkins, Head of Keyboard Studies. In 1995 she won the third prize at the Chopin International Competition at Göttingen, Germany and, in 1997, first prize in the Piano Duo Competition in Saint Petersburg, Russia. She has appeared as concerto soloist and chamber music player in her native Georgia, Sweden, Germany, Argentina, Switzerland, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Ireland and the UK. Last year Anano won the highly coveted first prize and Gold Medal in the Beethoven Intercollegiate Competition and was a major prizewinner at the RSAMD.

Anna Bull (piano) grew up on a sheep farm in the North Island of New Zealand and studied piano and cello at Victoria University of Wellington. On graduating she worked as a freelance musician in Wellington, playing with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, the New Zealand Chamber Orchestra and the Wellington Sinfonia. Anna is currently working towards a postgraduate diploma in piano accompaniment at the RSAMD with the Indian pianist Fali Pavri.

Programme details | RSAMD at the Showcase, 2002 | Pictures from 2003