THE TEAM

VERITY WALKER - Event Manager

Verity was brought up in Cullicudden on the Black Isle and was educated at Fortrose Academy, where as well as playing the flute she enjoyed taking part in many musical performances, including the Inverness Festival, the Mod, and the musicals Oliver! and The Boyfriend.  Her early career saw her working for the National Trust and she managed a box office and events programme for its busy Thames & Chilterns Region. Events managed included open air Shakespeare, many open air music and fireworks concerts (for audiences up to 12,000) and theatrical performances. She returned to the Black Isle with her young family in 2002 and has been running her heritage consultancy, Interpretaction from her office in Fortrose since then. Interpretaction clients include Forestry Commission Scotland, British Waterways, Highland Council and the Woodland Trust. She is well known as a local community volunteer and founded and helps to run the Black Isle Gathering, which is funded by the Highland Council Black Isle Ward team.

 ALASDAIR NICOLSON - Musical Director and Conductor

Alasdair was born in Inverness and brought up on the Isle of Skye and the Black Isle where he attended Fortrose Academy. An award-winning composer and conductor, he is now regarded internationally as one of Scotland's most important musical voices. He has written music for many of the leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists in the UK and abroad. Premieres have been given by the Nash Ensemble, the London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia amongst others. His music has performed all over the world from Sydney to New York, Tokyo to Toronto. He has a strong commitment to work within education, with amateur performers, and particularly with young composers; he Director of the St Magnus Composers' Course for young professionals and Artistic Director of the RPS award-winning Sound Inventors Project. He is also a performer and began his early career as a repetiteur with the Opera de Monte Carlo and has conducted many of the UK's leading orchestras including the London Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. He is well known for his work combining amateur and professional performers and has directed choral and instrumental performances as well as community operas for many UK festivals and orchestras most recently drawing together several choruses and children's choirs to perform at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra.

BLACK ISLE LEISURE CENTRE

Centre Manager Ian Goode

The Black Isle Leisure Centre and its associated facilities, the Theatre and Football fields and Town Halls are available to provide the opportunity for a wide range of education, cultural and leisure experiences that contribute to the Health and Wellbeing of individuals, families, visitors and the Black Isle community as a whole. With the aim of ensuring all the facilities be accessible to all, the centre staff run and support the development of sporting, leisure and cultural activity bual also aim to develop strong links with partners from across the local area and beyond to enhance the use of our facilities.

David Knotts - Pianist and Assistant Conductor

David Knotts studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music with Maria Solimini before going to King's College, Cambridge where he was an Instrumental Award holder, the recipient of numerous prizes. He took part in several masterclasses with David Owen-Norris and Bernard Roberts at Dartington and with Pierre-Laurent Aimard in France. An extremely versatile pianist, David Knotts has developed a wide-ranging performing career. He has regularly worked as a repetiteur for the BBC Singers, Friday Night is Music Night and the BBC Symphony chorus and, as an orchestral pianist, he as played with Sinfonia Viva and the City of London Sinfonia. David is also an experienced session musiciain and is featured on the soundtrack of I Capture the Castle and Miss Potter. He has also broadcast on BBC Radio 3 (with the BBC Singers) and worked with conductors Simon Joly, Stephen Cleobury, Martyn Brabbins, Ronald Corp, Barry Wordsworth, Stephen Jackson & Pierre Boulez.  His work as a composer makes David Knotts an ideal performer in new repertoire and he has premièred works by Alexander Levine, Daniel Grimley, Alasdair Nicolson, Morgan Hayes, Anjula Semmens & Stephen Deazley, whose group, Music at the Brewhouse he performs in regularly. He also works regularly as a recitalist and is staff accompanist at Trinity College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music. As a choral conductor he works with choirs at the Royal Academy of Music, HSBC London Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra Community Choir amongst others.

Julian West - Oboe

Julian studied oboe at the Birmingham Conservatoire and then went on to continue his studies at the Hochschule fur Musik in Cologne. He is in demand for all kinds of repertoire but his commitment to new music has led to him taking part in premiers of new works by composers including Julian Grant, Errolyn Wallen, Ken Hesketh, David Knotts, and Judith Weir.  This summer he premiered Alasdair Nicolson's Twittering Machine at the Edinburgh International Festival, and eight new works by young composers at the St Magnus Festival, as part of a resident ensemble for the Composers Course. Julian's interest in the role of the arts within the wider community has led to him being very active as a workshop leader, mentor, and consultant.  In addition to his work with Open Academy, he works regularly with Wigmore Hall, for whom he has devised Chamber Tots, an acclaimed project for early years settings, and Chamber Challenge which has taken him, and the Belcea, Royal and Navarra Quartets into primary schools across the country.  The last few years have seen him involved in a wide variety of projects including devising and leading Britten Sinfonia's Starting Out project for children from eight primary schools in Norwich and their teachers, and working alongside dancers and singers for ENO Baylis to devise performances inspired by Orfeo and La Boheme for adults with learning difficulties.  Julian also regularly leads projects for Spitalfields Festival, including a long standing relationship with Phoenix Special School in Bow, devising music theatre and multi-media pieces, collaborating with the director Hazel Gould and video artist Ellie Rees.  In addition, he plays with the organisation Music for Life, who explore making music alongside people with dementia, discovering the benefits for people with this condition, and those that care for them.  Julian maintains a strong connection with Live Music Now, mentoring younger musicians as they begin to work in community settings, and leading training sessions.

Oakki Lau - Viola

Oakki Lau enjoys a diverse performing career which reflects his interest and enthusiasm for all kinds of music. Freelance engagements range from principal Viola with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra to principal viola with the Reggae Philharmonic. Chamber music experiences range from performances at the Handel House Museum with the Burney players, to premiering quartets written for 4 violas by Judith Wier, Sally Beamish and Stephen Montague. Oakki studied Viola with Rivka Golani; attended Emanuel Hurwitz Chamber music courses; and Baroque Violin with Adrian Butterfield at The Royal College of Music. He teaches at Hill House and Westminster Under School.

Harry Nicoll - Tenor

Harry Nicoll hails from Inverness in the Scottish Highlands, studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, and now lives in London. He has sung for English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Touring Opera,Welsh National Opera,Frankfurt Opera, Cologne Opera, Opera Voor Vlanderen, the Opéra de Nantes,La Fenice, Venice, New Israeli Opera, Berliner Kammeroper, the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Malta Opera. He has appeared at the Covent Garden Festival,the Harrogate Festival, Batignano Festival, Wexford Festival, Aldeburgh Festival and with Dublin Opera Theatre Company. One of the country's leading interpreters of the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew and St. John Passions, he has appeared in concert with the Stavanger SO, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, the Hallé, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, the London Mozart Players, the Residentie Bach Orchestra, The Hague. His repertoire is extensive, ranging from Monteverdi to Mathias, and incorporates all the major choral works of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Berlioz and Mendelssohn. He regularly records for the BBC and is a favourite on Radio 2's "Friday Night is Music Night".Recent engagements include Joe La Fanciulla del West , Curzio Le Nozze di Figaro for ROH, Basilio for GTO and Opera North, Sellem A Rake's Progress and title role Platée for the Reisopera, M. Triquet and Monostatos for GTO, Goro Madam Butterfly , Major Domo Der Rosenkavalier and Master of Ceremonies The Queen of Spades for ROH, Ballad Singer Of Mice and Men for the Bregenzer Festspiele, Lucano L'Incoronazione di Poppea in Athens, an international tour of Facing Goya by Michael Nyman, the Bailiff Der Kuhhandel in the Barbican, Triquet Eugene Onegin for Grange Park, Mr Plym for the Covent Garden Festival, Podesta La Finta Giardiniera for Opera Zuid , Platée in California, a recording of Britten's Company of Heaven and of The Geisha for Hyperion, the Innocent Boris Godounov at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, a recital with Malcolm Martineau at St. John's Smith Square, recordings of Music in the Country House and Music of the Grand Tour , and the King Die Liebe der Danae for Garsington.An ongoing project in collaboration with the composer/accompanist Alasdair Nicolson is the research and performance of versions of traditional Scots Song from all historical periods and the commissioning of new arrangements.

Alison Wells - Mezzo Soprano

 Alison Wells was born in Yorkshire and originally trained as a pianist. She read Mathematics and Music at London University and then spent a year at the Royal Academy of Music, after which she began her vocal studies. She made her South Bank debut in the Park Lane Group's January Series, and in the same year sang the Governess in the Turn of the Screw and took part in Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's Masterclasses at the Wigmore Hall. Since then she has appeared in all the major London concert halls and in many festivals both at home and abroad.A large part of Alison Wells' work is in the field of contemporary music, and she has sung with London Sinfonietta, Matrix, Lontano, Music Projects/London, Composers' Ensemble, Kokoro, Psappha, Gemini, Ensemble Corrente, Apartment House, the french ensemble 2e2m, the Schoenberg Ensemble and ASKO in Amsterdam, and Champ d'Action in Antwerp.   She broadcasts regularly for Radio 3.Recent projects have been the premières of Deirdre Gribbin's "Mare Tran" with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and of Colin Riley's Passing Places for voice, clarinet and electronics, as well as performances of Pierrot Lunaire and Das Buch der hangenden Garten with Firebird and Le marteau sans maitre with the Warehouse Ensemble in the recent Boulez in Birmingham day. and has given performances of Stravinsky's "Les Noces" with James Wood for WDR in Cologne; as well as singing at Ronnie Scott's. Recordings include a well-received disc of music by Philip Grange, Kaija Saariaho's Grammaire des Rèves with Champ d'Action, songs by George Nicholson, Nicholas Marshall, Kenneth Leighton, Gerard Schurmann and Alan Rawsthorne, Stravinsky's Les Noces with Robert Craft "A Stranger Called this Morning" with Kokoro, Pierrot Lunaire with Firebird Ensemble and Silvina Milstein's Fire Dressed in Black with Lontano. Forthcoming engagementsinclude a staging of Dierdre Gribbin's one-woman opera "Crossing the Sea" at Wilton's Music Hall, and composer workshops in Huddersfield and Orkney and a disc of voice and clarinet music with Ian Mitchell. In addition to her performing activities, Alison Wells is a professor at Trinity College of Music, London.

Janis Kelly - Soprano

Janis Kelly studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in her native Glasgow‚ at the Royal College of Music in London and with Elisabeth Grummer in Paris. She is a regular guest with English National Opera where engagements have included Countess Figaro's Wedding‚ the title role in Offenbach's La Belle Vivette‚ Rose Street Scene as well as roles in operas by Monteverdi‚ Purcell‚ Humperdink‚ Offenbach‚ Birtwistle and Glass. For Opera North she has performed Countess Marriage of Figaro‚ Musetta La Boheme and Magnolia in the company's award winning co-production with the RSC of Showboat. Janis Kelly made frequent appearances in David Freeman's productions for Opera Factory‚ singing Ottavia The Coronation of Poppea‚ Juno La Calisto and Flora in The Knot Garden as well as recording Susanna‚ Zerlina and Despina in their Mozart cycle for Channel 4 TV. She sang Rosalinda in Scottish Opera's Die Fledermaus‚ Dorabella Cosi fan Tutte at Garsington Opera.‚ Iris Semele with Les Arts Florissants/William Christie at Aix-en-Provence and Amaranta in Haydn's La Fedelta Premiata at Garsington. Current and forthcoming appearances include Mrs Nixon Nixon in China at the Metropolitan Opera‚ New York‚ Nella Gianni Schicchi at the Royal Opera House‚ the title role in Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna in Manchester‚ London and Toronto and Lania in Skin Deep‚ a new Opera North commission from David Sawer‚ directed by Richard Jones.         

Her recent engagements include Mrs Nixon in Athens‚ Mrs Naidoo Satyagraha‚ Mrs Nixon‚ Iris The Fairy Queen‚ Yum Yum The Mikado‚ Despina Cosi fan Tutte‚ Romilda Xerxes and Alcina at English National Opera‚ Iris with Flanders Opera‚ the title role in The Cunning Little Vixen at Opera North and in Barcelona‚ Violetta La Traviata‚ Magda La Rondine‚ Marschallin Der Rosenkavalier and Electra Idomeneo with Opera North‚ La Finta Semplice at Buxton‚ Rosalinda with Opera Ireland‚ Queen Clémentine Barbebleu‚ Foreign Princess Rusalka‚ Alice Falstaff‚ Miss Jessel The Turn of the Screw‚ Kuma The Enchantress and Elisabetta Maria Stuarda at Grange Park‚ and her directorial debut‚ Cosi fan tutte at Grange Park Opera‚ where she has since directed Iolanthe as the inaugural production in their new theatre. She can be seen as Liu Turandot in the recently released Hollywood movie The Life of David Gale. 

Nia Bevan - Violin

Nia was born in Cardiff in 1972 and studied with Marion Mattison and Nina Martin before being awarded a Macmyn scholarship to study at Manchester University. Whilst an undergraduate she received violin lessons from Peter Cropper and regular chamber music coaching from the Lindsay String Quartet. She led the University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras, the New Music Ensemble, formed a Baroque trio sonata group on period instruments and was a member of the University's viol consort.After graduating with honours, she completed a post-graduate diploma at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, studying with Kryzstoff Smietana. Since then she has enjoyed a varied career as a freelancer, equally at home in smaller chamber ensembles, leading symphony orchestras, working in the pop music industry, education and the opera house.To date Nia has led the Dartington Festival Orchestra, The National Chamber Orchestra of Wales, The Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Swansea City Opera, Opera Box, The Emerald Ensemble and The National Festival Orchestra. She is also a member of the Solo players String Quartet who regularly perform recitals and provide music for functions as well as having been actively involved in many Sound Inventors education projects since 2002. As a freelance player she has also enjoyed working with The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, Mid Wales Opera, Opera North, Northern Chamber Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. Recently she has also branched out as a soloist, performing Bach Brandenburg concertos, the Bach double violin concerto and the Sibelius violin concerto.

Richard Morrison -  Baritone

Richard Morrison was born and brought up in Glasgow.  He is an Arts graduate of Aberdeen University and a prize-winning graduate of the Royal College Of Music in London, where he studied under Graziella Sciutti.In Opera his repertoire includes Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Papageno, Pelléas, Marcello La bohème, Germont La traviata, Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor and Peter Hänsel und Gretel. He sings regularly in Germany where he has appeared at Opera houses in Mainz, Schwerin, Krefeld Mönchengladbach, Hagen, Koblenz, Mannheim, Bonn and Bremen.Other productions include Count Robinson The Secret Marriage at Opera North; Don Alfonso Cosi fan tutte in Sir Thomas Allen's production for Samling Opera; Dr. Falke Die Fledermaus at Opera Holland Park and the baritone solo in a staged production of Orff's Carmina Burana at the Staatstheater Schwerin.Richard has extensive concert and recital repertoire and has appeared at many leading venues including the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Wigmore Hall. He has sung with orchestras including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hallé Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra.  He has broadcast on BBC TV and Radio on numerous occasions and has appeared on Classic FM, both as a soloist and a presenter.On CD Richard has recorded the role of The Sultan in Sullivan's The Rose Of Persia, a BBC world premiere recording; and the title role in Edward German's Tom Jones, on Naxos. He recently released a solo disc of Scottish songs entitled Songs Of My Home on the Scottish label, Corban Recordings

Sarah Hill studied at the Royal College of Music (London) with Adrian Beers and won the Geoffrey Tankard prize for the most outstanding student of the year. She then went on to join the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. After a few years, Sarah returned to London and freelanced for many years with the Festival Ballet, Capriol Orchestra, London Mozart Players, New Symphony Orchestra, several years with the Doyl'y Carte Opera Company, before coming back to Scotland to play again with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra. In the last few years Sarah has played mainly with Scottish Ballet and, at present, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.

Sarah Nixon - Bassoon

 

Sarah Nixon was born in Reading in 1978. Originally a flute player, she started the bassoon at the age of 16 and went on to study at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Whilst there, she studied with David Chatwin, Peter Wesley, Ed Warren and Nick Lander (contra) and had a year as President of the Students Union. Sarah graduated with  BMus(Hons), PGDip(perf) and as a member of The Langdale Ensemble was awarded the RNCM's highest performing accolade, the PPRNCM diploma, with distinction.

Since leaving the RNCM, Sarah has been pursuing an active and varied freelance career all around the UK. She is currently Principal Bassoon with Sinfonia Cymru, with whom she has toured with Bryn Terfel and performed as a soloist in Richard Strauss' Duet Concertino. Sarah works regularly with some of the country's top orchestras including The Hallé, CBSO, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of Opera North, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (under Sir Simon Rattle) and Manchester Camerata. This has included tours of Europe and Japan, and numerous performances as part of the annual BBC Proms season. In 2007 Sarah was awarded a trial for Principal Contra Bassoon with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. 

In addition to her orchestral work Sarah is a keen chamber musician. Her wind quintet The Langdale Ensemble, and The Manchester Reed Trio regularly give recitals, education workshops and work with  those with special needs. For many years she was a member of Yehudi Menuhin's Live Music Now! scheme, bringing live music to those who have no access to it. In 2009 Manchester Reed Trio were funded by Grundtvig and The Arts Council to attend a course in Paris with the ground breaking Musique et Santé. Here they developed many skills in working in the health sector, using music for therapeutic means, and now continue this rewarding work in England. Sarah also teaches, and is the bassoon tutor for the LMFL summer music course.

Sonia Cromarty - Cello

Aberdeen-born Sonia Cromarty studied cello at the RSAMD with Myra Chahin and Robert Irvine. During her college years she won numerous prizes for solo and ensemble playing including the prestigious Peter Morrison Award for all round excellence in 2002. Since graduating she has enjoyed a busy and varied freelance career. She has worked with Scotland's leading orchestras and ensembles and performs and tours regularly with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of Scottish Opera. As a chamber player Sonia has performed throughout Europe with the Rhona Mackay Trio and she is also a member of the Amici Cello Trio. Sonia enjoys bringing music to the community and has been involved in projects in a whole range of locations from nurseries and schools to hospitals and sheltered housing complexes. She currently holds teaching posts at The Glasgow Academy and St. Columba's School, Kilmacolm.

Roderick Long  - Violin

Roderick Long was born in Edinburgh and first studied the violin with Edna Arthur.

At the age of sixteen he was awarded an associated board scholarship to study with Jaroslav Vanecek at the Royal College of Music in London and was later awarded a Lincoln centre sholarship to study at the Juilliard School in New York.

 He is well know as a soloist and chamber musician and has worked with many orchestras in the U.K including the Scottish Ensemble and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.In addition to his performing he is also Head of Strings at St.Georges School in Edinburgh.

Tom Poulson - Trumpet

Tom graduated from the RSAMD in 2009 with a BMus Honours (1^st Class). During this time he studied with a variety of teachers including Peter Franks, Nigel Boddice and John Wallace and had the opportunity to perform Haydn's Trumpet Concerto with the RSNO as well as recently performing Shostakovich's Concerto for Piano, Trumpet and Strings.  Alongside the Concerto Competition Tom has won the Governors Recital Prize in Brass, received the Robert McCreath Award and is a Yamaha Music Foundation of Europe Brass and Woodwind Scholar. A keen performer of Contemporary music, Tom has premiered new works by Tim Cooper, Gareth Williams and Oliver Searle, whose Glasgow Sequenza XI received a 5 star review from The Herald. Tom can also be found performing early music and has performed Vivaldi's Double Trumpet Concerto as well as the solo part in Bach's Christmas Oratorio with the Dunedin Consort on baroque trumpet. Tom performs regularly with Scotland's orchestras including the BBC Scottish Symphony, Royal Scottish National and Scottish Opera orchestras and has also performed as an onstage trumpeter for the Royal Shakespeare Company.  He enjoys performing chamber music and is a founding member of the Pure Brass Quintet, www.purebrass.co.uk, winners of the Governors Recital Prize for Chamber Music.