Siona Crosdale

 Siona Crosdale (bassoon) took up the bassoon just for fun whilst at school in Manchester but soon gained a place at the Royal Northern Junior College to study bassoon and piano. There she won the concerto competition and the  Ida Carroll prize. As an undergraduate, she studied at Girton College, Cambridge as a University Instrumental Award Holder and college Choral Exhibitioner. Whilst at Cambridge, Siona participated in several musical ensembles including travelling to Moscow with the University Symphony  Orchestra to play under Gergiev, and performing Cosi fan Tutte in France.  She was awarded her college's highest musical award, the London Girton Association Award for Outstanding Musicianship and, having graduated, she then took up a scholarship place at the Royal Academy of Music. There she studied with John Orford and Gareth Newman and was awarded the Andrew Sykes prize and a Reckitt Award. Throughout her studies, she was supported by the Countess of Munster Musical Trust, the Newby and William Gibbs Trusts and the Clothworkers' Foundation.

As a student, Siona was principal bassoon of the World Youth Orchestra and of the  National Youth Wind Orchestra with whom she played in Sweden and throughout Europe.  She is currently a frequent member of the Britten-Pears Orchestra playing on both baroque and modern bassoon, and has worked with esteemed conductors such as Oliver Knussen, Tadaaki Otaka and Richard Hickox. As a soloist, Siona  has performed several concertos, including the Weber Concerto in Cambridge and  the Strauss Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon in the Concert Hall at the  Royal Northern College of Music. Her role as a chamber musician has taken her  as far afield as Vietnam and Hong Kong and she has been coached by several esteemed musicians, including David Walters, Michael Collins, Douglas Boyd and Nicholas Daniels. Recitals include those given in the West Road Concert Hall and Kettle's Yard, Cambridge, the Duke's Hall at the Royal Academy and Snape Maltings,  Aldeburgh.

Whilst at the Academy, Siona gained her LRAM in teaching and now teaches the bassoon at Repton School, Derby as well as privately in London. She has worked with the Council for Music in Hospitals which involved giving educational workshops  at various schools where children get the chance to play and hear instruments they would not otherwise have access to.

Since joining the Royal Academy, Siona has been able to fulfil her particular  interest in period instruments by studying both classical and baroque bassoon  with Andrew Watts. She won the Noble House Early Music prize at the Royal Academy  on baroque bassoon and has worked with, among others, Peter Holman, Monica Huggett  and Lawrence Cummings, as a student (through the Academy and Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestras) and as a freelance player. She has recently played  Handel's Giulio Cesare with South Creake Opera, directed by Gary Cooper and  future engagements include Bach's B Minor Mass. Her quintet, the Gallimaufry Ensemble,  are Leverhulme Junior Chamber Music Fellows at the Academy and future venues  include St. Martin-in-the-Fields and the Purcell Room (with the Park Lane Group).

Richard Fairbank

It is almost 30 years since Richard first appeared as soloist with the Orchestra playing Finzi’s clarinet concerto. More recently he has played the Copland concerto with us and in our November2001 concert he will be playing arguably the finest showpiece for clarinet and orchestra.

In the 1950s he was a pupil of Bert Brooks, the best known clarinet player in the Hull area, who was then in his seventies and still active leading  big bands, Benny Goodman style. Playing in many types of ensemble, including  the East Riding Youth Orchestra, jazz band, dance band, military band and salon orchestra, developed his wide interests in music. Moving to the  Manchester area in 1958, he soon became the principal clarinetist and bandmaster of the Adamson Military Band in Dukinfield.

As a conductor, he has directed amateur operatic performances, military  bands and was the musical director of the Trafford Light Orchestra with  whom he conducted over 500 concerts. Currently he plays the clarinet with the Gorton Philharmonic Orchestra and the Dorian Wind Ensemble.

Richard has recently retired from leading the commercial activities in the Faculty of Technology at Bolton Institute, where he was also a principal  lecturer in computer engineering. He is now developing new interests and  renewing neglected ones, for example, photography, walking and developing bread-making recipes. Since retiring Richard has been making transcriptions and arrangements for wind quintet and, of course, for clarinet.

Stephanie Jones

IStephanie began learning the horn when she was 13 and joined Trafford Youth Orchestra and Sale Youth Ensemble when she was 15. She recently gained a 1^st class BMus Hons degree, two Professional Performance Certificates and a Post Graduate Diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music where she studied with Julian Plummer, Frank Lloyd and Beccy Goldberg.

In 2002 Stephanie was awarded the Sir Max Bemrose Bursary, in 2004 she was awarded bursaries form the Countess of Munster Musical Trust and the Musicians Benevolent Fund and in 2005 she came 2^nd in the RNCM Brass Competition. Stephanie is a freelancer in the Northwest and has worked with the Hallé, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Opera North, Sinfonia Cymru, Welsh Chamber Orchestra, Mowbray Chamber Orchestra, and the Macau Chamber Orchestra in China.

She is also on trial for the position of 1^st horn with the Northern Ballet Theatre Orchestra. She also enjoys chamber music and is a member of the popular wind quintet Northerly Winds.

Stephanie appears by kind permission of the Principal, RNCM

Zoe Matthews

Zoe began her musical education playing piano and flute and after seven years of playing flute began learning bassoon at age 17. In 2002 Zoe was awarded an entrance award to study at the RNCM and completed in 2006, gaining a BMus first class honours degree. In 2006 Zoe was awarded an MBF Education Award and the E.A. Bardsley Scholarship to study on the Masters course at the RNCM.  She is currently studying bassoon with Graham Salvage and baroque bassoon with Sally Holman and Andrew Watts. Previously she studied with Alan Pendlebury and Peter Wesley and at the Junior RNCM with Sarah Whibley.

Zoe very much enjoys playing baroque and classical bassoon and was chosen to take part in the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment’s Young Players Experience Scheme 2006/2007. Since studying full time at college she has taken part in master classes with Klaus Thunneman, Pascal Gallois, Stefano Canuti, Lyndon Watts, Tolga Alpay, Meyrick Alexander, John Orford, David Chatwin, Edward Warren, and Laurence Perkins.  Zoë has freelanced with the Hallé, Manchester Camerata and Northern Chamber Orchestra. Zoë is a member of the bassoon trio, Trio Mrio who were finalists and winners in 2006 of the Trevor Wye Prize for Wind Chamber Music. Zoe was principal bassoonist and a founding member of the Hallé Youth Orchestra and toured with them to Germany in 2004, and is a former member of the Liverpool Philharmonic Youth Orchestra. She also received a bursary to study at Dartington International Summer School in 2001 and has been invited several times to play in the Dartington Festival Orchestra.

Zoe Matthews appears by kind permission of the Royal Northern College of Music, www.rncm.ac.uk.

Matthew Palmer

Matthew Palmer is eighteen years old and lives in Tarleton near Preston. He has been a member of the Junior RNCM since 1997 and studies trumpet with John Miller. Matthew is in his fifth and final year with the National Youth Orchestra and he is also a former member of the National Children’s Orchestra and National Youth Brass Band. In 2002 he won the International Trumpet Guild Under 18 Solo Competition and more recently was a semi-finalist in BBC Radio 2’s Young Brass Soloist Competition. Matthew has recently completed A level study and will enter the RNCM as an undergraduate student in September.

Carla Sousa

Carla Sousa was born in Madeira Island (Portugal) in 1984 and started playing the flute at the age of 12. Having initially studied with Rita Vigné, she continued her studies with Jorge Salgado at Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho, a vocational school for gifted young musicians in mainland Portugal.

In 2004 Carla was offered an entrance award to the Royal Northern College of Music where she is currently in her 4th year, studying with Richard Davis and Linda Verrier. Whilst studying here she has been a finalist in the BBC Philharmonic Professional Access Scheme and with the 64tet Flute Quartet in the Trevor Wye Chamber Music Competition. In June 2007 she was awarded the Woods/Candlin Prize at a RNCM’s competition.

Carla has also been fortunate to attend Masterclasses and receive tuition from distinguished musicians, such as Michael Cox, Anders Ljungar-Chapelon, Félix Renggli, Peter Lloyd, Elena Dúran, Emily Beynon, Lisa Bezniouk, Hansjörg Schellenberger, amongst others. Carla works actively as a soloist, chamber and orchestral musician having performed in several venues with many ensembles and orchestras in continental Europe and in the UK.

Carla Sousa appears by kind permission of the Royal Northern College of Music, www.rncm.ac.uk.