Carolyn Sparey won a scholarship to study violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London, later completing her studies with Gyorgy Pauk at the Royal Manchester College and moving from violin to viola. She worked closely with the counter tenor, Alfred Deller, and in 1976, following several years working in London with the London Sinfonietta, the Academy of St Martins in the Field and the English Chamber Orchestra, she accepted the position as principal viola of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with whom she performed as soloist in Bach’s Brandenberg Concerto no. 6 for BBC television.
In
the autumn of 1982 Carolyn became principal viola with the BBCSSO, featuring as
soloist on radio 3 in ‘. She was also a member of the Chamber Group of
Scotland, with who she performed the UK premiere of Penderecki’s string trio
and clarinet quartet.
Since
moving to Stirling Carolyn has plunged herself into local music making, both
professional and amateur, very much believing that since music is a part of who
she is and not just her profession, it’s something that she will carry on doing
for as long as she possibly can!
On leaving the BBC orchestra in 2001 Carolyn began a second career as a composer, one of her first compositions being a viola concerto requested by the internationally known violist, Rivka Golani, and which, when entered for the 2008/9 International Uuno Klami competition in Finland, was chosen from186 works submitted from composers in 27 countries to be included in a list of 17 recommended works. On receiving the score, Golani wrote. “I would like you to know how grateful I am for the wonderful concerto you have written for me”, instructing her Canadian agent to find a conductor/orchestra who would premiere it. To date this concerto is still awaiting a first performance. In 2010 her commission for ‘Red Note’ Ensemble, “Out of the Ashes” was inspired by Chopinʼs Nocturne No.20 in C sharp minor, its relationship to Warsaw, and the Polish pianist Wladyslaw Szpilman who was featured in the film “The Pianist”. The Herald music critic Keith Bruce wrote, “in the hands of conductor Garry Walker and the Red Note Ensemble, Carolyn Sparey’s commission, Out of the Ashes, was a wonderfully original approach to the telling of a story through music”. Carolyn’s composition, “Fereshtehha” [Angels], for twenty solo string players, was composed in memory of ten Iranian Baha’i women who were hanged for their faith in 1983; having studied the score Alasdair Nicholson, composer/conductor and Artistic Director of St Magnus International Festival wrote, “Carolyn Sparey's music inhabits an individual and intriguing soundworld with a deeply intense outpouring written with the expert knowledge of a professional string player.” The Dunblane Chamber Orchestra commissioned Carolyn for it’s 10th anniversary(Celebration) in May 1018, for which she composed Comharrachadh (Celebration) for string orchestra.
Since 2014 Carolyn has published six
books under the name Carolyn Sparey Fox. The first two involved a period of
history during the 19th century which she felt had been neglected, with the
latest three written and illustrated for children. All her books are now available on Amazon.
Steve joined
the SCO in 1984, and balances playing around the world with some of today’s
most influential musicians with his role as Director of Music at Heriot-Watt
University. He started playing at the age of 7, going on to study at the Royal Northern
College of Music, before working for the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.
As a composer, Steve has had his works played throughout the country, on television and radio and has won various awards to further his research into the link between composition, education and the community. Steve is also sought after throughout Scotland as a conductor, exploring both contemporary and mainstream repertoire. As a music educationalist and facilitator, Steve has led numerous creative music projects, successfully raising the profile of music as a tool for team-building and group development skills, including with high profile businesses.
In 2005 Steve
was awarded an MBE for services to music. In 2006 he was awarded the Paul
Harris Fellowship by the International Rotary Foundation in recognition of his
dedicated service to music in the community. In 2009 Steve was awarded an
Honorary Doctorate [D.Litt.] by Heriot-Watt University.
Alistair Warwick |
2008 - 2009 |
Mark Wilson |
2009 - 2014 |
John McGonigle |
2015 |
Robert Baxter |
2015 - 2021 |
Steven Broad |
2022 |
Michael Graham |
2022 |
Steve King |
2023 - current |
Hilary Dalby |
2008 - 2011 |
Lois Stewart |
2012, 2013, 2014, 2017 |
Mark Wilson |
2012 |
Carolyn Sparey |
2012 – current |
Angus Anderson studied violin for ten years
with Elsa Ommer in Glasgow and later at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
His teachers included Molly Mack, Sydney Griller, Frederick Grinke and Sydney Humphries.
He won a scholarship to the International School of Masterclasses in Gstaad
Switzerland under Sir Yehudi Menuhin.
He began his orchestral career as a member of
the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London and then as a principal player with the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow, followed by Associate Leader of the
Royal Scottish National Orchestra then, for ten years, as Leader of the
Scottish Opera Orchestra under Sir Alexander Gibson. He returned to London as
Co - Leader of The Wren orchestra and spent the last eleven years of his
orchestral life as a member of one of the world's great orchestras – The
Philharmonia.
In 2001 he returned to his native soil to
concentrate on golf, climbing and skiing alongside, for twenty years, teaching
violin and chamber music at Aberdeen City Music School and at the RCS in
Glasgow.
Always active as a soloist and chamber music
player he performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons for Scottish Television with the
ensemble Cantilena under Adrian Shepherd and the complete cycle of Beethoven
violin and piano sonatas for Glasgow Mayfest at the Royal Conservatoire of
Scotland.
He is founder and director of the Eumelia
Ensemble and revived the Scottish Fiddle Concept with violin colleague Angus
Ramsay. He plays a violin made in 2004 by Scottish
violin maker Colin Adamson.
Paul
Livingston enjoys a varied career as a chamber, session and orchestral violist
in Berlin and London.
Recently
he has performed with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, the Philharmonia, the
Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Kammerakademie Potsdam among other
ensembles, and as guest principal at Welsh National Opera, the RTE National
Symphony, Dogma Chamber Orchestra Detmold and the Brandenburgisches
Konzertorchester. From 2013-18 Paul was a member of the European Union Chamber
Orchestra.
As
a session musician, Paul is in regular demand at Abbey Road, AIR and Teldex
Studios, recording on soundtracks for films such as Mission Impossible, The
Batman and Avengers:Endgame. In the field of chamber music, Paul is a member of
the Bode Quartet and the Berlin Viola Quartet.
Originally
from Perth, Paul studied initially with Angus Anderson at Aberdeen City Music
School. Following a period as a scholarship student at the Royal Conservatoire
of Scotland, Paul later studied privately with Igor Ozim and with Bruno
Giuranna at the Accademia Stauffer in Cremona, Italy. He made his recital debut
there at the Museo del Violino in 2018.
Paul
plays on a Cremonese viola by Eva & Christo Marino, 2014.
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