Professional ensemble:
Clarinet in B flat (doubling Bass Clarinet)
Horn in F

Violin
Violoncello
Baritone

Amateur ensembles:
1. Chorus:  Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Bass

(14 of the chorus play differing sized wheel sockets, or other chimes.   A 15th member plays a bell)

2. Folk group:  Fiddle, Guitar, Bodhran

Alastair Stout
Alastair, one half a Fair Isle man, was born in 1975 and has been living on Shetland since 1981. He studied at the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at Royal Holloway, University of London. His music, ranging from solo instrumental to multi-media dramatic work, has been performed throughout Britain by leading ensembles and soloists and is available on CD. He is also an organist and has given recitals in St. Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey as well as churches throughout the UK. He was assistant organist at Wesley’s Chapel from 1993 until  2001, when he took up the position of Organist and Director of Music at Cornopolis United Methodist Church in Pittsburgh PA, USA.

For more information and a list of recent works, visit his webpage at:
www.britishacademy.com/members/stout.htm

Andy Ross - baritone
Andy was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. He trained as a singer from the age of eight and continued his coaching in London where he performed regularly over the past six years. Recently he moved to Yell, Shetland where he intends to run a music school and teach opera.

Clare O’Connell – cello
Clare is a graduate of Wadham College, Oxford, where she read Ancient and Modern History and the Royal College of Music, where she took a post-graduate diploma course, studying the cello with Anna Shuttleworth and Alexander Baillie. In 1997 and 1998, Clare continued her studies with Alexander Baillie at the Hochschule fur Kunste in Bremen, Germany. Clare has taken part in numerous Masterclasses, given by such eminent musicians as Steven Isserlis, Ben Zander and Anner Bylsma.

Clare has wide-ranging chamber music experience, most notably with the Savage String Quartet, with whom she won the Cobbett-Hurlstone Prize. She has made broadcasts with BBC Radio 3 and has appeared on BBC Television. Clare has also performed for HRH the Prince of Wales at Sandringham House. Her extensive orchestral experience has  included work with Iona Brown and Oliver Knussen, and with the Ulster Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. She is also a member of the Brunel Ensemble. Solo work includes a performance of the Saint-Saens Cello Concerto in Bremen and most recently she understudied the Barber Cello Concerto for Steven Isserlis, rehearsing for the Amadeus Orchestra. For the past five years she has been the resident cellist on the chamber music course of Hereford Summer School for Pianists, working with the distinguished pianists James Lisney , Simon Nicholls and Daphne Ibbott and is currently completing a Beethoven Sonata series with James Lisney. Future engagements include a series of duo recitals with the pianist Natasa Lipovcek.

Emily Davis – violin
Emily graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music in 1997, having studied with Roger Raphael for five years. She began freelancing professionally during her studies, working regularly with the Halle, BBC Philharmonic and the Manchester Camerata.

In 1998 Emily moved to London enabling her to extend her orchestral experience, performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sinfonia 21 and the City of London Sinfonia. In addition to this Emily travelled widely, working with Glynebourne Touring Opera, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Brunel Ensemble, for whom she plays Principal Second Violin.

Emily was offered the prestigious post of no 2 Second Violin with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in September 2000 and moved to Edinburgh to begin her job the following year. The position offers plenty of variety, orchestral members enjoying regular touring and recording as well as the opportunity to work with eminent musicians such as Sir Charles Mackerras, Joseph Swensen and Alfred Brendel.

Emily’s regular trips to London enable her to enjoy a wide-ranging career, indulging her love of chamber music as a regular member of CHROMA with a variety of extra freelance work in addition to her position with the SCO.

Evgeny Chebykin – horn
Evgeny was born in Moldavia into a musical family; his father played the clarinet and his mother the piano. At an early age, Evgeny began playing the piano and recorder, finally switching to horn at the age of eleven. Whilst studying in Moldavia, Evgeny won the All Union Arts Competition in Moscow and the Woodwind and Brass International Competition in Brasov, Romania.

Since coming to England in 1994, Evgeny has studied at the Purcell School of Music and Royal Academy of Music, receiving tutelage from Richard Watkins. In 2000, Evgeny won the prestigious Denis Brain Prize, as well as Intermediate Academy Solo Prize and the Concerto Prize. Evgeny was recently made a Junior Fellow of the Royal College of Music for the 2002/3 academic year.

Evgeny is an active chamber musician performing at prestigious festivals such as the Cheltenham International, Aldeburgh, Bath and the London Proms in the UK as well as the Oleg Kagan Musikfest in Munich and World Music Festival in Hiroshima. Evgeny has performed with many distinguished artists and ensembles including Yuri Bashmet, Natalia Gutman, Eduard Brunner, London Winds and the Nash Ensemble.

Stuart King – clarinet
Stuart graduated with a First Class Honours degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied with Joy Farrall, Dame Thea King  OBE and Andrew Webster. He has been successful in a number of competitions and awards. In 1994, Stuart was the winner of the Wind Section and Concerto Finalist in the BBC TV Young Musician of the Year Competition, performing in the Barbican Hall. In the same year he was invited to represent Great Britain in the European Music for Youth Clarinet Competition in Lisbon, where he won a Silver Award. In 1997 Stuart was awarded the English Speaking Union Menuhin Scholarship to study in Banff, Canada and was also the winner of the Worshipful Company of Dyers Prize and Wind Finalist in the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition, held in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank, London.

Stuart has performed throughout the UK, at many prestigious venues and major festivals, including those at Snape, Chichester, Bath, Brighton, Edinburgh Fringe, Arundel, Newbury and the Messiaen Festival, held at Westminster Cathedral, as well as touring as a soloist in Germany, the Czech Republic, and the Middle East. Other solo engagements have included an invitation to perform as part of a private soiree in the presence of HRH Princess Alexandra at Kensington Palace and a choreographed version of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto performed at the Royal Festival Hall with the New York Ballet.

Stuart’s commitment to contemporary music has led to his position as Principal Clarinet with the Brunel Ensemble and Ensemble 2000. Stuart is involved in all kinds of chamber music and is the Artistic Director and a founder member of the chamber ensemble CHROMA, with whom he has just recorded the first of a cycle of three CD’s of Contemporary British Music.  Stuart has participated on several other commercial recordings of both Classical and Rock music (for the ‘The Divine Comedy’ and ‘Elbow’) as well as recording music for television. He has appeared on ITV, the BBC and has broadcast for Classic FM, BBC Radio 3, CBC Radio Canada and Polish Radio.

CHROMA

Since its inception in 1997, CHROMA has quickly become established as one of the most sought after chamber ensembles in the UK. Noted for its innovative programming, CHROMA deftly balances the ‘classic’ core repertoire with new and exciting works ‘hot-off-the-press’. This commitment to contemporary music has led to the performance of numerous premieres and the recording of two CD’s with RiverRun Records, featuring works by some of Britain’s finest composers, past and present.

In 2001, CHROMA appeared as the only ensemble in the prestigious Park Lane Group New Year Concert Series at the Purcell Room and was chosen to take part in the Countess of Munster Recital Scheme. In addition they appeared at the Buxton, Corsham and Little Missenden Festivals and the BMIC Cutting Edge Series at the Warehouse in London. Highlights of the 2002/3 season include a tour to Fair Isle and Shetland and concerts in the Tate Gallery, St. Ives and Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. The ensemble will also premiere new works by Tim Parkinson, Philip Cashian, William Attwood, Paul Kellet, Alastair Stout and Joseph Phibbs and appear at a number of prestigious festivals including Spitalfields, Great Comp, Chichester, Buxton, Hebden Bridge, Corsham and Ripon.