Associate Principal Cello Betsy Taylor
When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in January 2000 – it’s easy to remember because it was the turn of the Millennium!
Where are you from?
Backwell, near Bristol.
Where did you study?
At the Royal Northern College of Music and at Manchester University on the Joint Course.
What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
The wide variety of music, from some of the greatest symphonies to film music, and the sheer amount of repertoire we get through.
No two days are the same – it keeps you on your toes!
What is your favourite RSNO memory?
That’s got to be playing in Vienna’s Musikverein for three nights performing Prokofiev symphonies with Walter Weller. It was particularly special because my (now) husband flew out for a surprise visit to celebrate my birthday.
What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
I enjoy teaching the cello to students aged between 7 and 23 at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. I also love to paint with my daughter – there are various paintings of hers around the house. I also like to compose with my husband on cello and keyboards to create Chilled Cello.
Do you have any hidden talents?
Not many people know I’m a bell-ringer, trained by my mum and dad, who met through bell-ringing when they were 15. I’m also rather good at Scrabble – no one will play with me any more on RSNO tours!
If you could have dinner with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be, and why?
I would love to have dinner with Frank Sinatra and ask him to croon to me all night.
You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed three albums and a book. What would they be and why?
1. Rachmaninov’s Piano Preludes
(they remind me of passion and warmth)
2. The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (for a bit of light relief)
3. Mozart’s Requiem (to enrich the soul)
I would take a book on the history of art, with illustrations of the world’s greatest works of art.
