RSNO welcomes New Year with two player appointments Posted Thu 25 January 2024
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra (RSNO) is delighted to welcome William Knight and Katie Smith as new permanent members of the Orchestra, where they hold the positions of Associate Principal Clarinet and Sub-Principal Trumpet respectively.
Following a rigorous process of audition and trial, William and Katie will officially start in their new positions in the Spring. Both have taken part in a range of RSNO activity during their trial period, including a prestigious residency in Salzburg as part of the Salzburger Festspiele in October 2023.
William Knight joins the Orchestra after two years with Welsh National Opera as Sub-Principal Clarinet. William’s appointment marks the first new Associate Principal in the section since 1979, after previous Associate Principal, Josef Pacewicz, remained in position for thirty-eight years. On his new role, William said: “I am thrilled to be joining the RSNO, an Orchestra with so much history and filled with wonderful and inspiring musicians! The variety of the work, from performing in beautiful halls across Scotland and beyond, to recording music for film and television, is particularly exciting. I’m also very much looking forward to exploring beautiful Scotland and making it home.”
Katie Smith joins the Orchestra as Sub-Principal Trumpet, a role held for over thirty years by its previous occupant, Marcus Pope. Katie has worked with the RSNO on a freelance basis across a variety of projects, notably including a recording of Lorne Balfe’s score for A Life on Our Planet, executive produced by Steven Spielberg and distributed on Netflix. Discussing her appointment, Katie said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be joining the trumpet section of the RSNO. I’ve felt so welcomed and at home in the Orchestra and am excited to be joining the team whose legendary recordings I have grown up listening to.”
RSNO audiences will see William and Katie on stage with the Orchestra in their official roles from the RSNO’s ‘The Planets’ concerts with conductor John Wilson and the RSNO Chorus on Friday 19 April (Usher Hall, Edinburgh) and Saturday 20 April (Glasgow Royal Concert Hall). The concert will also be live-streamed and available to watch online. Find out more about the concerts and live-stream at: rsno.org.uk/the-planets
