Our Team & Board About Us

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in May 2003.

Where are you from?
I’m originally from Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Where did you study?
I studied at the Julliard School, New York.

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
Firstly, working with lovely people – the orchestra is a big family, and I really do have the most fabulous flute section imaginable! Not only are they brilliant players but we are great friends and we laugh a LOT. Secondly, it means a lot to me that the orchestra is so important to the culture of Scotland. I love that as an orchestra we all feel very proud to “belong” to this country.

What is your favourite RSNO story?
We were on tour in Germany and went post-concert into a bierkeller. An oompah band was playing the Schnee Waltz, which we are all very familiar with as we play it at Christmas every year. The Orchestra erupted into singing along and dancing, and the Germans couldn’t believe it! Some of the most memorable moments occur when we are away on tour, as tours bring a real sense of comradery. We have had many hilarious ceilidhs in hotel bars over the years!

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
Spending time with friends and family is everything to me! My little boy is 16 months and he has totally changed my outlook on everything in my life – being with him makes me happier than I could have ever imagined. Fashion and interior design are also huge passions of mine, both which, of course, involve essential regular shopping!

Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m told I make very good shortbread (I have permanently cold hands which is good for baking, apparently) I also know all the words to most Disney songs, and I’m very good at spending money….. I’m not sure, however, that my husband would say that either of those two things were hidden or talents!

If you could have dinner with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be, and why?
So difficult to chose one, so I’d throw a full on dinner party with lots of champagne and invite: Elizabeth I, Sandy Toksvig, Roger Federer, Woody Allen and my late half brother Michael who I never got to meet.

You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
My book would be a notebook (and pencil) – it might inspire me to write my own book! Albums – well I would answer this differently daily, but today’s answer would be: Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell (to remind me that crying is therapeutic), The Beach Boys Greatest Hits (to remind me of my Dad who use to listen to it all the time when I was little) and the Soundtrack to Forest Gump (to remind me that “Life is like a box of chocolates” – but in this case I probably would know what I was going to get; a hell of a lot of sand…).

Watch Katherine perform Jay Capperauld’s flute concerto ‘Our Gilded Veins’:

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in November 2016

Where are you from?
Newark, Nottinghamshire

Where did you study?
The Royal Welsh College it Music & Drama (BMus) and the Royal Academy of Music (Master of Arts)

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
The chance to play lots of fantastic repertoire, and living in Scotland.

Tell us your favourite RSNO story/memory so far.
Performing Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with my parents in the audience was pretty special.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
Swimming, cycling and photography.

Do you have any hidden talents?
No… I’m a one-trick pony I’m afraid!

You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
Steve Wonder’s Original Musiquariam – his music is flawlessly produced and a lot of it is very poignant; AC/DC Back in Black – it’s just awesome; if I’m allowed a compendium then I would go for Gergiev’s Mahler cycle with the LSO, the Mahler symphonies 5 and 6 have the most fantastic trumpet playing on them, and I’d have to have one bit of trumpet geekery to sustain me! I don’t know what I’d choose for a book, something with a bit of fantasy in it but still with humour… anything by Terry Pratchett would be a good start!

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in May 2004.

Where are you from?
I am from Swindon.

Where did you study?
I studied at the Royal College of Music.

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
I enjoy the camaraderie.

Tell us your favourite RSNO story/memory so far.
Dressing up in a white catsuit impersonating Elvis for Michael Daugherty’s ‘Dead Elvis’…

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
I enjoy cycling. I seem to have built up a collection of bikes.

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in March 2005.

Where are you from?
Taunton, Somerset.

Where did you study?
I studied at the University of Surrey for an undergraduate degree, followed by the Royal Northern College of Music.

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
The thing I enjoy most about being in the RSNO is the cameraderie. It sounds cheesy, but it really does feel like being part of a big family. And of course, the concerts!

Tell us your favourite RSNO story/memory so far.
There are lots of stories to tell from my time at the RSNO, but one that jumps to mind is playing in the Musik Verin in Vienna just a few months after joining. Scary and awe-inspiring, it’s a magical place full of history.

If you could have dinner with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be, and why?
It may sound geeky, but if I could have dinner with anyone at all – dead or alive – it would have to be Bach, Beethoven and Brahms in a room together. I’d also invite Schoenberg and Debussy. I think they’d all have a lot to say to each other. Miles Davis and Lady Gaga would provide the entertainment!

You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
If I was stranded on a desert island, the music I would bring would be The Complete Brahms Chamber Music, The Complete Mozart Quartetes, The Complete Strauss Tone Poems, and book I would bring would be the Bible.

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in August 1989.

Where are you from?
I’m from Glasgow.

Where did you study?
I studied at the Royal College of Music, London.

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
The most enjoyable part of being in the RSNO is the comradeship of my colleagues.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
When I’m not playing in the Orchestra, I enjoy golf and cooking.

Do you have any hidden talents?
My hidden talents include being able to play the mouth organ.

If you could have dinner with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be, and why?
If I had the choice of going to dinner with anyone, it would be Jennifer Aniston or Kylie Minogue.

You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
If I was stranded on a desert island, the book I would bring with me would be Anthony Burgess – Earthly Powers. The CDs I would take would be the Proclaimers – Greatest Hits, which has no horns in any of it!

When did you join the RSNO?
I joined the RSNO in April 1999.

Where are you from?
I’m from Ayr.

Where did you study?
I studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and was granted a Postgraduate scholarship to Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, USA (part of the John Hopkins University).

What do you enjoy most about being in the RSNO?
Being a part of creating the wonderful, exhilarating, exciting and spontaneous sound.

Tell us your favourite RSNO story/memory so far.
Doing education work at Yorkhill Hospital, when we helped to bring a girl out of a coma. This was one of the most amazing, unforgettable moments of my life, which shows the true power of music.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not playing with the Orchestra?
Spending time with my husband Peter and my daughter Bryony. We love cafe culture.

Do you have any hidden talents?
I couldn’t possibly mention them!

If you could have dinner with anyone (alive or dead) who would it be, and why?
How about Jonathan Ross, Heifitz, Paganini and Vivaldi. It would be hilarious!

You’re stranded on a desert island. You’re allowed 3 CDs and 1 book. What would they be, and why?
The CDs I would bring would be Prokofiev ‘2nd Violin Concerto’ – as it brings back great memories of my wedding day, as I walked down the aisle to the 2nd movement. It’s an amazing piece. Schoenberg ‘Verklarte Nacht’ sends a tingle down my spine! Vivaldi ‘Four Seasons’, but which version?! I change my mind all the time. Only taking one book would be very difficult, but at this moment in time I’d take Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy.