The lluminati Wind Quartet were awarded the prestigious Tunnell Trust Award for chamber music in 2007. Their following tours of Scotland were highly successful and the group are frequent return visitors to music clubs around Scotland as well as further afield. Formed whilst studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, for the Carlisle Cathedral Composition Competition in 2003, they continued to play together, recognising the challenge and enjoyment that could be gained from exploring and performing the untapped wind quartet repertoire.
The group are renowned for their entertaining rapport with their audiences whilst in concert and they have taken part in highly prestigious seasons including The Leeds International Concert Season, as well as local music and arts festivals such as Wavendon’s Music in the Garden as well as celebrated appearances at the Swaledale, Ryedale, Petworth and Rye Festivals. Their high profile appearance at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in November 2010 was received with critical aclaim.
After securing funding from The Scottish Arts Council and The Hope Scott Trust in 2008, Illuminati set about collaborating with Scottish composers Rory Boyle, Eddie McGuire, Gareth Williams and Oliver Searle on an exciting project resulting in four brand new works, premiered in June 2009 at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama, Glasgow, and in St. Giles’ Cathedral, Edinburgh. The group are very enthusiastic about uncovering lesser known and contemporary repertoire and equally keen to introduce this to their audiences alongside more familiar works. It is in this manner that Illuminati have solidified their reputation as an ensemble with sparkle and energy in their music.
As a member of Exeter College’s Chamber Orchestra Katie was a soloist when the orchestra won its section in the National Festival of Music for Youth in London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. A recipient of many scholarships and awards for her playing, Katie completed a Masters Degree in 2006 in Performance at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama under Richard Blake, Alison Mitchell and Janet Richardson (piccolo). In 2004 she won the RSAMD Governors’ Recital Competition and the John Macgregor Flute Prize and in 2006 was awarded the John Knox Prize for general excellence. She has performed with the RSNO and Scottish Opera and is also much in demand as a pit band musician for stage shows on flute, clarinet and saxophone. In 2006 she performed in two musicals in the final of the Cameron Macintosh Highland Quest for a New Musical. In 2007 Katie toured with Reeling and Writhing theatre company’s production of Only the Men which is scored for solo female flautist with music by Eddie McGuire.
She played Mavis the Songthrush in Scottish Opera’s 2009 touring production of Aunty Janet Saves the Planet and tours regularly with ABBA the Show on saxophone and flute having performed with them in 18 countries in the last three years and just completed another World Tour. She also plays flute and clarinet with The Opera Show, which recently completed its Scandinavian tour.
Born and educated in Edinburgh, Fraser initially trained as a violinist, graduating from the RSAMD with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Following this, he continued his studies at the Academy on the bassoon, studying with David Hubbard, Janet Bloxwich and Alan Warhurst, and gained a BMus (performance) with 1st Class Honours and a Postgraduate Diploma with Distinction, finishing in June 2008. During this time Fraser was successful in winning The Governors’ Wind Recital Prize, The Mary D Adams Prize for Chamber Music, The Mozart Concerto Prize and The Concerto Competition as well as being awarded the Peter Morrison Prize for overall excellence and contributions to the corporate life of the Academy. His solo appearances have included Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Weber Bassoon Concerto with RSAMD Symphony Orchestra as well as several performances of Michael Daugherty’s Dead Elvis in full costume. Fraser is a committed chamber musician and freelance orchestral player, regularly performing both bassoon and contrabassoon with all the professional orchestras in Scotland as well as having performed with the Northern Sinfonia, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, The Hallé, BBC Philharmonic and The Royal Ballet Sinfonia. Fraser has been generously supported in the past by grants from The Dewar Arts Awards, The Wolfson Memorial Trust, and a James Caird Scholarship.
Susannah has been playing the clarinet since she was eight, although until the age of fourteen her main instrument was the recorder. The clarinet became her principal study whilst at New College, Oxford (where she graduated with a degree in English in 2000) and she held principal positions with several leading Oxford orchestras. Her numerous appearances as a soloist include Weber’s first clarinet concerto with the Glasgow Orchestral Society. She has completed a Masters Degree in Performance at the RSAMD under Yann Ghiro (principal, BBCSSO). In 2002 she was the recipient of the Olive Young Memorial Award. Susannah also enjoys a long-standing musical partnership with the pianist Jeremy Russell, with whom she performs recitals both at home and abroad. In addition to freelancing as a clarinettist and recorder player, Susannah teaches woodwind for The City of Edinburgh Council.
After graduating from Birmingham Conservatoire where she studied with Richard Weigall, Jenni Phillips and George Caird, Marian moved to Glasgow in 2001 to study at the RSAMD under Stephane Rancourt (RSNO, Hallé). In the course of her studies at the Conservatoire she won a place on the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Apprenticeship Scheme. In 2002 she was the recipient of the Barcapel Foundation Award and she completed her Masters Degree in Performance at the RSAMD in 2003. During her studies in Glasgow Marian undertook regular outreach work in schools as a member of the Onegin Wind Quintet and successfully auditioned for the RSNO Apprenticeship Scheme. A freelance oboist and cor anglais player, she has performed regularly with Scottish Ballet and recently finished touring with the major musical production Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
